Alicia Swain is a bisexual woman and the author of Steel Slides and Yellow Walls, a feminist poetry collection releasing in August 2025. She was nice enough to stop by and have a conversation about poetry, nature and having to stand up for oneself in a harsh political climate.
Q) You recently put out your first poetry collection Steel Slides & Yellow Walls. Was there a central theme you were going for with the pieces you selected?
It took several years to nail down exactly how I wanted to present the poems in Steel Slides and Yellow Walls. My goal for the collection has always been to not only openly discuss the complicated experiences all women face—but also to invite conversation about identity formation in adulthood. I think a lot of the time we focus on what happens to teens and how they overcome traumatic experiences, and then we place adult women into this separate category as if all the things they carry and continue to endure don’t impact their daily life. Each piece in Steel Slides and Yellow Walls attempts to break that bad habit by showing what societal expectations and abuse look and feel like, both in the moment and in the years that follow.
Q) I saw you had grown up in a small town and then moved to a larger city. Do you think the change in environment affected your outlook or writing?
Definitely—though in a way almost the reverse of what I expected. Growing up in a small, rural area, I was immersed in nature at all times. I could sit on the dock by the lake and write a poem or listen to the crickets chirp and trees creak in the night as I jotted down story ideas. And yet, a lot of my writing focused on people, not nature. When I moved to urban areas and observed more people and heard the tales of more lives, I started to draw connections to nature a lot more often. It was like the city reminded me that humans are not as different from plants, snapping turtles, or white-tailed deer as we think we are. Now, a lot of my work, including in Steel Slides and Yellow Walls, includes nature imagery.
Q) I really liked your line ‘the harbored rage is a necessity’ from your Breaking Silence poem. Do you think we are living in a time that requires us to hold onto our anger about the things that are happening?
I think we are at a point where the anger we feel needs to be channeled instead of suppressed. We listen to talking heads bark on the news at each other and cast their judgments on circumstances they often don’t care to understand. We witness the people that are meant to represent us speaking on issues from perspectives that don’t align with the average citizen, and we should be mad about it. I think gender norms/societal expectations have left women and queer folks to feel like they’re supposed to quietly sit in a corner with their hands clasped on their laps and allow others to make decisions on their behalf. Our rage is asked to become tears or silence, and that doesn’t work. It shouldn’t have to. We should hold onto our rage, just like everyone else gets to, and use the energy that comes with it to foster change and share our experiences loudly.
Q) A lot of your work draws on nature imagery. What draws you to those connections?
I think I’ve gotten to a point in life where I’ve realized there is wisdom to be gained from nature. It’s easy to overlook because life moves so fast anymore, and we are all absorbed in the world online, but the rustling of the trees and the birds perched on a fence tell a story we could all stand to listen to sometimes.
Q) Who are your favorite poets currently writing?
Taylor Byas, Courtney LeBlanc, and Jose Hernandez Diaz are currently in my top three and are clearly having a moment, as they should. I read Bloodwarm while getting my MA, and I immediately fell in love with Taylor’s work. She has a powerful voice that forces people to listen. I came across Courtney while I was living in Arlington, where she is currently the poet laureate, and felt like her mind and my own function very similarly. Reading her poetry feels very close to home. And I stumbled on Jose thanks to Instagram, and I will give social media a lot of credit for introducing me to poets across the country. He is truly the epitome of modern poetry. Whenever I think about how our world would be a better place if we incorporated the arts in more official capacities, I think about how writers like Jose could reach people and help them process the moment we live in now.
Q) I saw that besides poetry you also had written some short fiction and nonfiction pieces. Do you have plans to pursue those further or will the next book be another poetry collection?
I do have a new poetry collection and chapbook searching for their homes right now, but I intend to publish a fiction book in the coming years. I have an initial draft of a speculative fiction novel written that explores queerness, the environment, and modern forms of theocracy. I need to get myself in gear and edit that because I think it can invite some needed dialogue about all three subjects by providing a harsh smack in the face about where our treatment of others and our planet is leading us.
Q) If people want more information about you or your projects, where should they go?
My website is aliciaswain.com, and you can sign up for my newsletter on there! I am also active on Bluesky (@aliciamswain.bsky.social), and I have an Instagram, Threads, Facebook, and TikTok (all @aliciamswain).
Final four questions –we ask everybody.
Q) When the zombies take over the world where will you be?
My goal would be to have a little compound of my own in the mountains with traps around the perimeter. Hanging out with my family on our own terms in a situation like that sounds much better than cramming in a walled city somewhere.
Q) What is your favorite Fandom (could be sports, pop culture, favorite director or author)?
I am a huge fan of Supernatural. My husband and I actually went to a Supernatural convention as our own version of a honeymoon. Our dog is also named Rowena because of the show.
Q) What piece of art, be it in the form of music, a book, a film or picture, do you think people must experience before they die?
I think everyone needs to read Dawn by Octavia Butler. Parable of the Sower has been on a lot of people’s minds lately for obvious reasons, but Dawn is a book that awakened me to the power of speculative fiction. It can be very hard for people to see their failings as humans because we are flawed and know only ourselves. I think Dawn implores you to reevaluate what you know about love, societal expectations, war, and fear—something I think even the most kind-hearted people can benefit from.
Q) Give one fact that most people would not believe about you?
I’ve never been outside the United States before, and I am weirdly nervous about flying over the ocean because I’ve now gone almost 30 years never having done it!
Bonus random question: I saw that your cat was named Jonesy, are you an Alien fan?
Ha! Good catch. My husband is a tattooer and loves Alien, so Jonesy is a combination of a tattoo history reference and a movie reference!
Paper Phoenix ink 