Author Note: Angela Hibbs

We already know Hibbs has written works ranging from “exphrastic” poetry to observational pieces on the Marilyn Monroe film, Niagara. But what does she read in between?Recent Puritan contributor Angela Hibbs answers some questions about her reading habits and recent poem, “Triplets in Their Bedroom, N.J. 1963,” in Issue XXII: Summer 2013 of The Puritan.Town Crier: What’s the best thing you’ve read lately?

Angela Hibbs: The best thing I've read lately is Marie Calloway’s What Purpose Did I Serve in Your Life. If she’s reading this, Please contact me! She's the new Colette in all the best ways. Also Heather Christle’s The Difficult Farm. It’s safe to say I’d like to have written some of her stuff. Although saying that sounds like the writing is pleasurable? I don't know; is it like saying I wish I could run like Usain Bolt? I mean, I wouldn’t like to have to train like that, so really, I’ll just say I think her work is amazing. I’ve been reading Claire Brosseau’s blog for a couple years and have complete admiration for it.

TC: Does your poem have an interesting origin story/compositional history you’d like to share?

AH: Fairly obviously, Diane Arbus’s photograph was used in the composition of this poem. Not obvious would be that it is part of an ongoing project of what I’m calling exphrasis—ekphrastic poetry that encourages tangents as well as the inclusion of imaginary backstories and interruptions, whether in galleries or while looking at art objects on the Internet or in a book in the library or at home. Basically, blowing up the category of ekphrasis in the age of distraction.

I’ve also written pieces about the Marilyn Monroe film, Niagara. I think this project started while I was at Banff Centre for the Arts in March 2013, or maybe was largely fed while I was there. They have a great library. I was really interested in ignoring the scenery while I was there and there are lots of great windows whose blinds you can close. I also worked on/with Jeff Wall, Francis Bacon (who I can’t work on/with for a good while, complete overdose), and Yoko Ono and Nan Goldin. Nan Goldin I find really challenging. Anyone whose written about/in the presence of her work, I’d love to talk to you. Maybe they are too narrative. Maybe not narrative enough. The Ballad of Sexual Dependency should really be in the list of amazing things I’ve read lately, but I’ve been re-reading it for years, so it’s not truly recent. Maybe it’s just classic unhealthy relationships, but not to me (I guess).

Nan Goldin and Diane Arbus are often thought of in the same bubble, I’d think, for using subject matter that was not yet in vogue (being avant-garde I guess is a more succinct way of saying it). I guess I could write about their biographies, but Arbus’s is rather tragic and Goldin’s is rather private; those are my excuses.

Angela Hibbs’s books are Passport (DC Books, 2006) and Wanton (Insomniac Press, 2009).