December 2010 - Sarah Page, Out of Our Poetry Magazine

Isaac Conner, co-founder and director of An Underground Mainstream was recently given the honor of interviewing Sarah Page, creator of Out of Our Poetry Magazine.

I first met Sarah at a small strip of cafés and bars in Fairfax, CA in 2009. Co-founder and friend, Joshua Boylan and I were exploring the 19 Broadway area for the open mics and foosball for a few weeks when he told me that we would be meeting up with his new poet friend. Her words moved me and Joshua later shared a copy of her magazine with me. It included his first published work and he couldn't have been more excited to share it, nor I to read it; proud of my friend for finding a new voice for himself amid a long transition in life that brought him to the San Francisco Bay Area.

Sarah and I were perhaps both a bit reserved with one another at first, and I'm not sure if we ever really had the chance to grow passed that stage in person, as friends. But we did share some intensely emotional times in dealing with the struggles of our mutual friend. And she is still there, promoting his works and the works of the rest of the wordsmiths in the Bay Area. Out of Our is a home for those souls with a knack for eloquently sharing stories and for those of us that need to hear them.

Where are you from and what were your interests growing up? I am from a small seaside town called Mystic, in Connecticut. My parents still own the same house I grew up in which I think is pretty neat. It’s an old farmhouse from the early 1900s. My interests growing up included horseback riding, running through the woods with my dog Sheba, reading and writing, boys, and The Beatles.

Who is your favorite writer? Visual artist? Musician? Filmmaker? My favorite writer is Tom Robbins – I love the stories he invents and how he imbues them with history, fantasy, spirituality and politics. I love the artwork of an artist whom I first discovered through my parents – they’re antique dealers and have a small piece in their home which is unsigned but which they believe may be attributable to Chagall. My favorite musician is John Lennon for all the obvious reasons. I love the movie “It’s A Wonderful Life,” and truly my favorite filmmaker is Frank Capra.

What is your favorite Children's book? I read a lot as a kid and really connected with series like Nancy Drew, Narnia, The Lord of The Rings; and as an adult I absolutely adored Harry Potter. I think The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe would have to be my favorite single book in that category.

Do you think there is more freedom to express one's views in poetry than in other art forms? I think with all the arts there is equal freedom to express one’s views, whether you are working with a blank canvas, roll of static or moving film, or a piece of paper, etc. The difference with poetry is that you are expected to express your views, and there is perhaps greater freedom in knowing your audience expects you to lay it on them. I think songs are probably the most powerful means of artfully getting across a viewpoint, and key to a really powerful song is its poetry. Take Lennon’s “Imagine” for example – at its core “Imagine” is a super powerful poem which expresses a certain view of the world and the obstacles keeping us from achieving what the poet feels is a greater potentiality. It doesn’t get much freer than that. I recently got to hear Jack Hirschman (former SF poet laureate) in conversation with the Publisher of Left Curve magazine (Csaba Polony) about what makes a poet. Jack was indicating that (paraphrasing here…) “a poet is the conscience of the people”, and so in a sense a poet’s views are not his or her own, but are shared views, reflected views of those who don’t necessarily have the tools to put their views out there. Like Lennon said, “you may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one.” And so it’s not just that poets are free to express their views, it becomes a duty.

What were your best and worst jobs, and have they affected your poetry? My worst job was serving up clam chowder and steamed lobsters in a busy little tourist destination in CT. My best job is my current one because it pays great and I love the environment. The runner up was one of my first jobs out of college because through it I got to travel all around the world. The job entailed collecting content for submarine force computer-based training courses. It sucked working in the military industry, but the travel and opportunity were great. And if it weren’t for that earlier job I probably wouldn’t have the one I am in now.

When did you develop an interest in poetry and did you learn the art formally or informally? I developed an interest in poetry early on, through songs and nursery rhymes and then in elementary school began to dabble in writing poems for classwork. I have learned about poetry as an art form both formally and informally since then. I am grateful that my parents valued and invested in my education and that I was thereby introduced to literature and learned how to absorb it and learn from it and was exposed to many of the great writers.

What inspires you to write, how do you keep yourself motivated to do so and did you ever feel like giving up? Generally I am inspired to write by other artists, by things I grasp or experience about the world around me that shake me up in some way, and love for the world and people. I haven’t always been good at keeping myself motivated. I was lonely and felt out of place, like an outsider, for quite a while, and so I moved 3,000 miles to San Francisco and suddenly I am surrounded by a wonderful community of dedicated artists and it has really been a dream come true. I used to long for a group of like-minded artists to join forces with and envied movements like the impressionists and the beat poets. I had pretty much given up on that dream and it is really really lovely to all of a sudden be living it.

How would you describe your style? I don’t think I have a definite style yet. I’m a bit scattered still. Some of my earlier poems are abstract glimpses with puzzling linkages like I am looking quickly in different directions. Steven says he likes pieces where I tell about something concrete from actual experiences and I am enjoying the challenge of trying to do more of that and also writing longer pieces. But, overall I am nothing if not concise, and I like to think my poetry is and will always be accessible.

Which of your poems is your favorite? My favorite poem of my own writing is this piece:

In the beginning of the end

of because not blind tart

bird sings paintings

to giving light and love

ideally footprints, stardust

What's the best and worst thing about being a poet? The friends and the pay.

How do you feel when people interpret your poetry differently than the way you intended? I think it is interesting when people interpret my poetry differently than I intended. I feel happy that they were moved by a poem of mine to interpret it at all, and then I like seeing how they reacted to what I wrote. If someone interprets something I wrote in a way that is antithetical to my intentions of writing the piece, then I try to learn how I could have written the piece better to not lead someone to the conclusions they made.

Do you see poetry in life and would you say there is a spiritual element to the creative process? Yes yes yes!

Jim Gaffigan recently described McDonald's as being more than a fast-food guilty pleasure, asserting that "if you can name Kate Hudson's last three boyfriends or if you buy 'Us Weekly,' then that is your McDonald's." What's your McDonald's? That’s an interesting comment. I guess Gaffigan is comparing the anti-nutrition of McDonald’s to modern pop-culture, and yet there is something obsessive and fanatical in knowing who Kate Hudson’s last three boyfriends are, though I’d think that is harmless compared to eating McDonald’s poison. Hmmmm *thinks* I don’t watch TV or patronize popular culture outlets much. The only thing I can think of is that I am a regular Starbuck’s customer. There’s one across the street from where I work and I go there several times a week.

Speaking of comedians, do you think it has always fallen on the shoulders of comedians and other artists to speak truth to society or do you believe this is a recent phenomenon? I think this task has fallen to artists and comedians since there were truths to speak to societies. Look at Shakespeare for example, in several of his plays it is the bumbling fool who makes the most sense. Somehow when you cloak truth in comedy you can get away with more truth telling. It’s like the “spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down” effect. Shakespeare’s plays often challenged contemporaneous political figures – at a time when to do so outright could spell death. So he incorporated comedy, or otherwise cloaked the truth through historical enactments (what we call period pieces today) or fantastical metaphors.

Congratulations on getting married! How did you meet Steven? Steven and I met in San Francisco in the home of a talented poet and cabaret performer and her husband. They have an amazing home and have the best gatherings, which I call “poet parties.” It was at one of these parties, a 9/9/09 party that I heard Steven read a poem called “Hansel and Gretel Revisited” that just knocked me out. I made a point of introducing myself and gave him a copy of Out of Our. He likes to say I told him that he made me resonate, but what I said was more along the lines of “your poetry resonates with me.” It’s funny how men’s minds work sometimes.

How has this new chapter in your life affected your poetry? Being with Steven has been great for my poetry. As a poet he is so disciplined which is an inspiration to me – he is super prolific and is always writing! He is directly encouraging of my work also, often getting me to write when I have put it off and reviewing pieces and giving me tips and whatnot.

How did Out of Our begin and why the name? Out of Our began when I got settled in CA and wanted to get out there and throw myself into whatever poetry scene I might find. I had just met some dedicated poets back in CT and a group there was into self-publishing and producing these low-budget magazines with great quality poetry. I also learned Diane di Prima had a magazine years ago when she was starting out and I was like heck yeah! I adapted the name from an anthology Anne Waldman put together called “Out of This World,” for St. Mark’s school poets in NYC which Tom Weigel is in (Tom leads the group in CT). I thought about that name in light of the times I find myself in and thought there’s just very little people can say is ours anymore – that and I like poetry that is open to many interpretations and thought the name could be enigmatic and fun at the same time.

Do you have a long term vision for the magazine? Ultimately I’d love for Out of Our to get picked up by a national distributor so it gets out there to more people. I want to be able to keep the costs down so the price can stay affordable for people. If it is paying for itself with ads that would make me satisfied fiscally. At some point I’d like to bring more people on board to help with the production and artwork, promotion and etc. I want it to remain a place where new poets who write quality poetry can see their works published for the first time alongside more established poets and masters.

What do you think it is that draws artists such as Gordon Ford, Otis Redding and Shel Silverstein et al, to Sausalito? It’s easy to leave (and come to San Francisco). Ha ha… I used to live in Sausalito and it is a really beautiful place. When I first moved there I used to go out the door in the morning and thank god I was living there. It can also be a lonely place and I think artists like the solitude.

Describe yourself in four four-letter words. Warm, tall, kind, brat

Egg salad or potato salad, and what beer would you drink with it? How might that meal affect your poetry and would choosing an IPA make you a Bukowski wannabe? What are some of your favorite smells and sounds?I love real homemade potato salad and would drink Guinness with it. Maybe it’s the German and Irish in me. I think a meal like that would put me to sleep, thus negating any poetry writing at that time. You know, I have never read any Bukowski - I’m sure I should but his reputation leads me to believe I’d rather not. This reminds me of how I feel about Kerouac. I loved On the Road – until I wrote a paper on the battle of the sexes in OTR and realized what a shitty deal women get in the world of Kerouac. You can romanticize writers like Bukowski and Kerouac until the sun goes down, but at the end of the day if your man is with another woman or passed out in the gutter is that really romantic? I love the smells of lilies, nag-champa, chimney smoke, and cinnamon and the sounds of babies laughing, piano playing, my husband’s voice, purring cats and trains.

Any advice for the aspiring poet? Read as much as you can. Eat your vegetables. And write. Oh and please please please do not hold onto the notion that poets are necessarily heavy drinkers and drug abusers with hopeless love lives. Those things are not what make great poets, rather they make miserable unwell nuisances. Try different styles and formats of writing, different subjects – if you can find a niche that can be helpful in building an audience. Don’t always write about you.


ॐ An Underground mainstream ॐ



Sarah Page is a San Francisco poet who publishes and edits the quarterly poetry magazine, Out of Our. She grew up on the East Coast and has a B.A. in English Language and Literature from Smith College as well as an M.A. in Educational Technology Leadership. Sarah has had poems published in numerous poetry magazines, including Flying Fish, Elephant, and Fuck! and is included in the recently released "Revolutionary Poets Brigade Anthology."


She has performed her poetry on both coasts, including featured performances at Sacred Grounds Café, Bird and Beckett and an Anarchist Café/Brunch in San Francisco; and open mics at Bean ‘N Leaf in New London, CT; Taste of Rome and Studio 333 in Sausalito, CA; and Kaleidoscope, Dalva’s, and Viracocha in San Francisco, CA. Sarah is a member of the Revolutionary Poets Brigade and the New London School Poets.


http://www.outofour.com/