Four amazing new interns have joined the Press this fall—remotely, from around the country—and it’s our pleasure to introduce you to each of them here. We’ll share their 60-second Q&As every #MeettheInternMonday in the coming weeks, so check back!
P.S. Interested in participating in an internship with us from January to June 2025? Applications are due November 1st. Learn more here.
Meet Taylor
CCP: What’s your favorite aspect of the intern experience at Copper Canyon Press so far?
T: My favorite aspect of the intern experience is the level of excitement everyone has to share poetry with one another. Every staff meeting begins and ends with a poetry reading, staff is quick to share the accomplishments of Copper Canyon Press poets, and interns are gifted poetry collections so we can discover new favorites! Even though there is much work to be done at the Press, there is always time to ground ourselves in the written word.
CCP: Please tell us about a forthcoming Copper Canyon Press title you’re excited about, and why.
T: Winter of Worship by Kayleb Rae Candrilli. I am captivated by the way their poetry journeys landscapes, whether those landscapes are rural Pennsylvania, the body, personal relationships, or identity. Kayleb’s language meets grief with gentleness, continuously transforming alongside its subjects. I am excited to read more in their upcoming collection!
CCP: Please give us a line from a poem that you can’t get out of your head.
T: One of the very first poems we read in my college poetry course was “Dear Reader” by James Tate, and the opening line has haunted me ever since. “Dear Reader / I am trying to pry open your casket / with this burning snowflake.” I was struck by this desperation for connection that simultaneously highlights the power of the written word. Only in a written reality can this snowflake be unmelting, hoping to save us from a wordless death. Writing feels like holding that burning snowflake. Reading feels like a crack in the casket lid.
Meet Allen
CCP: What’s your favorite aspect of the intern experience at Copper Canyon Press so far?
A: My favorite aspect of the intern experience at CCP so far has been seeing how many hands a title passes through before getting published. As an intern, I’ve gotten to share in the processes of almost every department, and I know that these books are handled with such love and care. It makes me incredibly hopeful for the future of poetry and our community.
CCP: Please tell us about a forthcoming Copper Canyon Press title you’re excited about, and why.
A: I am excited for the release of Kitchen Hymns by Pádraig Ó Tuama. The craft in this collection is beautiful and ritualistic, full of litany, praise, and song. I hope to one day hear these poems read aloud, and am looking forward to the reader response on this one.
CCP: Please give us a line from a poem that you can’t get out of your head.
A: When I find myself lost or cynical, I remember this line from “The Story” by Hieu Minh Nguyen: “never told her that story, the one / where a boy finds a tongue, / ten years later, fermenting / in a jar. I never told her / how someone reached inside me / and turned on all the faucets.” I think sometimes we can have a sense of powerlessness about who we are and what happens to us, but what we may be forgetting is that the living (read here: surviving) have the greatest gift: time. Time to grieve, to reconcile, to reimagine, and to rewrite, as Nguyen does here. It reminds me that a story can take as long as it needs to be heard.
Meet Courtney
CCP: What’s your favorite aspect of the intern experience at Copper Canyon Press so far?
C: My favorite aspect of the intern experience at Copper Canyon Press is being surrounded by talented professionals who are deeply passionate about poetry. As I am gearing up to be a professional in the publishing industry, it is encouraging to see the genuine care for Copper Canyon Press’s authors and how that translates to the final printed page. Working as a Production Intern with the Production Editor, Claretta, I have witnessed the Press’s mission on the micro-level of line edits to major table of contents reordering. The work we do reflects Copper Canyon Press’s attitude toward poetry: that it is vital to language and living.
CCP: Please tell us about a forthcoming Copper Canyon Press title you’re excited about, and why.
I am most looking forward to Kitchen Hymns by Pádraig Ó Tuama to be released. I was lucky enough to work on the manuscript and to carefully proof each page. What was meant to be a critical read-through with my production lenses quickly turned into utter awe of Ó Tuama’s craft (and a tear shed here and there…). I am very excited for Kitchen Hymns to be out in the world!
CCP: Please give us a line from a poem that you can’t get out of your head.
I generously received some books from the press, one of them being Jane Huffman’s Public Abstract. This line from “On difficulty” particularly stood out to me: “Rhyme is so public. / Weeping openly / in a crowded latitude.” This line, and the collection as a whole, got me thinking about the inherent lack of privacy we have as artists, but also merely as people. That can be frightening, but also divinely healing.
Meet Alex
CCP: What’s your favorite aspect of the intern experience at Copper Canyon Press so far?
A: My favorite aspect is being immersed in this poetry haven Copper Canyon Press has created. Everyone is so deeply committed to poetry. It’s an attitude present in every aspect of the press: in the work we do, the poem readings that close and open each staff meeting, the selection of books we’re able to choose each month. I owe so much of my perspective to my love of literature and this internship has allowed me to look behind the scenes. Being at Copper Canyon Press has taught me so much of what goes into facilitating a poetry community.
CCP: Please tell us about a forthcoming Copper Canyon Press title you’re excited about, and why.
A: Natalie Scenters-Zapico’s My Perfect Cognate (forthcoming 2025)! Natalie’s exploration of identity through linguistics is a deft weave of the deeply personal and academic, often aligning the concept of a mirrored self with language cognates. Such a creative and beautiful collection and one whose layout I’m super excited to see in print.
CCP: Please give us a line from a poem that you can’t get out of your head.
A: I really love this line from Naomi Shihab Nye’s “Gate A-4”: “This can still happen everywhere. Not everything is lost.” I first read this poem at the start of college and I turn back to it often; it’s a reminder that many of life’s small joys come from connection, whether with a stranger on the bus or flowering weeds along a sidewalk. These joys may be fleeting but the existence of small joys is always recurring.