Welcome Poetry Editor, Bee Walsh

We are so excited to welcome Bee to the team as our new Poetry Editor – our first ever!

Hi, Bee. Where are you?

Walking, always walking.

Tell us a little bit about yourself.

I was once asked to describe myself in a group setting and listed off a series of sights and sounds that elevate my heart rate, as if the people in the room might learn about who I am by what I love.

They did not, try as I might. 

Megan Falley once asked me, "how do you love" and I realized I had been answering the question wrong my whole life.

This is all to say, if you want to know About Me, you can find that here. And if you want to know about me, that's here. 

What kind of poetry will you be looking for in Synaesthesia?

I want to be a different person when I'm done reading a piece, which I don't think is too much to ask. I want words to get stuck under my tongue. I want to be a little upset that I didn't write it myself, but then instantly grateful that someone else did and chose to share it with us.

Why do you love poetry?

Fall Out Boy has a lyric that goes, "I love you in the same way there's a chapel in a hospital." It's like that. Poetry is a prayer I'm not expecting to be answered.

What are some of your favourite poems / poets?

Unabashedly, every author who is or has ever been with Derrick C. Brown's "Write Bloody Publishing." Seeing Buddy Wakefield perform his piece "Convenience Stores" was like a second sexual awakening for me in 2008, except instead of realizing I was queer, I realized I was A Poet instead of just a poet.

Maybe I'll take a picture of my poetry collection and let inquisitive minds parse through it.

Tell us one of your most loved lines in a poem.

I'll give you three, instead.

Mindy Nettifee, from "This is the Nonsense of Love"

The truth is this:
My love for you is the only empire
I will ever build.

When it falls,
as all empires do,
my career in empire building will be over.

Justin Webb, from "To the Beggar in Armory Square"

Please put your chainsaw away / And by "chainsaw" I mean "soul" / And by "put" I mean "plunge" / And by "away" I mean "straight through my body."

Maggie Nelsom, from "Bluets"

Where did the inspiration come from behind your poems in our BODY&SEX issue?

I don't think it's any secret both pieces are about sex, like really good, toe-curling sex. The kind you find yourself replaying in your head for days after.

"[St. Marks Place, Brooklyn, New York]" came about after months, and months, and months of tension building. A co-worker turned friend, a late night, a locked door.

"[Los Angeles, California]" is magical realism, Brujería, as I imagine all of LA is. Again, another friend, but this time, someone who only ever turned me on with words, never touch. He said to me one night the line, "you're the kind of person / who sticks around in someone's throat." The rest of the poem came from there.

What are you working on right now?

A book, apparently. It's a YA book, fiction, but in verse. A new imprint out of Buffalo, NY called Rosen Classroom is putting it out.

I wanted to write a book about something I understand very well (eating disorders) and something I know nothing about (football).

I'm also working on applying to PhD programs for English, there's so much to do to prepare, I feel like the winter deadlines will be here before I can get it all together.

What else do you love to do?

Make lists. Listen to the same album for days at a time. Grocery shop. Go the woods. Call my mama. Stare out windows, melodramatically. Read tarot. Write postcards.

Quickfire round! Moon or sun?

Moon

Taste or sound?

Taste

Tea or coffee?

Coffee

Dogs or cats?

Cats

Rain or shine?

Shine

Beach or forests?

Forests

Bee Walsh is a poet, list-maker, and dogwalker in Washington, DC. She attended SUNY Fredonia and received a degree in English Language and Literature, as well as a degree in International Studies. She has been published in such literary journals as Velvet Tail, The Vagina Zine, Vagabond Lit, Wyvern Lit, and Synaesthesia Magazine. She recently had a series of letters published in World Champ Game's All We Love We Leave Behind. In October, she has a book entitled Manning Up coming out on Rosen Classroom. She is Poetry Editor for Synaesthesia Magazine.