An Interview with Cliff Taylor

Riding hummingbirds and an invitation to the 1st annual Astoria Zine Festival

The first book I read of yours was Memory of Souls about the little people, and it’s still one of my favorites. Whenever I see you at the Coop, I wonder if you’re seeing the little people playing with my green beans on the conveyer belt.

Haha! I feel so lucky to have written that book, for so many reasons, including and especially because it serves as ajammin’, righteous, accurate, Indigenous and universal introduction to the little people!

I have so much more to say about this subject, about these sacred little relatives, but how about I just share a little poem I’ve recently written (the world can never have too many little people poems!).

The Little People Ride Again

Some little people love riding

on the backs of hummingbirds

and the glory of it is off-the-charts.

For those who know, this is medicine.

You are the first Ponca poet! Has your work inspired other Poncas to write their stories? How have other Poncas responded to your work?

I gave a talk back in Nebraska and afterwards a younger, college-age Ponca relative came up and told me that she’d read my books and that she wanted to be a mystery writer. This was the first time I’d ever had a young Ponca person come up and tell me that they not only had read my books, but wanted to be a writer too. Dream achieved! Dream realized! As the adage goes (I’m making this adage up as I go). Where there’s one, there’s more.

But that really made me happy. We’re here to inspire each other, to be examples of following and living our dreams in a mass culture that really encourages a disconnection from the real dreams of our deep soul. My dream is to see Ponca writers and artists of all kinds someday! I can’t wait to read my relative’s first mystery novel!

As for your second question, almost across the board, my tribe and relatives have been really proud of me. Maybe the whole world isn’t paying attention, but I am blazing a trail and my relatives like to see one of their own kicking butt and taking names, smiling away and being a poet-warrior for the people too. And on we all go!!!

You have a strong spiritual connection to the prairies in Nebraska. And prairies are so different from the landscape here in Astoria. How does your relationship with the natural world change with living in the Pacific Northwest?

I have to be honest and say that when I moved to the PNW about a decade ago, my Nature Appreciation Dial was immediately spun from about a 2 to a maxxed-out 10. It’s a sacred paradise worth fighting for. A massive universe of the planet’s watery, flowering being. So, my relationship deepened, and has been deepening even more so every season since.

Do you have a consistent daily writing practice? What does that look like?

Do I write every day? No. Almost every day? Yes.

I usually work on prose projects around two or three times a week, and then sneak in poems here, there, and everywhere.

About two years ago, I lucked into a very affordable studio (a room with a window that’s part of an artist’s collective) and that’s where I do most of my prose writing. It’s such a blessing to have a space where I get to be all by myself for a little two hour chunk. A great little gift from the writing gods, for sure.

What do you think is the best education for a poet?

Writing tons of poetry, reading tons of poetry books, and then hanging out not just with your personal little group of poet friends, but poets of all kinds. The open-mic scene was key for me. There were established professionals and moody beginners, hippie wordsmiths and post office worker poets, elders and hipsters and genre peeps and everything else, and we all helped each other along our path of becoming a better writer. Read, write, and find community!

You write both poetry and prose. Do you save specific subjects for specific types of writing, or do you feel it out as you go along?

I really feel like the poems call me and I answer, and then the prose pieces call me and I answer. I used to worry about saving stuff I’d wind up writing poems about for essays and memoir, but then I just surrendered and began to trust that the content would all intuitively self-sort/distribute in some way that made ultimate cosmic sense…and it has!

But then also, I’ve had stories I’ve always known were meant to be memoirs, and I in fact never write poems about those stories. They’re bodies of memory that I have reserved for predermined literary incarnations. That’s the long-game plan as of now anyway.

You’ve been on such a roll since 2019 that I lost count of how many new books you’ve published! How have you changed as writer since 2019? Has publication affected your process in any way?

I self-published three books, worked with a small press, and then my most recent book came out with a university press. I feel like I’ve changed immensely as a writer since 2019, in terms of craft and quality, building my professional self out, and just learning all the ins and outs of my path, like only experience can teach you. I’ve grown way more than expected and also still feel like a beginner. The advice I’ve heard and the advice I pass along is: stay true to the work and why you love it and the work and your love will keep guiding you.

In addition to writing both poetry and prose, you’re an engaging speaker and performer. Do you have any advice for writers nervous about sharing their work in public?

On some level, so many of us are just looking for permission to be our real selves. A big part of the purpose of sharing our work is to give that permission as almost an organic by-product of choosing to be our real selves, of living that by sharing our soul’s work in a good way. See the deep benefits of being brave and then let yourself have some experiences of being brave. Being brave is a human skill that’s worth having and sharing your work helps you find friends and we all need those too!

I saw all the excellent posters in coffee shops around town--you’re compiling an anthology of Indigenous voices! When you read through submissions, do you look for anything in particular? When can we expect to see this anthology out in the world?

This is a chapbook that’s part of an art show I’m curating here in Astoria for this Novemeber, called IndigenousVisions. We have 18 poets and writers, each with one or two pieces in the collection.

When I was reading through the pieces I was looking for heart, soul, deep feeling, a voice I thought people would really be enriched by, the element of surprise, palpable humanity, variety, honesty, a degree of self-awareness, the ability to sink their teeth into some real truth. And then more too.

Reading through the submissions, I began to get an intuitive sense of the collection and then from there the collection was able to finish itself out, telling me what fit into, added to, the growing, natural, coherent mesh, geometry, and design.

I’m really proud of it and hope people come to the show and pick up a copy.

Your next book is on the way this fall from North Star Press! Can you tell us a little bit about that book and when to start looking for it?

My next book is The Corn Mother is My Storyteller.

We’re currently working on some design elements, drawings I’d like to include, and finalizing the cover. It’s a whole book of poetry dedicated to my people’s corn, to the Corn Mother.

In my humble opinion, such books need to exist. I mean, a world without a whole small book of poems devotionally written toand about our continent’s/my tribe’s Indigenous Corn? Not while I’m here, haha, I’m going to, and I did, write that book!

Best is to find me on instagram @cliffponca, or facebook as Cliff Taylor, and maybe give my podcast a listen—The Ponca Poet’s Podcast—as it’s a pure joy to make and a little Indigenous joy does everyone good.

How can people learn more about you and your work?

You can check out my website www.cliffponca.com, find me on Instagram as @ cliffponca, or Facebook as Cliff Taylor. And I also have a poetry and storytelling podcast that’s a total joy project of mine, The Ponca Poet’s Podcast, available on Spotify and Apple, that I love letting people about. And lastly, if you’re really feeling my vibe, my The Ponca Poet’s Podcast has a Patreon with a little community where I share exclusive episodes and all kinds of other fun writing-related and Indigneous Futurist stuff.

Thank you, Alyssa! You rock as always, and to anyone else who’s taken some time out of their day to read this, YOU ROCK TOO!!!

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ASTORIA ZINE FESTIVAL

Cliff and I will both be tabling (5–7pm) at this weekend’s 1st annual Astoria Zine Festival! (Oregon, not Queens). Come say hi if you’re in town. Cliff kicks off the evening with a reading at 5pm, and we’ll both have new zines to share.

I’m also teaching a short workshop on four-panel comics from 1–3pm (no drawing required). More details/register HERE.