Poetry Foundation interviews Sina Queyras

Sina Queyras is on the cover of the Poetry Foundation website this month, talking about her 'Euphoria' poems.

'Poetry Foundation:Tell us about the title of the sequence, “Euphoria.” What feels like euphoria to you? How is the poem a meditation on the word—if it is.

Sina Queyras: The title comes from a video my sister was working on in the final months of her life. After years of struggling with her art, and years of battling cancer, she began a project that she described as “reasons for euphoria.” In this work she allowed herself to move toward joy, toward the beautiful, in a simple way, when so little about her life was simple.

She didn’t finish the project and left me the footage. My sister engaged with life voraciously, and in the end she was quite euphoric. I plan on transcribing, or describing, as much of this footage as I can for these poems ... These poems chronicle, and in a way meditate on, my sister, the city, her love affair with the city, and with life, as much as they explore grief.'

Click here to see an excerpt from 'Euphoria' and read the whole interview.