MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
If you do not like poetry, this next conversation is for you. In fact, you're in good company because we are about to chat with Lyndsay Rush, who didn't think she liked poetry either - until she sat down and started writing it. She kept at it, and the result is a new book called "A Bit Much." Lyndsay Rush, hi there. Welcome.
LYNDSAY RUSH: Hi.
KELLY: Hi.
RUSH: Thanks so much for having me.
KELLY: So I do have a zillion questions about how a person goes from not caring for poems to writing a whole book of them, but I want to start just by giving people a taste of what kind of poems these are. The first section is love poems. A lot of them are very funny love poems. Would you read us "Someone To Eat Chips With"?
RUSH: (Laughter) I would be honored.
(Reading) All I'm looking for is someone to laugh at all my jokes, give me the pickle that comes with their sandwich, explain daylight saving time to me every year - multiple times - read the entire contract and tell me if I should sign, bear the weight of my failures but be the first to put the feather in my cap, be the keeper of my heart and the curator of my secrets, stand in the dark doorway of our uncertain future and step inside. Is that so much to ask?
KELLY: I was having to bite my lip to keep from bursting out laughing and interrupting you at the "explain daylight saving time to me multiple times." (Laughter) The number of boyfriends I had who failed that test, and I needed it...
RUSH: (Laughter)
KELLY: It so perfectly captures - like, what I'm really looking for is pretty simple.
RUSH: My husband is like, please, please no. Like, it's his worst time of the year, twice a year.
KELLY: (Laughter).
RUSH: He's like, can we not? Can we please not? And I'm like, but this is what you signed up for.
KELLY: Yeah. OK, so how does a person go from not particularly caring for poems to writing a whole book of them? What's your story?
RUSH: (Laughter) Yeah, so I really think I always viewed poetry as a genre that was just a little out of reach for me. Then I started discovering, I guess you could call it internet poetry - you know, instapoets (ph) and certain things that just felt a little more attainable and fun. And I was like, well, wait a second. This is actually a hoot. And so I just - I took - I actually took old Twitter jokes of mine and used them either as the title, the first line or the last line and just expounded on them and started having fun and thought, oh, I love this.
KELLY: You nodded to your presence on social media. And you're kind of a big deal, Lyndsay Rush, on Instagram...
RUSH: (Laughter).
KELLY: ...Where you post using the handle @maryoliversdrunkcousin - Mary Oliver being the very famous poet. Why Mary Oliver? How did you come up with that handle?
RUSH: I chose Mary Oliver because she's well-known, and I think especially for her attention to detail and curiosity and how she takes small, everyday things that you might otherwise overlook and bring beauty to them and meaning to them and joy to them. And I thought, you know, how do I communicate to the internet or anyone that might stumble across my work - my early work especially - that I hope to have that, but with some irreverence? And, you know, my details are not geese and nature and things. It's like Doritos and nail art and other things that are a little more - so I was like, maybe I'm her drunk cousin.
KELLY: (Laughter).
RUSH: And it - people love it, which is great. They're always like, I'm following you just for the handle alone.
KELLY: OK, so you do have a poem in this book which will make this very clear to people. You're reimagining the top of one of Mary Oliver's most famous poems. It is called "Wild Geese," and I'm going to read the original. This is the top of Mary Oliver's "Wild Geese."
(Reading) You do not have to be good. You do not have to walk on your knees for 100 miles through the desert, repenting. You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves.
Lyndsay Rush, read yours.
RUSH: This is "Wet N Wild Geese (After Mary Oliver)."
(Reading) You do not have to be good at makeup. You do not have to walk on your knees for 100 miles through a Sephora, repenting. You only have to let the soft contours of your face look how it looks.
(LAUGHTER)
KELLY: It's so funny, and it's so sweet. Tell me how you - how this came together.
RUSH: You know, I think a lot of people initially presumed that I was sort of doing parodies of Mary Oliver's work, which is fair, given that handle. And so I thought, well, why don't I try my hand at one? And then this was born.
KELLY: You dedicate this book to Michelle Pfeiffer.
RUSH: (Laughter).
KELLY: OK. (Laughter) So do you actually know Michelle Pfeiffer?
RUSH: (Laughter) This is such a silly thing.
KELLY: (Laughter).
RUSH: I belabored forever about the dedication to this book. And you've written plenty of books. You know. It felt like such a loaded...
KELLY: It's so hard - yeah - and so...
RUSH: So hard.
KELLY: Yeah.
RUSH: You want to be sincere, but you don't want to be cheesy. And forever, I just thought...
KELLY: I never considered Michelle Pfeiffer.
RUSH: (Laughter) You didn't? Well, think about it.
KELLY: Although in hindsight, that might have been the smart - OK, so...
RUSH: (Laughter) So the back...
KELLY: ...How did this come to be?
RUSH: Yeah, the backstory is that Michelle Pfeiffer posted one of my poems on Instagram, and it helped it go viral. Obviously, the Michelle Pfeiffer, Catwoman herself - and it was the poem that the book is named after. The poem itself is called "She's A Bit Much," which is intended typically in a negative sense to tell women that they should take up less space, be smaller. And I turned it on its head to say - I list a bunch of things that are a bit much that are beloved. And Michelle Pfeiffer posted it. So Michelle, if you're listening, I dedicated this book to you (laughter).
KELLY: (Laughter) Well, let me invite you to read maybe the full version of that - the "She's A Bit Much" - 'cause that feels like a nice place to land.
RUSH: That is a great idea. Let me pull that up.
(Reading) She's a bit much. You mean like a bonus French fry in the bottom of the bag? Like a champagne shower? Like triple-texting good news? Like buying coffee for the person behind you in line? Or did you mean a bit much like an unexpected upgrade to business class, or theme parties, or the band pretending to go offstage and then coming back for an unforgettable encore? Perhaps you are referring to that thing of being astonished by a sunset or how puppies flop around when they learn to run or the way some people take karaoke really seriously. Maybe you just meant sprinkles, confetti, balloon drops, witty comebacks, generous tips, fireworks, water slides, serotonin, cherries on top, and the fact that maybe we were put on this planet simply to enjoy ourselves. Then yes, I agree, she is a bit much. Aren't we so lucky she's here?
KELLY: So lucky. I'll take all of it. The sprinkles and the cherries on the top and the upgrade to business class.
RUSH: (LAUGHTER)
KELLY: Lyndsay Rush, thank you.
RUSH: Thank you for having me.
KELLY: We have been talking about her debut poetry collection, which is titled "A Bit Much."
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