Interview with Suzanne Cleary
Suzanne Cleary is the author of five books of poetry: most recently The Odds (2025), which was chosen as the winner of the 2024 Laura Boss Narrative Poetry Award; Crude Angel (2018); Beauty Mark was chosen by Kevin Prufer as winner of the 2012 John Ciardi Prize. Her chapbook Blue Cloth was chosen by Marilyn Nelson and Robert Cording as winner of the Sunken Garden Poetry Prize. Recipient of two Pushcart Prizes, her other awards include fellowships from the New York Foundation for the Arts, Yaddo, MacDowell, and the Cecil Hemley Memorial Award of the Poetry Society of America. Her poems appear in anthologies including Best American Poetry and in journals including The Atlantic, Poetry, Southern Review, Manhattan Review, Poetry International, and Poetry London. She is Core Faculty in the MFA in Creative Writing Program of Converse University.
Ann van Buren has been conducting interviews for KPS since 2017. Her poetry and other interviews and book reviews are published in The Rumpus, Library Journal, The Westchester Review, The Columbia Review, and elsewhere.
Ann van Buren: You were born in Binghamton, NY and have been part of the Hudson Valley poetry scene for decades. Have you always lived in NY State? How would you say that geographical location affects your poetry?
Suzanne Cleary: Except for a few years in St. Louis, while pursuing my MFA at Washington University, I have always lived in NY State, and Binghamton still occasionally appears in my poems. I don’t think of myself as a poet of place; however, I still think of a long-ago AWP (Association of Writers and Writing Programs) Conference held up in Albany, at which a scholar argued that the poems of upstate New York poets are full of anachronisms. For us, he said, all times exist at once because Upstate NY towns often display, side by side, structures from several centuries: nineteenth century farmhouse and Greek Revival town hall share the block with a 1930s gas station. I wanted to disagree with this speaker, because who wants to be so easily categorized? I grudgingly agree. My poems are packed with anachronism. All time does exist at once. I’m sure of it.
Ann van Buren: Your poems and those who inhabit them place us on a map, but they are also rooted in the body. I am thinking of “Echocardiogram” and “For the Poet Who Writes to Me While Standing in Line at CVS, Waiting for His Mother’s Prescription.” In my experience, writing and reading poetry can be a healing art. What are your thoughts on that?
Suzanne Cleary: This is a fascinating and timely question. I believe that poetry, both writing it and reading it, can be healing; it can erase harmful distances both within us and between us. I also believe that anything that we love is healing, because loving is healing. Gardening is healing. Knitting is healing. I am told that cooking is healing, and cleaning a house.
Ann van Buren: Your poems often tell a story. They are poignant, but they also include humor. (I love “Cheese of the Month Club,” dedicated to fellow poet, Jo Ann Clark.) Can you talk about the art of the line break and your narrative approach to poetry?
Suzanne Cleary: Thanks for mentioning humor. The world is funny, right? I think humor should be welcomed into our poems; it expands the emotional range of the poem and it also poses an exciting formal/technical risk. I never begin a poem with the intention of being funny, although sometimes the premise suggests humor, as with “Cheese of the Month Club.” I begin a poem by being open to associations, and sometimes these are humorous. It’s not me that’s funny. It’s the world.
As for narrative, I love a good story. In college I majored in history, and that informs many of my poems. Beyond that, chronology provides a great track for exploring ideas. Just don’t require me to adhere to a neat time frame! I’m probably going to jump the track into anachronism.
As for line breaks, sometimes they occur when I want to add tension to a line and also give extra power to the first word on the following line. Sometimes they occur when I need to take a breath.
Ann van Buren: This is a practical question for everyone who is part of the not-very-practical practice of poetry. What are three baby steps one can take toward publishing?
Suzanne Cleary:
Step 1: Read literary journals, widely, and notice which ones you like best. These are the journals whose editors share your taste, so this is where your poems are most likely to find a home. Sometimes I’ve found these journals by seeing them listed on the Credits page inside the books of my favorite poets. Essentially, you’re looking for “your people” within the wide poetry community. I highly recommend publishing in literary journals. That poem will reach a wide audience—even wider than your book may reach.
Step 2: As for publishing a book, familiarize yourself with the books published by various publishers. Often you will recognize subjects and/or styles that appeal to specific houses, and thus know whether your poetry might appeal to them. Sometimes publishers offer publication as a prize to a manuscript selected by a poetry judge. In this case I urge you to consider if that poet is likely to select your manuscript—and then, submit it anyway! I have been surprised more than once by being selected by a poet whose work I did not think indicated any predisposition to my work.
Step 3: While you are writing, forget about publication! You are trying to usher a work of art into being, not sell a product to an audience. The poem deserves your best attention and also needs you to let it show you what it wants to be. This takes time, patience, and the ability to let yourself feel lost. A Post-it note above my desk has this statement by the poet C. Dale Young: “Feeling lost is the best way.” That’s the best way to write a poem that will find publication.
Ann van Buren: In addition to being a prolific writer, you are an active teacher. Where can writers sign up for your workshops, either in person or via Zoom?
Suzanne Cleary: My upcoming workshops, talks, etc. are always listed on my website: suzanneclearypoet.com I welcome invitations to read and to teach, in person and on Zoom. I aim to be helpful and moderately entertaining.
Suzanne Cleary will read for Katonah Poetry Series on Sunday, May 17 2026 at 4PM. The reading will be held at the Katonah Village Library, 26 Bedford Rd, Katonah, NY 10536. There is a suggested donation of $15 to support the series, which has welcomed poets for more than fifty years.
More information about Suzanne Cleary.