Adrienne Su

Tell us about the manuscript you are working on.

I'm revising a manuscript called Sanctuary. It used to be called Asian Driver, but in re-examining it, I've realized that race is a minor theme in the collection. More central to the poems are motherhood, womanhood, and—I hope this isn't too vague—safety and risk. The oldest poems were written in 1997, the most recent in 2004, so the poems were written during the few years before and after September 11, 2001. While rarely mentioning 9/11 overtly, many of the poems address the tension between wanting to live a full, adventurous life and wanting to retreat, especially with young children, to a safe place.

Do you have a recurring theme in your work?

The theme I've struggled with most is motherhood. It's challenging for several reasons: Some readers find the topic off-putting; it brings out the sentimental side of many writer-mothers; the ground is mined with clichés we haven't dealt with before; the emotions are complicated and new; and if you're still in the postpartum period, you're writing under the influence of all kinds of hormones you haven't dealt with before, either. But being a mother has challenged me mentally and physically, and broadened my life. In particular, it has changed the way I think about women and men, complicating the women's liberation that used to seem so straightforward, and I find myself with a lot more to say than when I had only a dog to take care of.

Do you have poem that has been very difficult for you to publish because it was too personal?

I have a poem I simply don't know what to do with professionally, because it exposes troublesome events in other people's lives, and there's no way to hide the connections. I'm still not ready to publish it. It's been tucked away for at least six years. If I still think it's a good poem in thirty years, maybe I'll publish it then.