Kelley Beeson: Why do I write?
- leftyblondiepress
- Mar 26
- 3 min read
Updated: Mar 27
Last week we published an interview with Kelley Beeson, winner of the 2023 Lefty Blondie Press First Chapbook Award. At the end, we asked Beeson if there was anything we forgot. We were so moved by her answer that we’re sharing her complete response–let’s call it a “Beeson bonus.” In her words:
Why do I write?
Because I don’t know what I know until I write it down. I don’t know what I feel until I write it. I can’t make sense of my world, inner and outer, until I do.
I write because there’s this expansive field in my body and heart, and I’ve got to go there and find out what’s there. I write because we seem to use language everyday in such a restricted way that my mind feels like I’m wearing a kind of girdle and I need to bust out of it.
I write to feel less alone. Less misunderstood. I write to make it into the next day. I write so I’m kind to others because it’s first a kindness to myself. I write because I know what others’ writings have meant to me, what it’s done to me, for me, and I want to do that for someone.
I write because I read Anne Sexton when I was 14 working at the public library as a page and I shelved one of her books, but first I opened it and read just a few lines and something in me was permanently changed.
I write to get Google to underline my phrases with a squiggly line telling me, “that’s not how it’s supposed to go!” And then I know I’m doing the right thing!
I write because of Larry Levis, Brenda Hillman, Sylvia Plath, Tracy K. Smith, Remedios Varo, Frida Kahlo, The Carnegie International, Lucian Freud, Naomi Shihab Nye, Anne Carson, Anila Quayyum Agha, Valerie June, May Sarton, Shawn Colvin, Patty Griffin, Li Po, Sunday Baroque on DUQ, Marina Abramović, Chet Baker, Sharon Olds, Li-Young Lee, Mark Doty, Christina Rosetti's Goblin Market, all the love poems and all the love songs, and that one grief poem by Lisel Mueller where she wrote, “I placed my grief in the mouth of language, the only thing that would grieve with me.”
I write because I didn’t know there were living poets until I was in college and when I finally learned there most definitely were, I felt such a rush; like wind coming from all sides, rushing into a secret silent spot in me.
I write because it’s a way to make my mark.
I write because of Molly Peacock’s question in her poem, “Have You Ever Faked an Orgasm?” and her line about trying to come in a different way: “Where are the thousand thousand flowers I always pass?”
I write to tease out memories I’ve forgotten and make sense of experiences that bewilder me.
Kelley Beeson, author of “Undress,” won the inaugural Lefty Blondie Press First Chapbook Award in 2023 and credits that moment for igniting her poetry career.
Lefty Blondie Press First Chapbook Award
Submit your chapbook manuscripts from JANUARY 1 - MARCH 31, 2025
We welcome poetry chapbook manuscripts written by those who:
self-identify as woman or non-binary individual
40+ years old
writing in English
have yet to publish a poetry chapbook or full-length poetry book before September 30, 2025
We're trying something NEW for the 2025 First Chapbook Contest submissions!
Introducing the pay-what-you-can reading fee via Duosuma tip jar!
All tip jar donations support LBP's mission:
To promote the poetry of self-identifying women and non-binary people.
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