{"id":466300,"date":"2020-03-29T01:20:33","date_gmt":"2020-03-29T08:20:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/disabilityvisibilityproject.com\/?p=466300"},"modified":"2026-02-12T17:19:34","modified_gmt":"2026-02-13T01:19:34","slug":"qa-with-kay-ulanday-barrett","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/disabilityvisibilityproject.com\/2020\/03\/29\/qa-with-kay-ulanday-barrett\/","title":{"rendered":"Q&A with Kay Ulanday Barrett"},"content":{"rendered":"

Editor’s note: Below is an interview with Kay Ulanday Barrett, someone I admired for a long time from afar about a new book of poetry by Kay,\u00a0More Than Organs<\/a>, <\/i><\/b>available now from Sibling Rivalry Press. We also talk about the publishing industry, dreaming, creating, performing and more. Enjoy!<\/p>\n

\"A
A dark purple and gold book with bold gold capital letters reads MORE THAN ORGANS. The text is over a big red anatomical heart surrounded in starlit purple sky and just below, a small beam from a flashlight held by the silhouette of a person trying to light by the sky. Bold good letters at the bottom read KAY ULANDAY BARRETT.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Tell me a little about yourself!<\/b><\/h4>\n

I am a Transgender, Disabled, Non-Binary, Queer Filipinx person and Snack eater galore, Dog pops. I love dogs. I love poems. I love liberation. I am an earth sign, Virgo. I\u2019m curmudgeonly yet known to be on a dancefloor if given the right variables. Beat boxer wanna be. A+++ napper.<\/span><\/p>\n

You are a poet, activist, educator, performer, and super dapper dresser. <\/b>More Than Organs <\/i><\/b><\/a>is your second work of poetry to be published (Sibling Rivalry Press, March 2020). How does this book differ from your first book, <\/b>When the Chant Comes<\/i><\/b><\/a> (Topside Press, 2016)?\u00a0<\/b><\/h4>\n

Two books?! Yooooo. Can you believe it?!! I really can\u2019t. Given my demographics I didn\u2019t think I would be able to get passed my 30\u2019s, moreover have two published books. It feels tremendously different. In 2015 when I was looking for presses to publish that first manuscript, I was told that much of my Disabled or Transgender content was too much or if I could edit it out. My elaboration was something to edit out. There were few presses at that time publishing Trans poets and many Disabled poets getting literary shine were (still are) Cis White people. My external world was like many spoonies living in the U.S. empire, wayward, confusing, constant advocacy. WTC (When the Chant Comes<\/i>) moved through time by surgeries, written in bed culture, me couch surfing houseless, or trying to hustle worker\u2019s comp systems. I put every damn stanza I had, squeezed out of every pore, because I really didn\u2019t think I would publish again. So you have this long-ass book that holds thematic connections from college Kay to adult 30\u2019s Kay that is told isn\u2019t literary enough, but doing community POC, Trans justice, and Sick and Disabled work.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

WTC <\/span>differs in that it\u2019s framed a lot in how I started: performance poetry with slam poetry tendencies. It was a place of me being a community poet for years and finally getting a book deal. It was a book that was emotionally spiraled and also seeking process for grief, as I lost so many family members and chosen family from death and suicide.<\/span><\/p>\n

MTO (<\/span>More Than Organs<\/span><\/i>) is a book where I am able to take similar elements, because I am of similar body-mind, and pay closer attention to the line, to the space of the text or emptiness of the page. This book has a quieter, internal consideration, something maybe I am developing, something about rumination in the text or the structures. The pace of this second book feels different in approach, a more subtle examination. My understanding of potentiality in being multiple embodiments of Trans, Queer, POC, child of migrant, working class\/Poor, and Disabled feels hopeful. Hopeful adjacent? Is that a thing? I think this new book utilizes new forms and still maintains a sarcasm that feels accurate to people who know me, a humor while in oblivion. Anytime there\u2019s food content, there\u2019s joy in there from chosen family or blood family that was irresistible and wonderful to write about.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

More Than Organs <\/i><\/b>is described as a \u201ca love letter to Brown, Queer, and Trans futures.\u201d What do you want to share that speaks to the future in a world that can be bleak and hostile for multiply marginalized people?<\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h4>\n

Bleak is like part of my gender expression.True story: I was voted <\/span>Most Pessimistic<\/span><\/i> of my H.S. Senior class (Lane Techhh!!! #chitown *chants with chicago h.s. pride*), which now makes utter sense. Queer, Disabled, Trans, BIPOC (obviously in various different degrees among them) sorrow and the hostility faced at any given formula of those fronts aren\u2019t to be glazed over. I start this book with a prologue that defines the term Mahal, which in Tagalog to English translates to two definitions: 1) <\/span>Mahal, <\/b>noun<\/span><\/i> meaning love. 2) <\/span>Mahal<\/b>, <\/span>adjective<\/span><\/i> meaning expensive. I thought it was vital to share that word. That the way I was raised and now as an adult, love is a cost, a deep investment. I don\u2019t even mean the capitalist sense of monetary gain, I mean the heart pang, spirit ache, psychological gymnastics it takes to actually love. And all the communities that are facing violence right now and hxstorically, how much love is there to offer and how bittersweet, how decadent, how necessary it is.<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019m not an expert. I am struggling a lot. Weekly. Often. This empire systemically destroys people. I am not being kitschy: Love has brought me so much that when I had nothing to eat, when I faced rejection after rejection, or when I made heinous mistakes and hurt people, the generative aspect of love was what kept me afloat. My books are community projects. My top surgery was a community project. Collective care has kept me alive when hope felt like a cerebral theory. I know this empire discards and disposes people like me and so when we find each other, that\u2019s kindred. Our future is based on how we will show up for each other<\/span>\u2013<\/span> sharing food stamps, accompanying someone to a medical exam, ordering food delivery, creating low stimulation quiet space for friends to quietly co-exist, sitting with someone as they ride out pain, funneling meds and money to get supplies we need.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I feel like working class, poor, Disabled, Black, Indigenous, People of Color, Femmes, and Trans people know this hustle. Our panic and isolation is not new. Our ancestors have laid groundwork for us to be here. I hope my book contributes to some salve that we aren\u2019t alone. That as a lonely kid, a poor kid, the POC in class who gets their name mispronounced, the person who has to send money back home, the person who keeps a steady advocacy in front of doctors, the person zeroxing death certificates and wills, the person who is misgendered by just breathing, the person just trying to enjoy dim sum while white people prod a saturday morning, that we have this united front. We have networks where we can replenish ourselves and each other. We\u2019re creating the art, skills, strategies, with support from our ancestors to be the people who show up for a life that strives for liberation. Every moment. You\u2019re here. We can be smitten and in pain. We can swoon and feel devastated too. We can hold complications. I have to believe it. If I don\u2019t, I watch videos of fluffy cats and dogs, cry, text my circle, and try to eat something delicious, to get through this breath by breath. We are all just trying to be bountiful, breath by breath, and I want you to know that I uplift that you\u2019re trying. That even when you might not want to be here, that here you are, here you wonderful magical person, here. Just be here.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Can you tell me about your experiences working with an editor for <\/b>More Than Organs <\/i><\/b>and what you learned from this relationship as a writer?<\/b><\/h4>\n

I think my first book was a hella hard check in reality. I am an earth sign in the very brutal sense of the word<\/span>\u2013<\/span> a harsh self- critic, a perfectionist from trauma, a goal- oriented and often times, undoing my own internal ableism, kind of writer. By the time I got to Sibling Rivalry, I discussed my contract with people in the book industry (which I recommend) and\u00a0 I stated what I wanted for my book\u2019s vision not just in print, but afterwards. How I needed to tour, how queued up social media, and my calendar, I brought those things up as much as any structure of the book. To be real: How all that can go to shit if my chronic pain, mental health, ableism, or medical complex (or a sweet teaming of those) throw a curve ball. Sibling Rivalry Press has been very thoughtful and kept the vision\/mission of my book so far. My book had undergone three workshops and two residencies at that point, so my edits process was a lot of copy-editng and striking poems that just weren\u2019t ready for this collection. I feel like Bryan Borland has trusted me and I trust him, in a way that is indispensable in creating a whole new book creature. If you don\u2019t trust your editor, the book might reflect that. A poem can be fly as hell individually, but not be a great member of the collective book. That\u2019s ok. That poem will come through in another book project. The cover art was beautiful and I definitely sent an exhaustive list of type settings, color schemes, book art, illustrations that would influence the aesthetic and spirit I wanted.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This is to say also, it\u2019s not like there\u2019s a long line of Trans and Disabled poetry editors or publishers in charge of presses <\/span>\u2013<\/span>\u00a0 medium or big. It is very rare. Poetry Inc. sets us up for that gap from the get. So trust is imperative.\u00a0 Example: a previous editor said they thought list poems were lazy, me as person in spoken word but also BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) poetry, came prepared to share formidable and credible poets who wrote otherwise. Already, it\u2019s hard to write the poems, to find the privilege to sculpt and craft them, so by the time if we get to an editor, the editor doesn\u2019t have to just respect what you\u2019re writing but where you are coming from. Your poetic lineage and line, are just as critical. My current editor has published people I deeply admire and supports work I admire. At Sibling Rivalry Press, contest winners and previously published poets go to larger presses and opportunities. I feel as a non-MFA (Masters of Fine Arts) poet, someone who relies on fellowships and residencies (if they are made affordable and accessible) this was also critical to gain momentum.<\/span><\/p>\n

Which poets and writers are your major influences? Would you like to give a shout-out to any poets people should know more about?<\/b><\/h4>\n

I really<\/span> love Transgender and Non-Binary BIPOC poets like Golden, Jaden Fields, Angela Pe\u0148aredondo, Cam Awkward-Rich, Jimena Lucero, Aldrin Valdez, <\/span>Chrysanthemum<\/span> Tran, and Jayy Dodd. Catherine Chen and Jasmine Reid have new chapbooks I\u2019m excited about. Sick and <\/span>Disabled poets \u2013 Cyr\u00e9e Jarelle Johnson, Leah Lakshmi Piepzna Samaransinha, Eli Clare, Amir Rabiyah, Ryka Aoki, Leslie Contreras Schwartz. Femmes like <\/span>Mejdulene Shomali <\/span>and Terisa Siagatonu are truly salve.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

How is poetry a form of resistance, survival, love, and celebration for you? What do you hold dear about the creative process and being an artist?<\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h4>\n

I find that poetry is this visceral thing like music, like a reflection of the contemporary. It nourishes me in ways that in essence are somewhat affordable. I can write a poem with paper and pen or on my phone. I don\u2019t need extra supplies — clay, instrument, large studio space. Poetry is a way for storytelling and archiving to be circulated, whether spoken or written, its pulse that reflects whatever interpretation of the life and the people the poet holds dear, furthermore whatever formulas of structure that a poet wants to question, interrogate. Poetry holds things. <\/span>Poetry is a container and holds hard observations up to light, in a communal platform. <\/span>Poems aren\u2019t meant, I think, to be written in silos. They are distributed, shared, repeated, quoted, they are in cadence, like songs, they are in critical assessment of themselves and the innovating world. I love how poems are seeking, are bare bones, are urgent if they want to be, this lasting process of making of a poem is the one think sometimes I think I am decent doing. I think there are a lot of questionable dynamics with canon formation and who gets to be literary, however the scratched throat and nervous heartbeat of a poem feels like nothing else to me.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I love writing with others and began in ensemble, collective work, this common understanding of being alone on page, but being in communal artist practice has always been a priority for me. I love how being an artist challenges time and productivity, much like Disabled and Sick people, white american constructs essentially fo 9-5 or produce specific object for sale aren\u2019t what makes poetry real good and the most provoking poems don\u2019t come from some imposed mainstream structure however even more indulgent, the uttermost interruption of expectations. My life doesn\u2019t fit in a conventional office job. My body-mind spreads and pains and spoons out in ways that art can facilitate. Even if you are working in form or format, an artist is to be an explorer, a questioner, an on-going experiment of curiosity. Why is this world that way? Why is there poverty? How can I share how I feel\u00a0 like shit without sounding verbose, with impact, striking? I can be the most depressed from a shitty medical exam, supremely misgendered and thrashed and only in poetry is professionally suitable for me to harness those confusing dynamics in stanzas. Whether abled, cis, and white audiences support that content is a separate thread.<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019m interested in speculative and whimsy and swoon and what can be the most gutting. So much of my books center grief, both <\/span>When The Chant Comes<\/span><\/i> and <\/span>More Than Organs. <\/span><\/i>In those books, I wanted to write a project that tears me (and hopefully tears the audience) apart with reflections of movement work, with tendrils of swoon, of hope, morsels of nourishment.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Can you share a little about your writing process and how you develop and write a poem?\u00a0<\/b><\/h4>\n

It depends. I am of the Octavia Butler school of thought, \u201cHabit is persistence in practice.\u201d The body-mind does what they want. I cannot control my depression, my spikes in spasms, the systemic and archaic degradation of the world, but when I am able, I try to absorb poetry in any way I can. I watch poetry. I read poetry. If I cannot write, then I honor that pause place. I honor that rest. That hibernation. So you are getting the Disability Justice and interdependent answer, everything in me is connected and poetry, even if I am twisted in my body from exhaustion, somewhere the rhythm or the vacancy of isolation is a poem. I am not romanticizing pain, actually conversely, I believe that artistic process isn\u2019t this rigid academic formality.\u00a0 I never received an MFA. I honestly was doing organizing and grassroots political work long before I graduated undergrad, for me then, immersion is poetic and creative. To try to be in the moment whatever it is, the throng of pain, the cusp of heartbreak, the last bite of the most awesome meal, the delight and hella succulence are the poems that are uncovered. If I can catch those moments then, even more exhilarating.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

June Jordan says, \u201cThe role of the poet, beginning with my own childhood experience, is to deserve the trust of people who know that what you do is work with words.\u201d I know that part of my schematics is dedicated to Jordan\u2019s techniques and guidelines, every time I write. Some other questions I ask myself as well as my students:<\/span><\/p>\n