Fierce Friday: Cassie Premo Steele
“ This year, as we stay home and dig deeper into the earth, I am writing in a way that allows me to say things as if they were the last things I would say.” Cassie Premo Steele
My dear friend and fellow poet Kathleen Nalley introduced me to Cassie Premo Steele, saying something to the effect that she was also a badass and we would definitely get along. I got to know her virtually though a poetry project she had on Facebook called Wordy Wednesday. Since then, I have come to truly admire her words, her grace, her spirit, and her active belief in community.
Out of all of your accomplishments, what are you most proud of and why?
I am most proud of a lifetime of writing what I wanted to write, how I wanted to write it, and believing in myself and my writing.
That is not to say it hasn’t been difficult. There have been very dark days, long nights of the soul, and many struggles to rise up from the floor again.
But I did it. I keep doing it. I’ve published 16 books and audio programs, and I’ve got more in the works.
I do it not only for myself but for my daughter and wife and stepdaughter and daughter outlaw and grandbaby and all of the many generations – blood-related and love-related – who will come after me.
What are you currently working on? How long have you been working on it? How did you become interested in it/ where did you get the idea for it?
I am currently writing in a deeper way as a result of the coronavirus. A focused, slower, more disciplined way that is also more connected to spirit.
It’s interesting that today is Holy Thursday. I was raised Catholic and have a very devout, and wise, Catholic philosopher mother. Even though I am not a regular church goer, I have always tried to live my life with an awareness of the mystery of life and death and life again. My wife can attest that I eat every meal as if it is the Last Supper!
This year, as we stay home and dig deeper into the earth, I am writing in a way that allows me to say things as if they were the last things I would say.
And this takes place in my journal, in my own handwriting, not for anyone else. It is sacred.
Later, after it has time to rise, I may prepare to bake and serve it.
What issue are you currently most passionate about? What is the one thing you would like people to know or understand about this issue?
The earth, the birds, the trees, sunlight, the breeze—everything is alive.
Everything is conscious and speaking and has memory and lessons to teach.
And everything dies.
And when it dies, there never has been nor will there be another one exactly like that one.
This is the mystery of it.
What female author’s work would you recommend and why?
Audre Lorde, who defined herself as a “black, lesbian, mother, warrior, poet,” is speaking to me now. When we went into quarantine with our 20-year old daughter in early March, my wife ordered the book I Am Your Sister: Collected and Unpublished Writings of Audre Lorde for me because it came out in 2009 and I realized I had never read it. I have read and studied and taught and loved Audre Lorde for over 30 years now. This book is a revelation to me in these dark/light times.
Name one woman who has influenced you/ had an impact on you, perhaps as a mentor. Why and how did she impact your life?
It’s interesting that you should ask that because one of the editors of I Am Your Sister is Beverly Guy-Sheftall, the founding director of the Spelman College Women's Research and Resource Center. When I was getting my Ph.D. in Comparative Literature and Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies at Emory University, Dr. Guy-Sheftall very generously came across town to teach a graduate course on Black Feminist Theory. We read the xeroxed copies of writings of black feminists she had collected from archives from all over the world – what would later become her anthology, Words of Fire, the first comprehensive collection to trace the development of African American feminist thought.
I still hear Beverly’s voice in my head when I write and teach and think. I especially remember how she said the word, “Particularly,” very definitively pronouncing every syllable, and it reminds me to be particular, that every being is particular, and that in this time of physical distancing and staying home, we are all part of creating a new, collective understanding of what it means to be “separately, individually, specifically” who we are meant to be as part of one world community.
I am grateful to Beverly and to Audre, and to you for this opportunity, and I am grateful to be alive and writing at this time in history.
Check out Cassie Premo Steele’s latest Joywork audio lesson! The theme is Philosophy and Freedom, and it includes a reading of one of her poems and a creative prompt.
Cassie Premo Steele, Ph.D., is an ecofeminist poet, novelist and TEDx speaker living in South Carolina with her wife and daughter (now attending college in her bedroom.) Her poetry has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize six times, and her most recent books are Earth Joy Writing, Beautiful Waters, Tongues in Trees, and The ReSisters. Her website is www.cassiepremosteele.com
https://twitter.com/PremoSteele