Dreama Astrid's Journal

Posted by Athena Scalzi

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2026/07/21/the-big-idea-ali-trotta/

https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=61686

There is art all around us, and poetry can be found in places you’d never expect. Author Ali Trotta speaks on the true power of poetry in the Big Idea for her newest poetry collection, Offerings for Ordinary Gods.

ALI TROTTA:

I’ve always been fascinated by the idea of who gets to their story. (Before the Hamilton of it all, I swear.) Specifically, though, I have always been annoyed at what/who we deem a villain—from the Salem Witch Trials to Medusa. Women have, historically, ended up as the scapegoat, the unearned anti-hero, and a background character when they really should be the main character.

I’ll never forget when, after reading and loving Jane Eyre, I read Jean Rhys’ Wide Sargasso Sea. If you’ve never read it, it focuses on Bertha Rochester before becoming Bertha Rochester. Rhys’ book not only gives her a different name, but an entirely full and rich history. In fact, Rhys was so furious about Bertha simply being the madwoman in the attic, she set out to write her a life. And I loved Wide Sargasso Sea for itself and for its intertextuality—how it existed on its own and in conversation with Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre. 

So, I fell down a rabbit hole from which I’ve never fully exited—I live here now! It’s wildly interesting, and I’ve got the good snacks. ahem I digress. In grad school, I took as many classes as I could about women in literature from my favorite professor, who taught me so, so much. In one particular class of hers, I learned about Bridget Bishop and Anne Hutchinson (if you haven’t read the transcript of Hutchinson’s trial, do it. It’s incredible)—early American women who were absolutely brilliant. Women, who despite society and the terrible chokehold of the patriarchy, had power, personalities, and fiercely wise voices. To me, they became new archetypes and foremothers. Wisewomen whose stories I carry with me everywhere I go.

As a poet, I often infuse my writing with re-imaginings, reinventions, references, and revisions. You’ll find fairytales turned on their heads. You’ll find familiar characters speaking their own truths. You’ll find a call to remember your own power and voice—and not to set that down for anyone. I love the duality of human nature—Persephone was the goddess of flowers and the queen of the underworld. No one is ever one thing. Nothing is ever really good or bad—we, as humans, simply love the idea that people and things are clear cut. But art is the intersection between truth and lie, right and wrong, with a thousand emotions and glittering bits of beauty and sadness in between. A poet can write a poem about heartbreak, and another poet can write a different poem about heartbreak. Even if they’re in the same relationship, each piece will be wildly different, because who we are—what we see and don’t see, how we love and how we exist in the world—informs every word that hits the page. But if a poem makes the reader feel something, recognize themselves in the work, or relate to an emotion in the poem, then the poet has done it right. It doesn’t matter what I intend. Once it’s in the readers’ hands, I don’t exist. The poem does. 

And I have always loved the way in which a person can find themselves in a poem. Art is what we reach for in trying times. Art is what gets us through trying times—whether that’s reading it or writing. I’ve often remarked that a good poem (good, meaning effective—it makes the reader feel something) is an exorcism. An offloading. A spell of sorts—what is a spell if not a prayer? What is a prayer if not hope? And what is hope if not a poem?

Offerings for Ordinary Gods: Amazon|Barnes & Noble|Inkwood Books|Mysterious Galaxy|Golden Notebook 

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https://whatever.scalzi.com/2026/07/21/the-big-idea-ali-trotta/

https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=61686