Interviews with Fall Contest Winners Ariel Wu, Noralee Zwick, Le Wang, Anya Ramaswamy, and Ennio Geniblazo
- julian32019
- 4 days ago
- 13 min read
Interview Questions by Chelsea Zhu, Xiao Bo, and Aigerim Bibol
Interview Answers by Ariel Wu, Noralee Zwick, Le Wwang, Anya Ramaswamy, and Ennio Geniblazo
Polyphony Lit's Fall Contest Winners are now live! Join us for an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at the writing processes with Ariel Wu, author of "on chinese lesbian slang", Noralee Zwick, author of "ode to the broken crayons I had to throw away", Le Wang, author of "Ode to a Former Prom Queen", Anya Ramaswamy, author of "Who Collects the Tears", and Ennio Geniblazo, author of "Dreaming of Pink and White."
Interview with Ariel Wu
Author of "on chinese lesbian slang"
Chelsea: What was your writing process behind the poetic form of “on chinese lesbian slang?” Tell us a little bit more on your journey through crafting the line-breaks, white space, and stanzas.
Ariel: I have always envisioned queer love to be liquid, lithe, water-like, which is why the form of “on chinese lesbian slang” resembles a flowing river. There’s also something elusive and airy about the secrecy of queer love, especially in an East Asian context. I wanted to capture this light airiness through very arbitrary line breaks and random insertions of white space, giving the poem an ethereal quality. This poem is a celebration of a hyper-feminine form of love, so I wanted it to reject the rigidity of linear poetic forms and instead exist within a soft, fluid space.
Chelsea: I noticed a textural juxtaposition between soft images, such as “milky fingers,” “ribbons,” and “dove-soft” with sharper images, such as “barbed hair,” “baseball bat,” and “buttress of right angles.” What did you hope to depict through this fantastic usage of poetic technique?
Ariel: In this poem I wanted to depict sapphic love not as something that can be defined by binary stereotypes but something that differs from other forms of love in being exclusively feminine. There is the age-old stereotype of butch lesbians being masculine and tomboyish – embodied through the sharper images of “barbed hair” and “baseball bat” – but this poem refuses to label them as such. I wanted to portray sapphic love as something that does not exist in opposition to masculinity, something in which femininity can be indulged in oversaturated sensuality.
Chelsea: I love the ending of “my shrine of tiger lilies” – how did you come about this, especially with a subtone of divinity and sacredness?
Ariel: The Chinese slang for “lesbian” translates to “lilies.” For me, the image of “lilies” acts like a bridge by straddling and melding English and Chinese cultural references, which is an embodiment of my poetic voice as someone who is born and raised Chinese but writes in English. As a hopeless romantic, I do believe that love has the power to transcend and conquer. Therefore, I wanted to end this poem on a note of private tenderness and affection to celebrate the power of love.
Chelsea: I enjoyed the reference to the bubble tea brand “ – 点点”! While I have never been there, if you could have bubble tea with any poet, who would it be and what would you drink?
I absolutely love this question! I would love to have bubble tea with Chen Chen, and I would probably go for the original flavor bubble tea with coconut sprinkles.
Ariel Wu (she/her) is a high school senior from Shanghai, China. Her poems have appeared in Élan, Dipity., Chinchilla Lit, and more. She is an alumna of the Iowa Young Writers Studio and Juniper Young Writers. When she is not writing about the quandaries of girlhood, she can be found listening to K-pop and attending concerts of her favorite groups.
Interview with Noralee Zwick
Author of "ode to the broken crayons I had to throw away"
Chelsea: What was your writing process behind the lines “scratches painted rainbow down the side” and “wax snapped in two”? It’s so amazing! What was your inspiration behind these images? What do you hope readers imagine or understand from them?
Noralee: I work as a ballet teacher for younger dancers, and the studio I work at focuses on implementing a love of creativity and dance into its students. To do this, we often use props — feathers, stuffed animals, or plastic wands — alongside each activity. For the youngest classes, we also block out the end of class time for coloring in a drawing based on different ballet stories. This poem was inspired in part by the studio trash can after a day full of classes like these, which are often filled with scribbles of coloring sheets my students leave behind, or crayons they break in half.
When I picture this poem, I don’t think of the trash can. The day I wrote this, I had given one of my three-year-olds a feather for an activity that she immediately stuck in her mouth. The dye from the feather stained her face and lips magenta; then, when I took it from her, the feather stained my hands too. I immediately knew I wanted to write about it in the context of absence. While this is a very specific image, and one that the majority of readers wouldn’t automatically visualize, the idea of relationships strong enough to dye and stain is one that many people can sympathize with. That is at the heart of the poem, and it’s what I hope people understand when
reading.
Chelsea: I noticed food motifs throughout your poem, and I am wondering how you see it work with other components of your poem—or maybe your writing in general!
Noralee: I think this poem centers around food more consciously than the majority of my other work. I don’t often use food motifs in my writing; I’ll either have it as a passing image or not at all. With
this poem, it felt natural to include fruit alongside my original collection of things that stain to expand the images I was already using. I first wrote in the carton of half-rotten strawberries, which were real, which then inspired the inclusion of fruit throughout the rest of the piece; though the original incident had happened several weeks earlier, it seemed fitting to include berries in a poem I was already centering around dye and the color red. The rest of the food images were added around the strawberries.
Chelsea: I’m intrigued by the wonderful enjambments in your poem, such as “every word is pulled out of me / like teeth.” I would love to hear more about your thoughts on this enjambment and how the speaker’s emotional state embodies the poem.
Noralee: One of my favorite things to read in poetry are sentences enjambed to create a line that can stand on its own. The line you mention is one of the ones where I tried to do that. I focused more on enjambment than I typically do because it’s all one stanza — as of lately I’ve been writing lots of couplets and prose poetry — and I tend to use enjambment to loosely incorporate form into pieces that deviate from structures like these. The speaker emotionally goes off the deep end towards the last few lines, where the enjambment is less intentional and the punctuation is largely semicolons and commas; I wanted the poem to end on a rambling, unfinished note, similar to the ending of the relationship the poem revolves around.
Chelsea: If you could sum up this poem in one word, what would it be?
Noralee: Vibrance.
Noralee Zwick is a student and poet based in the Bay Area, California. A California Arts Scholar and Iowa Young Writers Studio alum, their work appears in Neologism Poetry Journal, Hot Pot Magazine, and Prairie Home Magazine, among others. They can be found teaching and researching art, admiring old jewelry, and making an unholy amount of Spotify playlists.
Interview with Le Wang
Author of "Ode to a Former Prom Queen"
Xiao: Who is your favorite poet? What is your favorite poem? How have these poets and poems (or others) influenced your writing style or approach to writing poetry?
Le: It’s hard to choose a favorite, but I would have to say my favorite poets would be K-Ming Chang and Ocean Vuong. My favorite poem would be “Lone wolf narrative” by K-Ming Chang. I would definitely say these poets, and others, have demonstrated how flexible and versatile poetry can really be. Especially after reading K-Ming Chang’s poems, I’m always astounded by her use of language, how she describes a body being “symmetrical” to its crimes or stars “constellating” a body. I always find myself shocked, and best of all, haunted by Chang or Vuong’s poems. I always have lines of their poems floating around my head during the day. So, when I write, I always try to leave the same impression with ambitious metaphors and symbolism. If I can haunt readers with my use of language and the meaning behind it, then I’ve fulfilled my goals as a writer.
Xiao: How did you first get into writing poetry?
Le: Reading Ocean Vuong’s “The Last Prom Queen in America” for English class was what got me interested in poetry, because for days, I had no idea what the poem meant. I was fascinated by the gritty yet hopeful feeling of the poem, and I reread it dozens of times to try and make sense of it. I’ve always liked reading books, but Vuong’s work is what got me hooked on poetry because it showed me there was a sort of intensity and abstraction in poetry that prose can’t replicate.
Xiao: Why did you title this piece “Ode to a Former Prom Queen”? In particular, why did you choose “former prom queen”? What does that represent? What did you want this title to convey to the reader? Did you always have this title in mind, or did it come later in the writing process?
Le: For this poem, I wanted to illustrate some of the pitfalls of youth; the bad decisions and self-destructive behaviors behind the expectation of the supposed “happiest time” of one’s life. I chose “Prom Queen”, as prom seems to be the epitome of the typical idealized American high school experience. I chose “Former” because I wanted this poem to show the cracks in that image. In earlier versions of the poem, the title was “Ode to an Almost Prom Queen”, but I changed it, as I felt the second half of the poem was too retrospective to not use “former” in the title. But, I knew from the start that I wanted to have “Prom Queen” in the title, as the type of self destruction I wanted to write about was specific to teenagers.
Xiao: This piece is after Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver. How does this poem interact with or respond to that novel? Was there a specific scene or character you had in mind?
Le: I actually chose to read Demon Copperhead for a term paper in school. To be honest, I didn’t expect to be so moved by Kingsolver’s portrayals of self destruction. I found it genius how she paralleled abusive relationships and drug use, as the vulnerable characters in her novel turned to them to try and fill their absences. So, I wrote my poem to complement that parallel. The first half of the novel is meant to show the honeymoon period of self destructive behaviors, how the danger may initially feel freeing. The second half is meant to show the consequence stage, where damage catches up to that freeing feeling. I structured the poem to follow a similar arc to many characters in the novel: first, where the substance or abusive relationship seems to be going well, and then the consequences. I guess the poem could apply to almost any character, but I had Emmy Peggot in mind for this poem specifically, as she was described as a “fallen prom queen” in the novel.
Le Wang is from Scarsdale, New York. Her art and poetry has been published or is forthcoming in wildness, the Eunoia Review, Blue Marble Review, and others. Le’s work has been recognized by Scholastic Art and Writing Awards.
Interview with Anya Ramaswamy
Author of "Who Collects the Tears"
Aigerim: I’d love to know a little about your writing journey. When did you start writing? Are there any writers who inspire your work?
Anya: I discovered my passion for writing in middle school. For me, writing is an escape—a gateway to a world where I can dream without limits and bring those dreams to life. Whenever I feel overwhelmed or joyful, I instinctively retreat to my cozy chair, open my journal, and lose myself in writing, completely unaware of time passing.
Everything changed when my middle school teacher nominated me for a prestigious writing program. That moment made me realize that my words could have an impact far beyond the pages of my journal. Since then, I’ve never stopped writing.
Growing up, I was deeply influenced by the works of R.K. Narayan, particularly his character Swami - a rebellious boy who dared to challenge societal norms. Swami’s courage inspired me to question the status quo and stand up for what is right. Similarly, J.D. Salinger’s portrayal of Holden Caulfield resonated with me on a personal level. Through Holden’s lens, Salinger captured the essence of who I am, making his work another powerful source of inspiration for my journey as a writer.
Aigerim: This piece is rich in sensory detail, from the sticky sweetness of Jangari to the monsoon rains of Chennai. How did you decide which details to include, and what emotional impact do you hope they have on the reader?
Anya: I aimed to immerse the reader in a world rich with sweetness, struggle, and sorrow, using vivid details to illustrate the circle of life. I chose to portray three key moments: the pure innocence of a child delighted by a sticky sweet, my grandfather's tireless sweat as he worked to hold our family together, and Suppandi's role in transforming my grandmother's sorrow into a life filled with joy. Through these three emotions, I hope readers can connect my story to their own experiences and see their lives reflected in its essence.
Aigerim: The motif of the lotus flower plays a central role in this piece, particularly in the interactions between the narrator and their grandfather. In many cultures, the lotus symbolizes purity, prosperity, and rebirth. What significance does the lotus hold for the themes you wanted to convey?
Anya: The lotus flower is a symbol of extraordinary beauty, but it requires patience, love, and care to reach its full bloom. Its buds, tightly packed with numerous petals, often need a gentle touch to help them open and trigger the flower's blossoming. Without that care, the flower might wither before it ever blooms. When my grandmother came to stay with us in the U.S., I felt it was important for Suppandi and me to help her unlock parts of herself that had been closed off for a long time. Watching her bloom again was a true joy.
Aigerim: I noticed several references to the color red—the “red, white and pink lotus flowers,” “red vermilion powder,” and “eyes perpetually lined in red.” Additionally, color plays a significant role in the gradual fading of the grandmother’s appearance. How did you interpret the theme of color in this piece?
Anya: I chose to center this piece around the color red because it universally captures the spectrum of human emotions. Whether it’s the pounding of a heart driven by fear or love, red conveys it all. While red is often seen as an auspicious color in my culture, witnessing society’s effort to strip my grandmother of that vibrancy—transforming her into a “white widow” through no fault of her own—reflects how much work remains to dismantle cultural barriers and empower women to live freely, on their terms.
Anya Ramaswamy is a junior at New Trier High School in Illinois. Anya is a creative writer who enjoys writing about diverse topics ranging from her multi-cultural heritage to other highly sensitive matters that warrant societal change. Her flash fiction on straddling across cultures won the Scholastic Art & Writing Award. Anya is also an avid Jazz singer and entrepreneur. She is the founder of TealTie (www.tealtie.com), a community that empowers and supports youth sexual assault survivors.
Interview with Ennio Geniblazo
Author of "Dreaming of Pink and White"
Chelsea: What inspired the “pink-and-white” bodies in your story? It really stuck out to me, and I’d love to hear more about your thought process!
Ennio: "Dreaming of Pink and White" was based on a real nightmare I had, and I wanted to convey the emotions I felt during that experience. "Pink-and-white," in this story, served as a pretty simple juxtaposition and strong imagery to convey that dream-like aesthetic. I found my own meaning during the writing process, as I often do; the bodies represent the "victims of society," those who are strewn aside so everyone else can continue. People are heartless and self-centered; the onyx-sand desert is impenetrable and dire; the line of people walk through it on a path because it is the only thing they can do. But it takes true heart and courage to leave it behind, to realize that there are other options for a life. The story shows a character escaping the systemic perpetuation of becoming a pink-and-white-clad body on the side of the road so many people walk.
Chelsea: What was the hardest part about writing this story, and why?
Ennio: Capturing that dreamy atmosphere was incredibly difficult for me. Dreams, and mine specifically, tend to lack a linear pattern, which is especially present with the introduction of the train in the story. Otherwise, I leaned toward fantastical images and nostalgic memories to convey the fluidity of scenery. Most of all, I used irony and juxtaposition, such as "crying on the top of the world," "warm eyes with a fanged sneer," "posthumous twitching like petals," and "safety in sallow skies." Together, these create the mood I was aiming for, but it certainly wasn't easy for me.
Chelsea: What is something you believe readers might not notice when they are reading “Dreaming of Pink and White” you would like to mention or explain more about?
Ennio: I love that the story is really, really short, which means that it's pretty difficult to miss details. What I also love about "Dreaming of Pink and White" is that everyone has their own interpretation of the story, whether it be professors, full-time writers, or my peers. I'd like to tell readers that it doesn't matter what the story means to me. How does it make you feel? What does it mean to you?
About Polyphony Lit
At Polyphony Lit, we believe that every piece of writing is valuable and every writer shows potential, regardless of whether their work is accepted for publication. Since our founding in 2004, we've received submissions from students in 87 countries and 52 U.S. states / territories. Our student editors have given feedback to every submission, over 21,000 and counting!
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