Ask the Author: Victoria Lynne McCoy

You can read a poem from Victoria Lynne McCoy in the June issue and read on here for more on context in poetry, marriage proposals, and what it would be like on the day it were legal to rape your husband.

1. How important are titles in setting the appropriate context of your poetry?

Every once in awhile, a specific title will seem an obvious choice for a poem, but most of the time I struggle with the naming process. One way I get around this is to rely on the title to provide a context, or necessary information that I felt needed to be edited from the body of the poem. I tend to be wordy in my first drafts, so my revision process consists mainly of paring poems down. Looking at what necessary information I cut helps me to know what specifically the title needs to convey, and gives me a starting point.

In “On the Day It Became Legal to Rape Your Wife,” the title provides the backdrop against which to read the majority of the poem, as the reference to the title doesn’t appear until the end. The title was originally the first line of the poem, but by removing it from the body, I was able to cut out the first few lines that served as merely an onramp to where the heart of the poem began, and by distancing it from the poem itself, allowed for a little more surprise at the end.

2. When writing a poem, do you often work backwards from the last lines or do you let it spill naturally?

It is pretty rare that I start from the end of a poem, but each poem dictates it’s own unique process, and I go where it takes me. The poem itself is a happening, even if written in past tense or recounting a story. Line by line, it is a process of discovery—I want something in me to be different when I reach the end of a poem, and that usually means I can’t know where I will end up when I begin. There have been times when what felt like the last lines came to me first, in which case the discovery comes not in learning where I’m going, but where I came from, which can be just as exciting. And sometimes lines I thought were the end of the poem were really the beginning, and vice versa.

Often, if the poem ends up somewhere expected or comfortable, neither of us—myself nor the poem—are doing our jobs. The most rewarding are the poems in which the end reveals something about the world or myself that I wasn’t aware of on a conscious level. Those are also the most terrifying, but when I feel I may be shying back from those moments, I remember what my thesis advisor, Victoria Redel, said: “It’s not a poem’s job to pass a judgment, but to say, ‘Here, look: these are all the ways we are human.'”

3. If I were to propose to you, what should I not do? What would be your proposal deal breakers?

Although I don’t believe the institution of marriage is right for everyone, or that finding “that one special person,” if it exists, is a given, I do believe very much in love, and I am open to it. I’m resistant to the idea that I need to function within some set relationship formula, so the best proposal would probably allude to a sort of DIY-style of marriage. Anything that referred to too conventional a marriage would most likely be a deal breaker. Or showing uncertainty. If I get married, it will be because it feels authentic for both of us, not just because people “naturally” get married. I think everyone’s really just figuring it out as they go along anyway, so being open and honest about the fact that we have no clue what we’re doing, other than loving each other, is probably the best way to go. And maybe throw in a Jack Gilbert quote or two, since of course you’d know I adore him.

4. How has the MFA process affected your writing?

I know MFA programs get a lot of slack and criticism about whether or not they are effective, and I do think it has a lot to do with the individual, but I can honestly say that my writing has matured and my craft has improved exponentially in the past two years (I graduated in May). Probably the most important lesson I took away from the program was how to trust myself, and my instincts, as a writer. I became more confident and more humbled at the same time, a combination integral to the voice Sarah Lawrence helped me to find and to hone. As an artist and as a human, it is my responsibility to keep growing and keep changing, and the MFA process really pushed me to do that.

5. What would “On The Day It Became Legal To Rape Your Husband” look like?

“On the Day It Became Legal to Rape Your Wife” was a reaction to a news story in 2009 that really upset me. I had to write this poem for myself, to reconcile my hopeless optimism with the reality of what was going on in the world. I had to create a balance, to imagine that in the face of such a tragedy, there was still something beautiful in the world. I imagine a poem about the rape of a husband would emerge out of a similar need, especially since the issue does not receive equal recognition when the tables are turned.