Author Q&A with Chris Lisieski

Chris Lisieski is an attorney and poet. He graduated from Antioch College with a degree in philosophy and creative writing, and the University of Virginia with a J.D. His work has been published by In Parentheses, The Courtship of Winds, and The Journal of Undiscovered Poets. He has one good dog, one other dog, and a multitude of rotating hobbies.

Lisieski’s poem, “ephemera 31” is featured in Issue #19.

Tell us about yourself.

My interest in writing originated where it does for many of us, I think:  in reading.  I could never put books away.  I remember getting in trouble in Mr. Plischke’s sixth grade class for reading novels during class.  My relationship with language has changed a lot over the years, particularly so during law school, but I’ve never gotten far away from writing.

What unique or surprising detail can you tell us about the origin, revision process, and/or final version of your piece appearing in this issue?  

Each of the poems I’ve written in the ephemera series start from what is essentially a piece of trash:  a discarded paper or list or advertisement or some other kind of printed, written, or typed word with limited and temporally constrained utility.  I typically start with the piece of ephemera, and have no idea where the poem will end up from there.  Also, I have Saving Private Ryan to thank for the vocabulary word “defilade.”

What do you think when you hear, “the good life”?  

I’ve spent a lot of time thinking recently about how essential dualities are for human experience:  that pain is part and parcel to love; that happiness must contain sadness within it; that anger and peace are different ingredients in the same soup.  At a basic level, you can’t know, understand, or appreciate any single emotion without its counterpart.  If you feel joy, at some point, you’ll feel the absence of joy.  So, when I hear “the good life,” I think of the weird amalgam that flavors it, and how that includes “the bad life” within it.  Some bitterness, some sweet, some salt, all key to a rich broth and, in the end, inevitable to our very human lives.

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Thank you, Chris, for being a part of our growing literary community and for spending extra time with us on this Q&A. We wish you the best!