Elaina Whitesell
Elaina Whitesell (she/her or they/them) is a third semester poetry student in our MFA. She joined our first cohort in Spring ‘21. She is a poet and musician. Together with her partner Joey, she forms the band Magenta Moon. You can find some of her music under “Soul Bone News” on our home page as well as below. Here an interview with her conducted by Aliyah Warwick, our admin. and another student in our MFA program:
Q: Where are you from originally?
A: I was born in Champaign, Illinois. At ten I moved to Ann Arbor, and then I went to high school just outside of Naples, Florida. I went to undergrad in Baltimore, and then moved to Indianapolis, Indiana for some time before making a two-month road trip to find where to live next.
Q: Where do you live now?
A: I now live in Portland, Oregon! In a northwestern neighborhood called Slabtown. I love that I can participate in the MFA remotely, and that I’ve found an additional community in Fairfield—all my internet friends.
Q: What drew you to MIU’s MFA in Creative Writing Program?
A: I’d been interested in TM since my last year of undergraduate. I found myself missing spiritual nurturing. During our long quarantine in Portland, I wrote one hundred poems. As paths opened, I began to pray for guidance from my ancestors. It was in the winter of 2020 that I suddenly felt lit up and compelled to apply to the MFA program!
Q: What kind of writing do you enjoy most? A: I am primarily a poet. I love reading and writing poetry, but I also enjoy reading academic writing and the occasional novel, though my attention span is better suited to poetry. I have dreams to one day write a novel set in the near future. I also write songs. In my band Magenta Moon, I write lyrics and melodies and I’ve been writing from the bass lately.
Q: What is the primary writing project you hope to complete during the MFA?
A: I am working on a book-length manuscript of poems.
Q: What inspires you?
A: Everything. I fall in love with everything. I love how the physical world is so beautifully arranged; I love the way things come together. Each day I wake up excited to see how the light hits and washes everything.
I am also deeply inspired by surprise. What makes people laugh or when two words get jammed together that I wouldn’t usually think would.I like to start my days opening myself up to unexpected miracles. Then I notice them!
And I am deeply inspired by my partner, Joey. Our relationship is a place of safety and inspiration. He is my primary audience and co-creator, and our love frees me up to experiment.
Q: What is your creative philosophy?A: I create for my Self. My higher self. I believe we are all manifestations of God pushing through the veil to inhabit matter in order to tell each other stories of love. All day we create. We tell stories, we narrate our experiences. Both to ourselves and others. That is the beauty of reintegrating the ego. The ego enables us to tell our stories from a unique identity and to love, to dive back into unity consciousness.
On the other end, my goal is to see and love as many faces of God as I can during this lifetime. Whether it’s on stage or through the page or in the restaurant where I work.
Q: What is your favorite part of the MFA program so far?A: This is a very difficult question. I am in my third semester, and each one has been so different. The residencies are incredible. They’re exhausting and so full that they tucker me out, but they re-frame and jumpstart my creative juices.
I deeply value Nynke Passi’s timely discussion of Lorca’s Duende and Robert Bly’s Leaping Mind. I’ve loved working with Rustin Larson and Zoë Hitzel. Each mentor has brought out a different dimension of my writing. Rustin helped me play and experiment, to write secret poems for myself, and Zoë helped me ground that play in clarity and narrative.
But probably my favorite part is getting to share and socialize with my cohort. Each person is a complex and gorgeous universe with many lessons for me. I love exchanging emails and phone calls, hearing what each person has to say in workshop, and spending days on Zoom together.
More from Elaina:
Read Elaina's poem published in New Limestone Review here.
Check out the website for Elaina's band, Magenta Moon here.