Sometimes the world can be...a lot. Sometimes we crave — even need — a healthy breather, wherever we can find it.
“Sometimes,” says author and poet Yrsa Daley-Ward, saying what we’re all really thinking, “I just want to sit in my house and just be.”
Daley-Ward, who has charmed and transfixed the internet with her work, is also known for her collection of poetry called Bone and, most recently, The Terrible, an experimental memoir of stitched-together verses and vignettes. She dropped in on Friday’s latest episode of After After Party to talk about her writing process, her reading list (currently she’s cracking into The Red Tent by Anita Diamant), and the importance of taking some time for yourself.
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For Daley-Ward, peace, quiet, and solitude are a welcome respite from the madness of existing — or at least the perfect way to process it all.
“It’s a relief,” Daley-Ward said. “I don’t talk a whole lot, but I write it all down.”
But as prolific as she is, Daley-Ward says the words really come to her when she’s alone, comfortable, and cozying up with her thoughts. “I love being by myself,” she said.
Daley-Ward’s take on quiet creativity and self-care seems all the more radical in the context of 2018, which has so far proven to be equal parts loud and absurd. Host Sonia Denis and the After After Party panel (Matt Rogers, Carri Twigg, and Luke Mones) joined Daley-Ward to skewer some of the biggest news headlines through some impromptu spoken word — and while she’s all about that alone time, Daley-Ward is clearly a total natural under the spotlight.
“Azealia Banks loved the mango,” she read. “Can you believe in civility? I’m sorry.”
Snaps for that.
Watch the full interview below: