Erica Reid, M.F.A., is an award-winning writer based in Colorado. By day, she works as a marketer for arts organizations; evenings are spent crafting poetry. Her manuscript Ghost Man on Second won the 2023 Donald Justice Poetry Prize and will be published by Autumn House Press in spring of 2024.
What past event do you often reflect upon, and how did that event change you?
In fourth grade, following a writing assignment, my teacher asked me to stay behind. She handed me a flyer for a state-wide poetry contest and told me I should enter. And I didn’t! But the feeling of having someone I respected tell me that my writing stood out in some way was a revelation — that maybe what came most naturally to me didn’t flow as organically from others. That small kindness changed the way I viewed (still view!) my writing and myself.
How does your work add to the quality of your life?
My poetry has proven to be a very effective conduit to meeting other people, and especially the kind of people I connect with deeply right from the beginning, almost cosmically. Art is also a constant reminder to me that there is more to life than capitalism — that I can make something for the sake of making it, examining it, sharing it, discussing it, and taking joy from it.
Tell us a story you would like to share with the world.
My grandmother was born in a car. This was a piece of family lore that I’d always heard, but with no further details. Recently I asked my grandmother for the whole story and was mesmerized by how fascinating it turned out to be — for instance, it was D-Day (June 6, 1944), and there were no young men around to help as a result of the war. My grandmother was also born nearly two months prematurely, and the doctor didn’t hold out much hope for her survival. If you have a parent, grandparent, aunt, uncle, etc, with a story you’ve always wanted to hear more about, ask them today. This hour. This minute, if you can.
Author photo: Courtesy of author
Side bar image: Pixabay/Edar
