Interview: Wendy Carlisle

In this episode of eMerge Unchained, host Aubrey Green sits down with poet Wendy Carlisle for a wide-ranging and luminous conversation on craft, perseverance, and the poetic life. Wendy traces her path from early influence by her aunt—who rose at dawn to write—to a long and dedicated journey that includes hundreds of published poems, an MFA, and a practice grounded in discipline, revision, and community.From the influence of Lorca and duende to her embrace of humor and workshops, Wendy shares stories of writing through loss, aging into her art, and the quiet joy of letting go of ego. She discusses her “Arkansas sonnets,” her fondness for 14-line forms, and how even a grocery list can become a poem in the right hands.With candor and wit, Wendy reminds us that the poet’s job is to write, revise, submit—and to do it again. Tune in for reflections on rejection, the role of readers, and what it means to live a life where poetry is both vocation and devotion.Send us Fan MailSupport the showFind Us Online Athttps://emerge-magazine.com