A Conversation with Minton Sparks (continued)

PM: So do you read much poetry yourself?

MS: Yeah, I read lots.

PM: Ah. Who are some poets that you especially like?

MS: Let's see. I like Sharon Olds a whole lot--though I write nothing like her. I love Adrienne Rich. She's sort of a wild feminist, very political. I like Octavio Paz. I love poetry, and always have. And I've always written. I've practiced the art of writing my whole life.

PM: And when you've practiced it, it's been poetry, largely, that you've written?

MS: Yeah, pretty much. I write essays, but I write mostly poetry.

PM: Have you read any prose lately that turned you on?

MS: I just read myself silly. I'm a huge Annie Dillard fan. I'm a huge Dorothy Allison fan.

PM: Dorothy who?

MS: Dorothy Allison. She wrote what I think is one of the best southern novels ever, Bastard out of Carolina. She's fabulous. May Sarton, I read all of May Sarton's stuff. All of Annie Dillard's stuff. William Gay, I love him. But I like all kinds of writers. That's a lot of southern writers. I read constantly.

PM: Do you find time between reading and family life to listen to music much? Is that part of your life?

MS: Mostly I like stuff out of Nashville. I get people's records that I hear in town. I'm a huge Darrell Scott fan. And I'm a big Steve Conn fan.

PM: Yeah, absolutely. We have some talented friends.

MS: I love Abigail's new record. And Nickel Creek's. I don't know, I listen to a lot of stuff out of here, just picking up people's records after shows.

PM: How would you describe yourself in the spiritual arena? Are you a spiritual person?

MS: Yeah. Deeply. I'd say I am deeply spiritual.

PM: Is there an orientation that comes to mind, or is it different than that?

[The tape actually messes up for a second here, and I lost the beginning of what was said next.]

MS: --that's a Catholic thing. But they're sort of wild feminist protesters, left-wingers.

PM: Really? What convent is that, or do you mind saying?

MS: It's Sisters of Loretto. You ever heard of them?

PM: Sisters of the Loretto. And where are they based?

MS: They're based in Nerinx, Kentucky. But they're all over. [more about them here] But the mother house is in Kentucky. Wait, hang on--Eliza is yelling. Hang on one second.

PM: Okay.

MS: Eliza? What do you need, babe? I'm still on the phone, I can't try one. Okay. We're eating some rock candy over here, Frank.

[laughter]

PM: Did she hurt herself on some rock candy or something?

MS: Do you hear it popping? That's old school right there.

[laughter]

PM: I'm going to let you go soon, too.

MS: No, I just had told her not to talk to me, but she had to show me the rock candy. Okay, where were we?

PM: We were talking about the Sisters of Loretto.

MS: Yeah, the Sisters Loretto. They're just an amazing bunch. They're really devoted to social justice--like women in their eighties who still go protest at the School of the Americas, they're that kind.

PM: Right.

MS: A great group of women. [a little more about their work here]

PM: Which empties into my next question: Are you a political person?

MS: I'd say fairly.

PM: I thought there was kind of a political/spiritual message inside the new record.

MS: Really? You could hear it?

PM: Oh, yeah, of course. It's like fifty-fifty, political and spiritual. It's not the kind of spiritual person that I'm very often aware of, but Katie Wallace, our friend, was certainly like-minded in that way.

MS: Yeah, Katie is a soul sista.

PM: She's politically spiritual.

MS: Yeah.

PM: It's about injustice, and doing right, and it's about people. And yeah, you can go and meditate if you want to, but it's about getting the world right.

MS: Yes. And I wish I did more. I was a social worker for a couple of years, so that's probably what comes through my writing, too.

PM: I'm so glad we got to do this today. We've certainly been on the Minton Sparks thing right from the top.

MS: Yeah, you guys have. I appreciate you doing that so much.

PM: Well, I love what you do, and it's very important, I think. And so we feel privileged to be tied into what you're doing in that way.

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