Virtual Memories Show 684:
Ali Trotta
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: Spotify | TuneIn | RSS | More
“I think mythology and fairy tales provide a good baseline, because almost everyone has read a subset of those stories, and the symbolism is something most people can reach for and relate to.”
With her debut poetry collection, OFFERINGS FOR ORDINARY GODS (Clash Books), Ali Trotta brings myth, magick, tarot, and ritual to bear on the eternal & primal struggle of women. We talk about those roots and how tarot and ancient myth inspired her work, where tarot began for her — ’90s, The Craft — and how past guest Katelan Foisy resparked her interest and showed her new depths in the cards, and her focus on revising ancient myths to retell the stories of wronged women like Persephone, Medusa, and Dido. We get into how she feels at seeing her work collected and how to look at her development as a poet without cringing at her younger selves, how everything is fair game and poetry can serve as exorcism, and how confession can be deeply coded in a poem. We also discuss the teacher who gave her the tools to read poetry deeply, her Very Online-ness and how she’s built relationships and writer communities online (and how it’s good to be part of the Group-Chat), her online #tinypoem flurries and how rockstar she felt when someone got a tattoo of one on their arm, the project(s) she’d love to write, and more. PLUS: She reads a few of her poems and gives me my second tarot reading of the summer! Give it a listen! And go read OFFERINGS FOR ORDINARY GODS!
“I know I’ve done my job as a writer if I’ve made someone cry or made someone angry.”
“We get stuck in the everyday bits of life. You forget the things that are worth living for, the things that matter. You can sacrifice yourself as much as you want to earning a living and paying taxes, but you can’t forget to live. Don’t sacrifice the pieces of yourself that you shouldn’t.”
“I think in poems. That’s how I look at the world and figure the world out, and figure myself out.”
Enjoy the conversation! Then check out the archives for more great episodes!
Lots of ways to follow The Virtual Memories Show! iTunes, Spotify, BlueSky, Instagram, YouTube, Tumblr, and good ol’ RSS!
About our Guest
Ali Trotta is a poet, writer, editor, word nerd, and unapologetic coffee addict. Her poetry has been published in Uncanny, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Asimov’s, Small Wonders, The Deadlands, Fireside, Enchanted Living, Strange Horizons, Cicada, Nightmare, Mermaids Monthly, The Best of Uncanny Magazine (Subterranean Press), and several of the Rhysling Anthology compilations. She lives in New Jersey with a rescue cat named Thor, who is part Maine Coon and part gremlin.
Follow Ali on Bluesky, Instagram and Tumblr, and subscribe to her newsletter.
Credits: This episode’s music is Fella by Hal Mayforth, used with permission from the artist. The conversation was recorded at Ali’s home on a pair of Shure Beta 58A microphones feeding into a Zoom PodTrak P4 digital recorder & interface. I recorded the intro and outro on a Heil PR-40 Dynamic Studio Recording Microphone feeding into a Zoom PodTrak P4. All processing and editing done in Adobe Audition CC. Photo of Ali by her; cover art of book by Katelan Foisy; selfie of us by me. It’s on my instagram.