We love learning more about our contributors, and an interview seemed like a fun way to hear more about the writers and artists we publish, so we gave them a choice of questions to answer. We hope you also enjoy hearing more about the artists and their works. Read on and check out the Second Chances reprints special for "After, at the Kitchen Table" from Keli Osborn.



What was the inspiration for the piece published in the issue?
Nora Ephron is supposed to have said: “Everything is copy.” And a three-day wake and funeral service in the mid-1980s sparked my poem, “After, at the Dinner Table.” It must be the rare death ritual that doesn’t conjure memories and myths about which we laugh, cry and argue. My poem’s form also carries the influence of Denise Levertov’s “About Marriage,“ which I’m only noticing now! See: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/browse?volume=103&issue=1&page=93

What are your 3-5 favorite and 3-5 least favorite words and why?
River, fury and bones show up in multiple poems of mine. Are these my favorites? When speaking, I frequently invoke a particular f-word. I also like vanish and its synonyms, which could give a therapist a field day. Words of motion and impermanence grab me. As for least favorite words, even a benign maybe or still comes in handy. And the much-loathed moist does sound…moist, but it too can fit an occasion.

What is your favorite vice? What are you drinking at happy hour, in a literal or a metaphorical sense?
I imbibe water and herbal tea—if only I could sip a glass of Barolo or a chilled margarita without inviting a migraine! My kind of happy hour is drinking the company of family and friends, ideally with some unforgivable dessert and at least one new revelation. After happy hour is the quiet retreat.

Why did you feel like After Happy Hour would be a good home for this piece?
I appreciate the call for previously published writings. Recirculating stories and poems among fresh audiences and in conversation with different pieces gives them new life—and changes them. About After Happy Hour, I’ll add that a journal born in a basement and nourished by a community of writing pals sounds like a good time, and a lot like love.