Francesca Kritikos

My signed copy of Sandra Cisneros’ poetry book Loose Woman. She’s also from Chicago and is one of my biggest role models as a woman who has unreservedly made desire and poetry her life, who has truly lived for herself and her craft.

I do almost all of my writing in bed. I’m easily distracted, exhausted and overstimulated, so I do my best work when my body can be at rest. I like to listen to music and take breaks to read or just stare at the wall.

What do you feel is your best piece of work?

I’m really proud of the poems I had published in ITERANT issue 9. I had to record myself reading them and I like how they sound out loud, which has been a big, ongoing goal of mine - writing things that work on the page and aloud.

What music have you been listening to lately?

Cults - Hope You Found What You’ve Been Missing

Morgan Reese - Slivered Heart

Rina Sawayama - Love It If We Made It

Allie Crow Buckley - Moonlit and Devious

Kelela - Bluff

Who is the last character you related to and why?

I recently rewatched Vicky Cristina Barcelona, and I’ve been fixated on Maria Elena - how her art was copied by Juan Antonio, who then becomes famous and successful, how she gets yelled at and spoken over while being framed as the crazy one. But she never cedes her agency, and isn't a victim.

Have you ever failed at something you care about?

Yes, often, but I don’t view it as failure as much as I try to understand that I wasn’t the right fit for it, and it wasn’t the right fit for me - I was prevented from going down a path that wasn’t mine, which is ultimately a good thing.

Last gift you received?

I was treated to dinner at my favorite taqueria. The best gifts are delicious drinks or meals.

Favourite photo?

This 1961 photo by Henri Cartier-Bresson that I saw at an exhibit of Yannis Tsarouchis’ paintings. It’s called “Peasant in the Museum of Olympia.” Something about the present not only staring into the past, but sitting, in supplication, to it - this photograph is a huge inspiration for my personal writing but also for my publishing project SARKA.

Best season? 

Summer, easily. Hot, sweaty, luscious, overbearing, almost intolerable, kinetic, ripe then overripe. I come alive every summer like everything else.

What drives you? 

Me. Once I accomplish a goal, I immediately seek to surpass it. I don’t know if that’s a good thing. I’m always trying to beat myself at my own game.

Best outfit?

I’ll always feel most confident in a black tank top and a pair of light-wash jeans, with sandals, and a nice black leather purse. You can wear this anywhere and look sexy and innocuous, and best of all, you’ll feel comfortable.

What do you consider to be your first rejection? 

Struggling to make friends as a child.

Where is the best place?

The beach. Going to the beach with someone you love, at morning, in the afternoon, or at night, is the best therapy.

What’s an example of a good ending? 

The ending of one of my favorite books, Animal Triste by Monika Maron, where the narrator reveals that she pushed the man she was in love with in front of a bus, just as he had told her all she wanted to hear: that he was going to leave his wife for her. To me it perfectly exemplifies the human tendency of putting ourselves into cages of our own making, setting the perfect traps for ourselves.

Latest book you’ve read or favourite book ever?

I’m currently reading In the Same Light: 200 Poems for Our Century from the Migrants and Exiles of the Tang Dynasty, translated by one of my favorite poets, Wong May. The poems were written 1,200 years ago but still resonate so sharply today. One couplet I love, from a poem by Luo Yin called “To the Parrot,” is: “Speaking clearly will / Leave one no room to turn.”

Anything you’d like to promote?

I recently started the journal and publishing project SARKA to create a platform for works of the flesh. I’m drawn to anything simple, raw, sexy, dark and timeless, and I wasn’t seeing a space for that. I was so grateful for all of the incredible submissions we got for our first issue. We’ll be open for submissions for our second issue from April 19 until June 30, and we accept poetry, prose, art, music and more.

Francesca Kritikos is the editor-in-chief of the publishing project SARKA. Her first full-length poetry collection, Exercise in Desire, was published by Vegetarian Alcoholic Press in 2022. She is also the author of the chapbooks Animals Don’t Go To Hell, published by Bottlecap Press in 2021, and It Felt Like Worship, published by Sad Spell Press in 2017. Her full-length collection of poetry and prose, SWEET BLOODY SALTY CLEAN, is forthcoming from Feral Dove in summer 2023. She also has a chapbook, In the Bed of Sickness, forthcoming from Pitymilk Press in spring 2023. She was born and raised in Chicago.