Poet Cindy Veach: A Poet adrift in the 'Monster Galaxy'

Interview by Off the Shelf Correspondent John Wisniewski

From her website:
Cindy Veach is the author of three full-length poetry collections: Monster Galaxy (MoonPath Press), a finalist for the Sally Albiso Award; Her Kind, (CavanKerry Press), a finalist for the Eric Hoffer Montaigne Medal; and Gloved Against Blood (CavanKerry Press), a finalist for the Paterson Poetry Prize and a Massachusetts Center for the Book "Must Read." She is also the author of the chapbook, Innocents (Nixes Mate Press).

Her poems have appeared in The Academy of American Poets Poem-a-Day Series, AGNI, Chicago Review, Prairie Schooner, Poet Lore, Michigan Quarterly Review, The Journal, Nimrod, North American Review and elsewhere. Her poem, "This Patch Where the Light Cannot Reach," was selected by Mary Ruefle for the Philip Booth Poetry Prize (Salt Hill Journal) and her sonnet crown, "Witch Kitsch," was selected by Marilyn Nelson for the Samuel Washington Allen Prize (New England Poetry Club).

Cindy received an MFA from the University of Oregon where she was a graduate teaching fellow and an assistant poetry editor for Northwest Review. She currently serves as the Poetry Editor for MER (Mom Egg Review).

When did you begin writing, Cindy?

The first poem I remember writing was titled “Red Bird” and was part of an eighth-grade class assignment. After that I started keeping a diary (it had a silky blue floral cover and a padlock) which I filled with terrible poems and a litany of teenage angst. My junior year of high school I enrolled in a creative writing class. There was virtually no instruction. It was basically a free write session (more poems about teenage angst were written). In college I took creative writing courses and began writing more seriously.

Are there any poets who inspire you?

There are many and they have shifted over the years. Early in my writing career I was inspired by James Wright especially his collection “Shall We Gather at the River.” Also, Emily Dickinson, Robert Bly, Gwendolyn Brooks, Sylvia Plath, Ann Sexton, Adrianne Rich, Jane Kenyon and Rilke. While those poets will always be important to me, poets that have been influential in more recent years include Marie Howe, Jennifer Chang, Terrance Hayes and Jericho Brown among others.

Do you find it difficult to provide the reader with glimpses into who you are?

I do find that challenging. My third collection “Monster Galaxy” is my most personal book as it looks at my girlhood and relationship with my father among other things. My first two books are themed around local history and share some slanted glimpses into who I am.

Could you tell us about your early life? Where did you grow up?

I grew up on the East Coast (New England) and the Mid West (Indiana, Iowa). My family moved every 2-3 years due to my father’s education and then, later, his academic career. When I was very young, he decided to go to college (the first in his family to do so) and then he continued for a master’s degree and PhD. Each degree meant a move. Each new academic position meant a move. Consequently, I don’t have a hometown, and I never felt like I belonged. I was always the new kid and that came with a heavy dose of insecurity. At the same time, it made me quite resilient and adaptable.

.Could you tell us about your poetry Collection "Monster Galaxy"? What do you remember most about your childhood?

In hindsight I’ve realized that writing “Monster Galaxy” was how I grieved my father. His passing in 2019 was my first experience with deep grief, and it triggered an examination of my girlhood, my upbringing and became a portal for self- discovery. I found myself looking through a new lens acknowledging my father’s flaws and my own internal monsters. Here is an excerpt from a review by Carla Panciera published in Sugar House Review (link to the full review is included below).

“Cindy Veach’s newest book, Monster Galaxy, is her most intimate collection to date. It reads like a memoir while making the personal archetypal. It allows for the intimate details of one life to reveal the universal and it reminds us that memories and experiences may individuate us, but they do not make us other.

Veach employs a personal speaker who not only assesses the present, but who also looks back on her past. In fact, the book is organized around the idea of before and after. Before and after the loss of loved ones, or becoming a mother, or historical events like the Challenger explosion or the Summer of Love, and absolutely before the fall of innocence and the startling realizations of adulthood.”

https://sugarhousereviews.blogspot.com/2025/12/monster-galaxy-by-cindy-veach-moonpath.html

https://www.moonpathpress.com/CindyVeach.htm

There are so many things I remember about my childhood so it’s very hard to answer this question. One of my favorite memories is when my father, who was the debate coach at Colgate, took my me and my older brother with him on debate trips to DC and Boston. With a large family (6 children) it was rare to get to spend this kind of time with my father and to experience him in unfamiliar settings. What I also remember about childhood are feelings of shame (although I couldn’t name it then) related to my years in Catholic school (my mother was Catholic).

Why did you want to write about the Salem Witch Trials?

In 2016, after living in the Salem area for twenty-five years, I stumbled on the Salem Witch Trials Memorial when I was cutting through a side street. Up to that point, I had succumbed to the witch kitsch narrative of modern-day Salem but for some reason on that day in that place I was changed—these were innocent human beings who were murdered. I decided to write a poem about each of the twenty victims, and this became the chapbook Innocents published by Nixes Mate.

While I was writing the victim poems, I was making the difficult decision to end a long marriage. As the person who ultimately filed for divorce, I felt judged and I also felt guilty. Most of the victims of the witch trials were women. Many were persecuted because they lived outside of Puritan norms. As I empowered myself to do what I needed to do I felt a sort of kinship with the witch trial victims and especially the female victims who are represented in Her Kind. A woman with agency, who dares puts herself first, dares to defy what is expected of her, is often a target. All this coincided with Donald Trump being elected. His narcissism and references to witch hunts and the witch trials to paint himself as a victim were triggering and so he also found his way into this book. It is both interesting and oppressing that even today a woman can feel guilty about choices she makes for herself. This is what captivated and connected me to the Salem Witch Trials. https://cavankerrypress.org/products/her-kind

Did you often feel like an outsider in life?

I’ve always felt like an outsider, and I think that stems from the fact that I moved so much growing up and never felt like I belonged. In a way, my family was my hometown, but I’ve never been able to shake the feeling of being an outsider.

What kind of a dialogue do you hope for between the reader and yourself?

Books have had such an impact on me, and I hope that one of my books or even a poem or two resonates with the reader. I can only write about what I know and feel so it’s always a gift when someone connects with my work. My hope is always that my books will inspire a dialogue that is meaningful to the reader.