Natasha Sajé started writing stories at age six and has now published two books of poems. An English professor at Westminster College, she also keeps busy as the adviser for the national literature and art journal, Ellipsis, and as director of the Anne Newman Sutton Weeks Poetry Series.
What was your first job?
Cleaning houses when I was 14'I had three regulars: a pair of divorced men; a working mother; and a family whose teenage daughter read magazines by the pool while I cleaned her room!
What’s the best opening of any book you’ve ever read?
“Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin, my soul. Lo-lee-ta: the tip of the tongue taking a trip of three steps down the palate to tap, at three, on the teeth. Lo. Lee. Ta.
Why do poetry and madness often go hand in hand?
I think people tend to remember the poets whose lives were tragic, but that a lot of us are responsible and sane. However, to write good poetry'to produce any kind of art, for that matter'the artist must negotiate contradiction and rebel against the status quo, the cliché.
The etymology of words is something important to you. What is your favorite word with interesting roots?
A word that got me started on etymology and understanding history as ideology was “vanilla,” from Latin, “vagina,” the term for sheath. I have a poem about this word in my first book.
Do you consider haiku true poetry?
Of course, although the culture that produces them is so different from U.S. culture I’m not sure they are entirely translatable.
Which poet do you have a secret crush on?
I love reading Anne Carson’s work because it is surprising and passionate.
More by Joey Hellrung
-
5 Spot | Dr. Daniel Ellsberg, former military analyst
Dr. Daniel Ellsberg, 77, is a former military analyst and government whistle-blower, who worked on a top-secret study of U.S. decision-making in Vietnam, which later became the “Pentagon Papers.” Ellsberg will speak at the ACLU Bill of Rights...
- May 7, 2008
-
5 Spot | Dr. Oakley Gordon
The Kenosis Spirit Keepers and Salt Lake Quakers will host a fund-raiser featuring Dr. Oakley Gordon speaking on “Andean Mysticism and Healing the Planet,” this Friday, May 2, from 7-8:30 p.m. at the Quaker Meeting House (171 E. 4800 South)....
- Apr 30, 2008
-
5 Spot | Daniel Hill, youth program coordinator for the Utah Pride Center
Daniel Hill, youth program coordinator for the Utah Pride Center (355 N. 300 West, 539-8800), is asking students to clam up for the 12th annual Day of Silence (DOS) on Friday, April 25, to protest the silencing of GLBT students. The center will “break...
- Apr 23, 2008
- More »
Latest in News
Readers also liked…
-
Raise a glass for E.L.T Harrison, architect of the Beerhive building on Main
Small Lake City
- Oct 11, 2023
