An Interview with Cynthia Dewi Oka (Poetry ’19)

2019 poetry graduate Cynthia Dewi Oka was recently interviewed for The Rumpus. Read an excerpt of the conversation below:

The Rumpus Poetry Book Club Chat with Cynthia Dewi Oka

Brian S: As I wrote in my piece introducing Fire Is Not a Country as the Poetry Book Club’s November selection, I was drawn to the theme of fire—in the title as well as in so many of the poems. Can you talk some about the centrality of that image to your work?

Cynthia Dewi Oka: That’s a great question, Brian. Similarly to you, I was brought up in a very religious family, and fire as a purifying and divine element was a major theme throughout my childhood, mostly used to inspire fear and obedience. But fire was also a constant in my environment. This is kind of dark, but church burnings were quite regular when I was growing up in Indonesia, as well as trash fires dotting the night.

Kimberly Sailor: Hello! Cynthia, I loved this book. Or rather, “love,” to be active about it, because I think about your poems quite a bit. I would love to know more about your choice to include the “interludes.” As writers, we’re taught to make sure everything fits, that everything is tidy… did you question your process with these interludes?

When I first read the title, I presumed it meant living in a world on fire is no way to live.

Cynthia Dewi Oka: Kimberly, yes! Both in the way we imagine fire as a destructive and purifying force.

The interludes were an important element of the creative process for me when I was finalizing the manuscript.

I was feeling at that point, limited and exhausted by poetic techniques. I was also thinking about the people I wanted to engage, who are in fact central figures in the book—like my mother, for instance, or my son, to whom the book is dedicated. Writing in screenplay form allowed me to both expand the frame of the book, as well as to create a more collaborative, interactive space within the book. It was important to me to be able to engage the people in the communities I write from, for whom poetry is not necessarily an accessible form.

Read this interview in its entirety here: https://therumpus.net/2021/12/the-rumpus-poetry-book-club-chat-with-cynthia-dewi-oka/