Heather Bourbeau’s “Monarch” Writes Forgotten Histories of Western States in Poetry [INTERVIEW]

Heather Bourbeau’s award-winning poetry and fiction have appeared in The Irish Times, The Kenyon Review, Meridian, and The Stockholm Review of Literature. She has been featured on KALW and the San Francisco Public Library’s Poem of the Day, and her writings are part of the Special Collections at the James Joyce Library, University College Dublin (Ireland). Her journalism has appeared in The Economist, The Financial Times, Foreign Affairs, and Foreign Policy. She was a contributing writer to Not On Our Watch: The Mission to End Genocide in Darfur and Beyond with Don Cheadle and John Prendergast. She has worked with various UN agencies, including the UN peacekeeping mission in Liberia and UNICEF Somalia. Her collection Some Days The Bird is a poetry conversation with the Irish-Australian poet Anne Casey (Beltway Editions, 2022). Her latest collection, Monarch, is a poetic memoir of overlooked histories from the US West she was raised in (Cornerstone Press, 2023). Below are excerpts from the interview with James Morehead on the Viewless Wings Poetry Podcast.

James: “Monarch” employs the concise power of poetry to distill images and ideas to their essence in the service of the history of Western places. What inspired you to create this book? 

Heather: “I was born and raised partly in Reno, and then my family moved to Sacramento where I attended junior high and high school. My mom was a fifth-generation Oregonian, so I spent a lot of time in Oregon, as well as in Washington, where my dad was a second-generation resident from Spokane. We often traveled to visit family, who were at least seven hours away. During these travels, my dad would always read the plaques at every stop, fostering in us an appreciation for history. On trips to our former family cabins in the Siskiyou, I realized how little I knew about the area’s history. I was familiar with only a very small part of it. This realization prompted me to delve deeper into the history of the region. Despite being educated here, attending school and college in the area, I recognized that there were significant aspects of our history that weren’t taught. I wanted to explore these untold stories and the histories that shaped this region. These explorations and discoveries were what inspired me to create ‘Monarch.'”

James: The histories you capture are, in many cases, ugly. Your telling, however, is powerfully straightforward, letting the history speak with little or no judgment. In the “Oregon State Timeline” you write:

1857

US Supreme Court decides Dred Scott case. The Court holds that the US Constitution was not meant to include citizenship for Blacks (free or enslaved), and thus, the rights and privileges of citizens do not apply to them. The decision also affirms the right of slave owners to take slaves into Western territories.

As you revised and edited the poems in this collection, how did you approach showing vs. telling, and avoiding preaching?

Heather: “Yes, each state section of the four states begins with a timeline that lays out something fundamental to the state’s formation and the mythology around it. The Oregon timeline, as you mentioned, focuses on the exclusion laws and their ripple effects to this day. Oregon was the only state allowed to join the Union with exclusion laws, determining who could live there – essentially making it a whites-only state. The timelines themselves, with their powerful facts, don’t require me to lead the reader to discovery. There are poems where I intentionally share my relationship with these places, adding a personal perspective. However, I tried not to explicitly state a thesis. Although I’ve chosen to write about certain things and include specific facts, I’ve aimed to not be overly subjective in my opinions about the situations.”

James: I think the key point you make here that it’s important for new poets to absorb is being intentional that if you’re inserting your point of view or an opinion, you make sure it’s intentional in the service of the poetry and not just an explosion of your emotion, which I’ve seen in open mics where I hear what feels like a rough draft and an explosion of emotion, yet the poetry part has been lost. So I thought, yes, your straightforward approach makes it more powerful.

Heather: “Yeah. For a long time, I described it as a poetic memoir because it was about revisiting these places, these geographical locations that I could describe with my eyes closed. I thought I knew these places well, but in reality, it was their history that I didn’t fully understand.”

James: How did you approach the challenge of what histories to include given the extraordinary wealth of stories you could have told? 

Heather: “There were definitely times where I went down a rabbit hole. I would choose one particular tangent from something I initially planned to write about. For instance, as a Nevadan, I knew I had to write about atomic power. This state is defined by the gaming industry and nuclear weapons testing and disposal. But did I know about the contest for ‘Miss Atomic Blast’? No, and that was a surprise. Growing up in Nevada, nuclear weapons and their disposal were frequently debated in the newspapers, yet I never knew about the things I discovered while researching ‘Miss Atomic Blast.’

“I also knew I wanted to explore rice in relation to California, given its importance to the state’s economy. But I didn’t anticipate that this research would lead me back to Manzanar. I let the research guide me, and it’s so important to understanding California and the United States, especially regarding the exclusion of people from citizenship rights, even if they were born here. I’m not sure if this fully answers your question, but I allowed the stories that resonated with me to come through in the book. There’s so much material that I could have easily created ‘Monarch 2, 3, 4.’ There’s certainly a lot to choose from.”

James:You employ prose poetry for many of the poems in this collection. In “The Fourth” you write:

World War I, Wilson declared, "the world must be safe for democracy." But the United States is always exceptional. Here, an ad exec can create the American Protective League. Vigilante, volunteer. Counterintelligence. No training, no selection, no oversight. Justice Department approval. Fake badges. Real guns.

How did you approach form in this collection, from the tight, sharp phrases like this, to more lyrical poems like “Ghost Forest”?

Heather: “For those who haven’t read the book yet, it’s about a Petrified Forest of Sitka Spruce that became exposed during a particularly dry year when the waters were low. This phenomenon was explained by an indigenous myth from the region, which I found fascinating. It’s a story that explains the geological event that led to the forest being covered. I wanted to explore this through a poetic form that resembled how myths, legends, and folklore have traditionally been used to explain history and passed down through generations.

“On the other hand, with ‘The Fourth,’ I wanted it to be more direct and educational. I think it’s important for people to know their Fourth Amendment rights and to understand the dangers of anti-government organizations, or those that perceive themselves as pro-government, that operate without training, accountability, or proper oversight. This isn’t a new phenomenon. It goes back to times when people, endorsed by the judiciary, spied on fellow citizens. It’s relevant today with organizations like the Proud Boys, who declare themselves protectors of freedom while simultaneously denying freedoms to others and undermining the democracy they claim to uphold. I wanted the stark reality of this to speak for itself, in contrast to the more obscure, lyrical approach of ‘Ghost Forest.'”

James: Reading this collection I was compelled to think that history should be taught using this form, because I found myself curious to explore and learn more when presented such high impact images in rapid succession. What are your thoughts about how history should be taught to have the most impact?  

Heather: “Actually, there’s a teacher’s guide that accompanies ‘Monarch,’ which is available on my website, heatherbourbeau.com, or through Cornerstone Press. They’ll provide hard copy prints for any educators who request them. There’s also a 20-page bibliography for those who want to delve deeper. I agree that we need to question what history we are being taught. In the teaching guide, I emphasize questioning not only the history being presented but also what voices might be missing and how to include them. It’s important to empower students to see their direct, personal relationship with history. 

“I encourage particularly young students to interview elders in their lives, whether they’re directly related to them or not, to gain different perspectives and include voices that may be missing from the history they are learning. Understanding the diverse communities, especially on the West Coast, is crucial. The history of the West Coast is not just about the Spanish or any other single group; it has always been a mix of peoples coming for various reasons. Recognizing that these communities have always been a part of our states’ histories can help us accept people in these communities today, understanding how interwoven these narratives are. These aren’t ‘new’ communities coming to this area; they have always been here.”

James: Writing poetry often includes extensive research and for “Monarch” you acknowledge a diverse network of individuals and organizations that helped with that research. What advice do you have for poets when incorporating research into their projects?  

Heather: “I’m off to the American Historical Association meeting in San Francisco after this, so I might be a bit of an outlier in how much I enjoy research. I’m a former journalist and still do research and reporting for various United Nations agencies. I love to over-research because it can lead you to unexpected places, and you might find that the real substance is somewhere you didn’t initially think to look. If we’re presenting historical events, it’s important to at least triangulate the information. Not every poet is trying to write a history text, though.

“I do research even for my non-historical work, like nature-based references. It’s important to get the details right, like ensuring I’m referencing the correct plant or bird. Setting up deadlines, artificial or real, can be very helpful. For one project, I had to write a new poem every other week in 2021, giving me a real deadline. For ‘Monarch,’ I set artificial deadlines. I had a friend whose memoir was being published around the same time, and we became accountability partners, setting deadlines and checking in to keep from getting lost in the details.”

James: I resonate with your point that if you dive in deeper, you can find extraordinary things. I’m working on a book project, and I wrote about the SS Jeremiah O’Brien, a Merchant Marine ship and museum in San Francisco. When I visited, I smelled oil and became curious. After extensive research, I found out the oil used on the ship is Bunker C black oil, buried in a PDF. It was an amazing discovery, and I felt so excited as a poet when I found something so unexpected and poetic.

Heather: “Wait, so where is that oil from?”

James: It’s the technical name of the oil used on Merchant Marine ships, and I’m sure it’s used in other things too. It was just a little piece of gold buried in a PDF about that specific ship’s history.

Heather: “Oh my God, that’s fascinating. If it were me, I’d dive into the etymology of that. It’s such an evocative collection of words and makes me want to explore more. Absolutely, it was a great find.”

James: Each of the four western states you profile begins with a timeline in the form of prose poetry. Doing so frames each section very effectively. How did the structure of this book emerge, and how did the structure influence what histories to include? 

Heather: “I love this question because the structure was incredibly important to me from the beginning. It was inspired by a collection by Shawn Wen, called ‘A Twenty Minute Silence Followed by Applause,’ published by Sarabande Books. It’s about Marcel Marceau. Personally, I find miming like nails on a chalkboard, but this book is compelling and amazing, partly because of the varied forms it uses. It’s essentially a biography of Marcel Marceau, examining different aspects of his life through various forms, like an auction list from when he died. It was so effective.

“After meeting Shawn Wen and discussing her book, she encouraged me to explore using varied forms in my writing. This idea stayed with me for years, and when the concept of ‘Monarch’ came to my mind, I realized this was where I could play with form. There are different ways to enter history, and I wanted to use various forms to explore that. The book starts with a timeline to center and anchor the reader, and ends with a list poem focusing on more modern times. My aim was to pique the reader’s curiosity in a way that’s softer, to leave them wanting to explore more.”

James: The poem “Black Friday” closes with a moment of modernity, where homes, shops, restaurants, and a movie theater mask the Ohlone burial ground and its history. You write:

But no sign to say you are walking over the dead,
no way to know your complicity.

This stood out as a moment where your point of view was explicitly present. How do you approach the tricky balance of the voice of the poem and its images, the voice of the poet and their messages, and ensuring the result is poetry?

Heather: “Yeah, I can speak to that poem in particular. It’s about the Shellmound, a sacred Ohlone site that was developed over, most recently into the Bay Street shopping mall. For those unfamiliar with the poem, it references this development. The developers gave a nod to the Ohlone – the street is named Shellmound, and there’s artwork referencing Ohlone culture in the mall. But this doesn’t explain the significance of the site or acknowledge the fact that there are still people buried there. What happened to the bodies that were removed? This is a broader issue; much of the Bay Area, and indeed many populated areas, have human remains beneath them. San Francisco, for example, is full of graves.

“But there’s a particular insult in erasing the spiritual significance and history of the land belonging to the people who were displaced. In ‘Black Friday,’ I wanted to highlight that if developers are making a nod to the past, it should be explicit. People should understand the history and significance of the land they’re on, even when they’re just shopping for clothes at Uniqlo. It’s about acknowledging the bargain we all enter into as we walk this land.”

Listen to the full interview on the Viewless Wings Poetry Podcast to hear Heather recite selections from the book.