LAP: Tell us about your journey as a writer.
polypropylene: I’ve been writing poetry, although I’m not very good. I’m a sculptor at the Royal Academy of Arts, but I find the body too hard. I realized I could do better with words than with materials. I transitioned, taught Gaia projects at school, and then I stopped sculpting altogether.
For me, writing poetry needs to be physical, organic, sensual, perhaps creating leftovers from the world to escape entry and trying to capture the wild state of the natural world in case it disappears.
My first book started with my first obsession, Waterfall. I learned about Angel Falls in Venezuela – the highest waterfall in the world – and went to it twice, flying over it and canoeing to the base.
Looking at it is like looking at my god. Since then, I have become interested in the Amazon rainforest and the tribesmen who live there, everything they know, their incredible myths.
My next obsession is jaguar. I was writing in Paris and watching jaguars at the zoo. I went to the Peruvian Amazon and saw horned eagles, vultures, and even jaguars in the wild! In Mama Amazonica, I describe Amazon as my abusive and emotionally distressed mother.
LAP: How do you explore a sense of place and belonging through your work?
Polypropylene: I was always displaced as a child and had no sense of belonging. I was attracted to Amazon because I had an affinity for it, and I decided to go to India because I started writing a collection about my grandmother, the tiger girl. When the tiger came in, she told me the story of the cot in the tent. So I read about tigers and realized how threatening they are.
I fell in love with India, its forests, wildlife and national parks. You can’t get all the information from books. For example, you never know that trees emit scents to deter predators. One of the most incredible things is the feeling of being in a theater when the prey spots a tiger or a leopard and starts sounding the operatic siren.
lock up: Do you see a role for eco-poetry in conveying the urgency of the environmental crisis?
Polypropylene: Lately I’ve started to consider myself an eco-poet. If I’m going to write a poem about a place, I have to go there and absorb things to the root of my being. I have always been blown away by the wonder of nature.
I wrote a poem in the voice of the Bodmin Moore beast, speaking in the landscape. I am afraid that animals will disappear. I think it’s my responsibility to write this stuff.
lock up: What role do you think different voices might play?
polypropylene: I am very interested in this. I lead workshops on non-European perspectives on nature and ecopoetry. These bring a breath of fresh air to British nature poetry, which has a wonderful tradition. I’ve always been excited about what other cultural perspectives bring to the poetry of nature. There are many new and exciting sounds.
lock up: Do you have any advice for new or emerging poets interested in land and nature?
Polypropylene: Don’t follow suit. Be fashionable! Write down anything you find exciting. Find your own way to write the form. Books can go a long way, but it’s not the same as being immersed in one place. Smell it, smell it. Finally, don’t just read English poets or poets of your generation. Read widely, including poetry from other cultures about the natural world.
this author
The eighth series of Pascale Petit, tiger girl (Bloodaxe Books, 2020), shortlisted for the Forward Award and Wales Book of the Year. Her seventh series, Amazon Mom (Bloodaxe Books, 2017), won the inaugural Eco-Poetry Laureate and RSL’s Ondaatje Award, and was the Poetry Book Association’s Choice.
This article was first published in Renaissance and Ecologists Magazine, come out now. Hear Pascal share her poetry at the Revival Trust Acorn Poetry Festival on June 11.buy tickets online.
