“Literary Success is Having the Latitude to Show Up”: An Interview with Desiree C. Bailey

Desiree C. Bailey is a poet, writer and teacher. Her debut poetry collection What Noise Against the Cane is the winner of the 2020 Yale Younger Poets Prize. Her work has appeared in Best American Poetry 2015, Callaloo, Washington Square Review and The Rumpus, among other publications. Desiree was born in Trinidad and Tobago and lives in New York.

WSR: How would you describe your experience as an MFA student in NYU use program so far?

Desiree: It's been a really useful time for me. For the most part, I think I've really enjoyed the experience of being in the program. 

When I applied, I felt disconnected from writing. I was working a lot, teaching a lot; I felt like I didn’t have a clear sense of who I was in my writing. I didn’t have the time to devote that energy into my work. 

At first, I thought it was a feeling that I would be able to move through and ignore, but it actually became quite haunting. 

I needed to write. I needed to create that space, and since I have an MFA in fiction, when the time came to decide whether I should do another MFA program, I was a little hesitant. 

I kept wondering whether it would make sense to have a second MFA and ultimately decided that it was worth it for me. I needed to create that space for myself, so I offered the program as a gift to myself. I had so much more to explore, read and learn. I also wanted to grow with other poets. In that sense, I think the program has been a really beautiful time.

I'm rediscovering myself as a poet and also connecting with other poets, showing up for them, being there for the things that they care about and the things that they have to say.

WSR: What do you resist in your writing—if there's anything—and are you afraid of anything as a writer?

Desiree: Recently, I have been afraid to explore my spiritual beliefs and my ideas on religion. I've always been a person who has been able to see different approaches and to really celebrate the different ways that people think about themselves in the world. 

I grew up in a household with a dad who is an atheist and a mom who is Catholic in addition to many traditions from the Caribbean and West Africa. So, I've been in a unique position, and for some reason, I've always felt that I was kind of hesitant to really go there in my writing and parse out what I believe in. 

Oftentimes, I think a poem may be about one thing but there is also this undercurrent about being comfortable with the way that I question and the way that I celebrate. 

There is this sense of being trapped between different worldviews, and that is something that I want to face more. 

Yes, I think I have been facing it, but I realized that I've also been avoiding it. It’s weird how the things that you fear and the things that you try to resist in your writing end up being what you keep coming back to

WSR: How would you define literary success?

Desiree: I have a two-part kind of response, but why limit it to two parts? What I think most about is being able to care for myself especially as a writer. Literary success really means being in a place where I can write comfortably.

That means in terms of ideas but also in terms of concrete, tangible material things. Am I able to have health insurance? Am I going to feel exhausted advocating for myself? I think that’s where I am at right now. Literary success is having the latitude to show up as I am, both physically and emotionally.

WSR: What projects are you currently working on?

Desiree: A few months ago, I finished my first book of poetry called What Noise Against the Cane. That's coming out with the Yale University Press. I'm really excited about it. 

I think you'll see some of what I just talked about: my engagement with spirituality and religion. I’m currently in a place where I have a few ideas of what I would like to be working on, but I also really just want to rest and read the works of other people while engaging politically and socially. I want to be aware of what's happening around me. 

At the same time, I am tinkering with a prose piece right now. I don't exactly know what it will be, but I do know that it is driven by this question of where in the world can black people be safe. That’s where my head is right now. I am truly in this exploration phase, and it feels really good to be in that space.