Five Questions With . . .Erika Meitner, poet

By Rebecca Swain Vadnie | Sentinel Staff Writer
Posted October 12, 2003

How long have you been writing poetry?

I vividly remember writing poems in my closet late at night when I was about 13. It was the only place where

my mother wouldn't see the light from under the door and yell at me to go to bed.

Tell me more about your latest collection, Inventory at the All-Night Drugstore. How would

you describe it to someone?

It's definitely a narrative collection, filled with stories about work, relationships and family. It's funny and

poignant and has a bit of a racy edge to it.

What moves you to write?

The idea that a poem can connect disparate things and bring a bit of meaning to the chaos of life experience.

Who has had the biggest influence on your work?

My teacher, Rita Dove. I studied with her when I did my master's of fine arts at the University of Virginia. She was

constantly trying to push all her students to challenge themselves poetically, but she had a great respect for the

emotional content of our work. At one point, she made me cut my poems up the middle with scissors and work with

one half to get me to pay more attention to the language I used.

If you could have lunch with any author, who would it be and what would you talk about?

I would love to meet Michael Ondaatje or Louise Erdrich and ask them how they write such beautiful prose and poetry--

the divide between the two genres is something I'm still navigating.

Just so you know: Meitner will be reading and signing copies of Inventory at the All-Night Drugstore

at 7 p.m. Friday at Urban Think bookstore, 625 E. Central Blvd., Orlando. For more information, call 407-650-8004.