Q&A with Alison J Barton

Alison J Barton is a Wiradjuri poet widely published in Australian and international journals. In 2023 she won several fellowships with the Australian National Writer’s House (Varuna House) and her poetry was recognised in numerous prizes. In both 2022 and 2023, Alison’s work appeared in Best of Australian Poems. She was the inaugural winner of the 2023 University of Cambridge First Nations Writer-in-Residence Fellowship, and took up a two-month writing residency in 2024 with SomoS Arts (Berlin, Germany). Her first full-length collection of poetry, Not Telling, will be published this year with Puncher & Wattmann.

Hey Alison—thanks so much for speaking to TSR! I am a huge fan of your poem ‘tincture’ and am especially excited to see it work within the theme MEETCUTE. Your piece works as a refreshing antithesis of the theme, awash in the sharp observation often only reserved for the dreaded result…‘regret’. I am curious if you could share the inspiration behind ‘tincture’ and why you think MEETCUTE was the perfect issue for it.

Hi Lora, thanks for the question and your generous interpretation of my work. The poem came out of a particular experience I had of love and loss. It actually contains fragments of conversation with someone who was close to me. In my writing, I am often drawn by notions of contradiction, contrast and double meaning. If there is an alternative viewpoint to be had, I will try to find it. In ‘tincture’ I was trying to convey something of the depths and complexities of human relationships, to communicate that even if we experience euphoria or excitement in love, calamities and heartbreak are inevitable, even on small scales. As a contrarian, I probably also just wanted to mess with the idea of perfect love haha.

I’ve had the immense privilege to read many of your other pieces that have been published in the past, and one thing I have observed is the expansive research that tends to anchor all your work. I was hoping that you would speak about your writing practice, particularly the importance of research to the poetic voice.

That’s very kind, thank you. My research tends to happen concurrently with writing poetry but also incidentally. I consume a lot of social and political commentary, including from news outlets, but I read as widely as possible in fiction and other non-fiction sources. I make a point of talking about politics with people whose views I trust. As someone who writes partly to expose the truth about Australian history, research is integral to do that with integrity. I see the two as inseparable. Being a consumer of information, I can write important emerging themes into my poetry. I am engaged in a daily writing practice. Even if I’m short on time, I make sure I write something every day. Over time, I’ve developed a daily, weekly and monthly structure for my poetry production which means I produce frequently.

Congratulations on your forthcoming collection Not Telling which will be published later this year! Crafting and curating a full-length collection is a massive feat, and I was wondering if you had any advice for emerging poets who dream of doing the same.

Write every day and seek feedback from trusted people. If you want to succeed as a writer, you must work at it really regularly. I am still working at improving and always trying to better my poetry. This will be a lifelong process. You also have to find intrinsic motivation because you need a way of managing rejections, which will be many! And make sure you are reading something every day or week. I can’t remember who said good writers read more than they write. I don’t live up to it unfortunately but it resonates with me. Each book, article, poem, story I read inspires me and generates or develops my own ideas.

Thanks so much Alison! It was a pleasure working with you on TSR #34: MEETCUTE!

Thank you for publishing my piece and interviewing me.

Lora Subotic

Lora is a writer and editor living in Narrm. Her work has been featured in the Cordite Poetry Review, Demure magazine, The City Journal, and published by the Bowen Street Press. She was a recipient to the inaugural Ultimo Prize with her poetry included in the prize anthology Everything, All At Once. Her work focuses on transnationalism of second-generation refugee children, the inheritance of memory, and the futile search for ‘home’. She likes to read her work aloud to her cats. They like it less.