Four Questions on Farsickness is an interview series with creative writers for whom place is essential to their work. Each writer answers the same four questions—and featured here is poet and essayist Jenny Sadre-Orafai, whose new poetry collection, Dear Outsiders, is published by the University of Akron Press.

DEAR OUTSIDERS by Jenny Sadre-Orafai

1. Share a little about where you’re from. When you were growing up, what place—real or imagined—most fascinated you, and why?

I was born in Birmingham but don’t remember much about it. My dad and I visited five years ago, and he drove by our old house. It was surreal to see a place that feels a little imagined, a little like a myth. We moved to Houston when I was three and then to Chattanooga seven years later. I love how different the Houston and Chattanooga landscapes are—the flatness of Houston, watching the sun sink into the ground, contrasted with the mountains and ridges standing guard in Chattanooga. It made me appreciate both even though I prefer water. Places near large bodies of water are most intriguing to me because they are what’s most unfamiliar. Oceans remind me how insignificant I am and how I can’t see the end no matter how far I look.

2. What travel has been a particular inspiration to your work?

The last time I traveled was when I visited San Diego, right before the pandemic. That trip was incredible already, but it’s been even more special given what would follow. I spent time with the seals in La Jolla, which felt spiritual. I also walked into a sea cave with an opening in the shape of a person’s face, and to see the face, I had to climb down a tunnel with 143 steps. I was so excited as I entered the cave that I had to hold back from taking the steps two at a time. Another place that I’ve visited in my mind again and again is Cannon Beach in Oregon. I saw sea stars clinging on sea stacks and tufted puffins walking like older men. It always comes back to water and animals and seeing animals in their habitats unbothered by humans.

Cannon Beach, Oregon

3. Where do you “escape to” to recharge creativity?

Going to a beach is the best way to recharge my creativity. I just sit in front of the ocean and stare at it. I don’t need to get in and rarely do. It’s enough just to be there. But I’ve found that almost any travel is the best way for me to get unstuck with writing, and so much of that is because most everything is unknown when I leave the street and the town where I live. My perspective is temporarily jostled and disturbed in the best way possible. It’s easier to be curious.

4. Where would you most like to travel to next?

I would love to visit Cumberland Island finally. I’ve wanted to go for such a long time. Wild horses roam the island, and you can only get there by ferry. There’s just one hotel on the island, and there are ruins of a mansion from 1884. You can see bioluminescent plankton at night, and I have a hard time believing I could leave all that when it’s time for the end of my stay.

 

Jenny Sadre-Orafai is a poet and essayist and the author of Dear Outsiders and three other poetry books. Her poetry has appeared in Cream City Review, Ninth Letter, The Cortland Review, Hotel Amerika, The Pinch, and other journals. Her prose has appeared in Los Angeles Review, The Rumpus, Fourteen Hills, NELLE, and other journals. She co-founded Josephine Quarterly and teaches creative writing at Kennesaw State University. Find her online on Instagram @jennysooo, Twitter @86753ohnine, and Facebook @jenny.sadreorafai, or on her website, jennysadre-orafai.com.

[Photos credited to Jenny Sadre-Orafai.]