Tara Betts Is a Damn Bandit

I’m so thrilled that the first person to be interviewed here is Dr. Tara Betts. Thank you, Tara—the inaugural Damn Bandit!

Tara Betts (@tarabetts) is the author of two poetry collections, BREAK THE HABIT (Trio House, 2016) and ARC & HUE (Aquarius Press/Willow Books, 2009) and the forthcoming REFUSE TO DISAPPEAR. She also co-edited The Beiging of America and edited a critical edition of Philippa Duke Schuyler’s Adventures in Black and White. In addition to her work as a teaching artist and mentor for young poets, she’s taught at prisons and several universities, including Rutgers University and University of Illinois-Chicago. Tara is the Poetry Editor at The Langston Hughes Review and the Lit Editor at Newcity. Betts is currently hard at work to establish The Whirlwind Center on Chicago’s South Side. 

1. What is the best thing that has been said/written about your writing?

I feel really blessed that I’ve had people tell me that my writing saved their lives, or that I captured something that they deeply felt. I think that’s what poets strive to do. Honestly, I’ve probably enjoyed what people say about my work as a writing teacher even more. 

2. What is the worst thing that has been said/written about your writing?

I remember I read an online review by an undergrad who was essentially forced to read my book, and she made a point to say my writing was “crude.” When people use a blanket adjective like that, when I shy away from so-called obscenities and sometimes being explicit, it strikes me as if they are very lax about what they read—as if they can summarize it in a way that’s shorter than CliffsNotes or Shmoop, then they’re happy. When you just gloss over language, you can miss so much about what any piece of writing has to offer.

3. What is the best writing advice you’ve been given?

Other than keep reading and keep writing? You have to be willing to step out of what routines are comfortable too. Sometimes, I have to have coffee or go for a walk. Sometimes, I need to wash the dishes, watch a movie, or look at art. In short, doing life triggers the writing process for me too. I used to write every day. Now, I write a lot under deadlines. I’m working on making my creative writing, which is solely for me, a more regular almost-daily practice. When I was having a particularly hard time and I was finishing my PhD, Martín Espada encouraged me to “Be brave.” To me, that looks like a few things, but being able to put the pen to the page and persistently press forward is a part of that. Afaa Weaver and Willie Perdomo have encouraged me to just stay focused on the writing. When I think of Lucille Clifton, I think about how humor is so important, especially for women. I want to try to incorporate that sense of levity, even when I talk about something heavy, but I also think often about an epigraph in Nikky Finney‘s Head Off & Split, which was a quote from Toni Cade Bambara. She told Finney, “Don’t leave the arena to the fools.” I think that applies to any particular arena where you find yourself. 

4. What is the worst writing advice you’ve been given? 

I typically haven’t gotten “bad” writing advice, but I will say whenever people have a certain tone about writing in general, I know it’s time for me to exit a conversation with a person. For example, if they question “Why are you writing about X?” Or, “You need to stop writing that.” It’s often enveloped in a critical tone that undermines you writing at all. It’s often ironic how that same person who questioned you does what you did or encourages someone else to do it. It also contradicts the reality that writers often write a lot of material that never becomes public to create what readers discover in a published book or journal. Imagine if you never wrote something that led you to the work that you were meant to do. You’d never attain that benchmark that you never saw coming. 

5. Who writes like a Damn Bandit?

I love a lot of living bandits who keep generating thought-provoking work, often in multiple genres: Hanif Abdurraqib, Eve Ewing, Barbara Jane Reyes, Aimee Nezhukumatathil, Evie Shockley. I also like to think of writers who reclaim language in some other ways, like Haunani-Kay Trask and Chrystos. In terms of the writers who are no longer in the land of the living, Toni Morrison, June Jordan, Wanda Coleman, Adrienne Rich were definitely some of the baddest Damn Bandits to ever ink pages.