How To Apply For A Ruth Lilly (part 2)

We're talking more with Willie Lee Kinard III; tell us about your experience applying for the Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent

The first time I applied to the Ruth Lilly, I didn't know what the hell was going on. I followed the requirements. They said 10 pages. They said you get, like, a hundred words for an artist statement.

What do I know about an artist statement? Nothing. What can I tell you about my poems? They're country. There might be a snake in it. There's probably a bird. And I think, as years kind of went on and I, started hearing more people talk about the possibilities of it, the circumstances and the requirements kind of shifted. Like, it went from being, 150 or 200 or 200-word artist statements to a full page possibly about your poetics and things. Most recently, it's a transition from a grant or transition towards a grant system.

And I think I applied on the very last day. I think I almost did not get my application completed in time. And I think I riffed on my answers to parts of the application, because I'd been answering things like that for a couple of years at this point. And I gave completely new work that nobody had written or had read. Nothing that felt like anybody of my friends were releasing. And I was like, 'I'm... I'm... I turned 31 this year. This is, my next-to-last year to kind of give it a go. Let's see what happens. Do I best, leave the rest?' And lo and behold, a phone call about three months later."

That's so interesting that you kind of broke so many other conventions in terms of, 'I'm gonna apply to the last day,' in terms of, 'I'm gonna send this, like, fresh work.' I love that. So cool.

It is scary too. I think... I think after two or three years of applying, because I applied every year I was in grad school, in the year after the... I think I sat with the fact of, like, 'What is it that I want to say?' And who possibly could know me for these things? And, like, in what capacity does Poetry Foundation already know me? I was a finalist in 2020, which was slightly controversial of a year for, like, both public things for publishing in general, alongside the pandemic. And there was a large list of finalists that year. I think there were 22. Five folks got selected for the fellowship.

But it got me a decent bit of attention from some poetry-related people. They gave us, or Poetry Foundation invited us to send in poems for Poetry Magazine. I sent in, I want to say, like, about five or so. And they picked two of my better ones. And later that year, they got selected for the J. Howard and Barbara M.J. Wood Prize for 2021, which is also weird, because it's their biggest prize for the magazine per year. And it doesn't quite make sense. And I'm like, 'What is happening with my life?' It's like, 'I'm... I'm right at the moment of, like, this going right. And that's not necessarily going great. But stuff is working.

How To Apply For Awards like the Ruth Lilly...As Told By A Winner

"Willie Lee Kinard III, what are tips for applying for the Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent? "

"Oh, okay. Um, read widely. Read widely. Read widely. Read widely. And this is to say, like, read things that are curious to you. Read things that are foreign to you. Read things that are like, 'I've always wondered that.' But, what happens? For poetry, or at least, capital P, big Poetry, it's tough. think we've sat through, or maybe that's happened, maybe worked or labored or collaborated through an era or a decade of lots of beautiful bits of diversity, lots of beautiful conversations that are now starting to enter larger publishing.

But it's tough to figure out what to read. Start with what you like. Move from there. Figure out the mechanics of it and attempt to write something. I think, for me, I didn't know anything really about big publishing before, honestly, ever, to be entirely honest, until, my book kind of happened. I self-published my chapbook about a year after I graduated college. I pushed it like a mixtape. I popped my trunk. I sold my products. I'd be at your poetry slam with, like, a couple rolling.

And as I wanted to get better, I kept listening to folks via Twitter and Instagram and whatnot, trying to figure out, like, who are y'all reading? Who's hot? Who's making things feel like I want to try that in a poem or try that in something else? I heard some beautiful folks. I got acquainted with the work of Soma Sharif. I got acquainted with the work of Justin Phillip Reed and some other folks that really made me feel like, can I try this? Can I do this? If they're saying things like this, and this sounds like an accent like mine, and I, too, can write in ways where I'm trying to write like this. Is it possible for me?

I'm really weird about competition. I am quietly competitive, but I never say that out loud, because I don't really have enough energy to commit to it. So, I kind of do things seasonally. I'll write a bunch of pieces throughout the year. I'm generally always writing, even if I'm not trying to, which is the same, usually thinking, write my poems, figure them out, try to get them out.

Willi Lee Kinard Discusses Winning the Ruth Lilly

So, first of all, let's congratulate you on that Ruth Lilly. We were actually talking with fellow winner Ariana Benson not too long ago, so can you tell us a little bit how did you find out that you were chosen? What was that phone call like?"

"Oh, okay. I wish this was a happier story. It was not. Oh my God.

I was not prepared for that, but okay. Um, I found out about two days before my grandmother passed that I had won. And it was really weird because I was on my way to the nursing home, and I got this call, and I'm like, 'Who the hell is this from a random number that I could not know?' And I'm like, 'I hope this isn't more book people. I'm tired of answering emails. I don't want to do any of this.' And then it is Chris Kazantis from Poetry Foundation saying, 'Hello, is this Willie?' I'm like, 'This is he. What's going on?' 'We just want to congratulate you from Poetry Foundation. We just want to congratulate you on winning the 2023 Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Fellowship.' I'm like, in my head, 'What in the world?' Presently, and like forward-thinking, I'm like, 'I don't have time to process this right now.' 'Thank you. Thank you so much for this kindness.' Yeah, I have no real questions. I'm in shock."

"Then about two hours later, I'm like screaming around."

"That's what Ariana was saying as well. I'm sorry about the circumstances from that.”

“It's a blessing. It's typical. It's tough. It's... I think I've been telling some of my... a few of my friends have been asking, like, 'What the hell did you do? You didn't say anything.' I'm like, 'I felt like I was on a personal NDA. Not telling myself, like, this happened. I'm not acknowledging it till I can breathe and, like, actually sit with it for a minute.' The other part, I think... I don't know if it's been... unfortunately convenient.

Tell me more about this.

“Like, one of my favorite people in the world technically left in the same space of that, like... I have enough to possibly consider, like, helping with her funeral arrangements. I have possibly enough to, like, reconsider not having to get a second and or third job. Formally, I have options now.

And I think the acquisition of that type of opportunity, like, on the fly, it's kind of like winning the lottery. You don't really plan for it. And so, like, in the same regards, it's like, 'Okay, I'm going to take a breath, take a beat, and see what happens.' So, I've been rolling with the punches thus far. Yeah. And I feel like, I mean, when we were... I think a lot of times, like, really good news, really great circumstances kind of clash with real life like that.

Did it feel like the space of the prize and the space of this accomplishment was kind of this outside thing that was happening? “In part, I think mentally, I was preparing for book tour stuff or trying to gather book tour stuff, trying to mentally think about arrangements, whether or not I'm going to sing at my grandmother's funeral or not. And on the flip side of, like, thinking very much, like, Tashina Arnold via 'Everybody Hates Chris,' like, 'I don't need this. My man has two jobs.' My man, being, like, my bank account at the time. Listen, I'm like, 'I really don't need it enough, by the way.' Yeah. It's been affirming, humbling. Like, affirming in a really, really, like, kind of ironic and funny way."