Buy: Moth and Ghost at Work by Stephen Rendon | Abode Press | Publication Date: 2024 | ISBN: 979-8-9900598-3-2 | 24 Page | $12.00
What are you currently reading?
I’ve been reading a lot of books with basketball as a central theme; The absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, The White Boy Shuffle, There’s Alway This Year. I’m not sure why, but that’s what’s been getting my attention lately
Do you have a new project that you’re working on? Could you tell us a bit about it?
4 years ago i started on a project that was supposed be three short poems. Since than it’s turned into a chapbook and then a novella, so we’ll see where it goes. I’m trying to blend weather patterns, rodeos, and labor unions together to say something about climate change but I haven’t really figured it our yet. If you have any ideas let me know.
What are some key themes present in your book?
I started writing this book in the months before my dad died. It was the first time I really wrestled with the fact that things end. I think this book was me trying to wrestle with what a life spent in a small town, not being able to chase the dreams that you had your whole life, or maybe what it means to chase them in a small way. It was also just a way to spend more time with him, to guess at the thoughts he would never tell me. You can’t tell a story about our history or current day without the themes of oppression, labor, AI, and poverty being in it but I hope that more than anything it tells the story of a life that’s worth living even if it was in many ways unfulfilled.
Outside of writing, what are some of your passions or hobbies?
My first love was movies, and my whole family has always been in and out of bands, so I spend a lot of my free time watching movies and making music. But I also love gardening, juggling and watching almost literally any sport. One day I hope to be the next Bill Simmons.
What living poet/writer had the biggest influence on your book?
Valeria Luiselli and Cormac McCarthy, who I somehow had forgotten was dead until I responded to this question, so I’m cheating and leaving him in.
Stephen Rendon is 28 year old writing, working and living in a small town in Texas. His work has appeared in various publications.