Various Definitions You Need to Know When Determining Your Zipper Needs, Or How to Put Your Teeth To Use
by Olivia Kingery
Olivia Kingery’s “Various Definitions You Need to Know When Determining Your Zipper Needs…” is a runner up for the 2020 NO CONTEST. Read our interview with the author below the piece.
Olivia Kingery grows plants and words in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. She is an MFA candidate at Northern Michigan University, where she reads for Passages North. When not writing, she is in the woods with her Chihuahua and Great Pyrenees.
An Interview with Olivia Kingery
What drew you to the unique form found in this piece, and what was your source of inspiration for its presentation?
This essay came from a prompt Matt Frank assigned our CNF workshop last semester. Each of us were given a single word and then set free to explore how we'd write an essay on it. My word was zipper, so when I burrowed into Google I found a list of parts of the zipper, with a title similar to the beginning of my piece's, and just dove in from there. The hermit crab form was completely new for me which I think helped in how weird the piece got, simply because I didn't have something of my own to judge the piece against. If I thought is this right? I countered with why can't it be? But I also owe so much to Matt and my peers who were in that workshop for their comments on this essay which had me rediscovering a lot of what I was trying to write about.
Why. . . teeth? The form here meshes so beautifully with function, but we’re curious — how did you decide to examine the nature of teeth in an unnatural mechanism?
So, even though my word was zipper, as I began writing the first section "Chain" I found myself drawn to the "teeth" of the zipper, which led to me thinking about the zipper as a mouth, which led to the larger metaphor and examining my own history with my teeth. It was very unexpected, and one of the first times I felt comfortable stretching my legs into an essay honestly - it's funny how the most unexpected writing can make you the most comfortable/excited.
Tell us a little bit about your writing process these days — has anything changed under quarantine? How have you found inspiration?
Ya know, I have just been trying to be real kind to myself. There is no way I am going to be the same person (or writer) in lockdown than if it were normal times. I make sure to jot down any lines that may come into my head (aka on Meijer receipts and in books and on recipes and in fragmented text messages to my partner), but I haven't been forcing myself to feel bad if I cannot write since...you know...gestures around. I think a lot of my pandemic writing comes from just trying to take in all of the joy the world has to offer, even when that offering seems nonexistent. Or, of course, leaning into the non-joys too, which is just as important. And, I am in my last year of my MFA, so I am really fortunate to have an enlivening workshop space right now that pushes me to create even when I'm feeling creatively sparse.
What have you been reading lately, and what writing have you been particularly struck by? Can you tell us a little bit about what you’ve been working on currently — what’s been keeping you busy, or what you hope to make progress on soon?
My thesis and current manuscript in progress is about roadkill, and pulls apart human relationships with roads and roadkill. I am reading work on the body (both human and more-than-human bodies), animacy, climate change, and natural history. Aka, I am reading a wildly random collection of voices, including a lot of Donna Harraway, Robin Wall Kimmerer, Major Jackson, Nicole Walker, Ross Gay, and currently a book about identifying roadkill. I'm not sure what pushed me to write about roadkill, but everyday I wake up thinking about this project, and how important it is for people to see what a problem our roads have caused. To see how these unnecessary deaths are deemed necessary and labeled collateral damage. I feel the need to share their stories, say I'm sorry in however many ways I can. Authors who delve into this space of history and natural apology stick with me the most too.
What has been keeping me busy? Moving roadkill and writing and cooking (not the roadkill) and hiking with my dogs — finding ways to stay sane. I hope all you readers are as well!
