Perry Gasteiger (they/them)

is a non-binary Canadian poet who focuses on the mundanity of existence through a lens of empathetic consideration. Bringing attention to the extraordinary nature of life and pain, they juxtapose the beautiful and the deformed, the congruent and the discordant, and the comfortable and the anxious. @sunshinedaisybaby (Instagram)

The Interview

1 How did you decide on what poems to send?

I wrote each poem specifically for these collections. I took time to think about the themes and wrote around the ideas that came out of that.

2 What poetic form did it take, and why?

Delineated free verse because that’s what I’m used to and I’m lazy 

3 How did you use the whiteness of the page in your poem?

I did not (or at least not intentionally)

4 How did you decide on the title of your poem?

Threw spaghetti at the wall until something stuck.

5 Imagery, or narrative. Which was more important to you in writing the poem?

Imagery tends to be the central focus of my poems, and letting the space between and among the images create a scaffolding for the reader to assign their own narrative meaning

6 What do you think of where your poem is placed in the collection?

I haven’t thought about it very hard

7 Once they have read your poem, what do you hope the reader will leave with?

A bit of existential dread and maybe some new ideas

TWT Wave 2 can be purchased here: https://shorturl.at/ezFNn