What inspired you to write “Blank”?
I wrote this piece for my ENG271 course this semester, my Professor Carrie Conners thought that the poetry my class wrote at that point was really good and that we should try submitting it to The Lit.

What was your writing process like for “Blank”?
As this is an imitation of Audre Lorde’s “Coping” I really had to get into the grieving mood. To do this, I isolated myself for a few hours and recalled how I felt when grieving the loss of my grandmother a few years back, As it was really similar to how the speaker in Lorde’s poem felt my imitation was not difficult to write.

How has COVID impacted your creative work?
Before COVID I would go outside for a walk, sit at the park, or even hang out with friends; all of which inspired some of my creative works, but during COVID some of my inspiration died down and I stopped writing as much as I used to.

Read Kiara Byrd’s “Blank.”