The Opiate took some time to talk to Chiara Maxia about poetry, her process, her inspirations and her new collection, The Fire Within. Check out the interview below!
The Opiate: If you had to quantify how many years in the making The Fire Within has been, when would you say you actually started working toward creating a collection of work that so seamlessly ties together? Was it always your intention to have a book?
Chiara Maxia: All the poems in The Fire Within were written without thinking about grouping them in a collection, at least initially. But then I decided to put them together in one place. Honestly, I find it hard to answer the questions “How long did it take?” and “How did you start writing?” because I cannot identify a pivotal moment: for me it just happened—I wasn’t writing until I was.
The Opiate: How long would you say it took to “cultivate your style”? Is poetry something you just dove right into, or was there a more careful, cautious approach to it? Did you have anyone who served as a mentor for you during your early days?
Chiara Maxia: I believe it took me a while (a good while!) to sharpen my style. Like many, creating has been a way of somehow interpreting reality, so the first draft is always a hot, handwritten mess, while editing takes a careful and cautious approach. I wouldn’t say I had a mentor, but I definitely learned a lot from the poets and artists I’ve met in my life.
The Opiate: “Pankow” is one of the most standout poems in the collection. Would you mind telling us a little bit about its development—for example, whether it was based on a personal experience—and how these types of ephemeral encounters can often leave such a lasting impact on us, even years later? Does it have something to do with being able to project whatever you want onto a person if you never allow yourself to really get to know them?
Chiara Maxia: “Pankow” stemmed from a mixture of different thoughts and experiences. Actually, in my teens I had a phase in which I didn’t want to speak much because “words don’t have a direct equivalence to thoughts and feelings.” I thought we humans could only produce a pale and distorted imitation of what’s going on inside our heads, making it even more complicated to get. I understand it’s quite ironic, from someone who works with words. To answer to the second part of the question, I believe that ephemeral encounters can have a huge, long-lasting impact.
The Opiate: Many poems in the collection have an understandably jaded tone when it comes to love or even just brief romances. A poem like “Sparrow” is a good example with its opening verse, “You say I’m not girlfriend material/you’re probably right/your wife used to be your girlfriend too and look at her now…” Artfully revealing the narrator as “the other woman,” it also paints the married man in question as the worst sort of male trope. Do you have more faith in men and relationships than The Fire Within lets on? (If not, it’s totally understandable.)
Chiara Maxia: I don’t like to think of people as men or women, but as individuals. So, I definitely don’t have any prejudice about a gender or a category.
The Opiate: A diplomatic answer. In terms of the style and themes of your work, would you say Lana Del Rey has deliberately infiltrated your poems or did she simply creep in through osmosis…as is the case for so many of us?
Chiara Maxia: I appreciate Lana Del Rey a lot, especially her references to poets and writers I admire, and her highly evocative lyrics. I believe that, to use your words, it crept in through osmosis. Writers always get inspired from other artists they admire, even if it happens unconsciously.
The Opiate: What other poets and writers have been most influential on your work?
Chiara Maxia: Punk poets like Patti Smith and John Cooper Clarke definitely had a big impact on me. There are also other writers that have been influential on my work: Irvine Welsh, Viola Di Grado and Alberto Moravia, to name a few.
The Opiate: “Badlands” is often a word people associate with U.S. topography. In your poem “badlands,” you speak to the Mediterranean version with some very evocative descriptions (e.g., “with the black sea roaring in the distance/breaking its waves on opalescent rocks/with plants finding their way back/through nude bricks and broken asphalt”). Are there badlands in the place where you’re from that inspired this?
Chiara Maxia: I was born in a household by the sea, and the surroundings are full of Mediterranean scrub and badlands. I think that if you were born near the sea, it somehow shapes you. I believe a fair percentage of my blood is saltwater.
The Opiate: Talking of “place” and how it affects your writing, there are a few poems in The Fire Within that are centered around a particular city, with “Paris, Paris” being one of the most love letter-y, especially the final lines, “I can be alone forever in Paris/I can never be lonely.” Do you consider Paris to be the type of city you need to leave for periods of time in order to appreciate it (without getting annoyed by all the “Emily in Paris” types) or, if it were up to you, would live here full-time?
Chiara Maxia: I love Paris, definitely. But I need to go back to Sardinia every now and then. I consider myself lucky to be able to split my time between France and Italy.
The Opiate: You’re also an actor. Do you find that the mediums of poetry and acting often coincide, or are these two entirely separate facets of your artistic life?
Chiara Maxia: Both acting and writing are about telling stories. You could say they’re the two sides of the same coin.
The Opiate: Many of your poems do have a very sweeping, cinematic style. Are there any films that have been a source of inspiration or served as a “mood board,” if you will, for your poetry? If so, which films or directors would you cite as influences?
Chiara Maxia: I love cinema, especially independent and fairly unknown films, and I watch a lot of them. I would cite the works of directors such as Ulrich Seidl, Jim Jarmusch and Andrea Arnold for sure…there are too many to name!
The Opiate: What upcoming projects do you have, whether writing or acting-related?
Chiara Maxia: Once The Fire Within promotion is done, I intend to complete and edit a collection of short stories I wrote in Italian. Also, lately I’ve been modeling a bit for a few photographer friends, and I really got involved into the idea of storytelling through images. I would like to learn more about photography and keep collaborating on creative projects.
Chiara Maxia’s The Fire Within is available via all major book outlets, buy your copy today!