I’ve been in Baltimore long enough that I can’t remember when I first met Elizabeth Hazen. I will assume it was hearing her read at the former Minas Gallery, which hosted magical events over the years in a sun-filled second floor space on the Avenue. I’ve always noticed Hazen as a creative force, always writing, always involved in highlighting other writers.
The poems in The Sky Will Hold will delight and surprise you, remind you that perspective can soften cynicism: “Yesterday a groundhog waddled across / the yard while I tried to understand / what to wear now that I’m not young.” The poems at once thrill a poetry aficionado with their formal skill, while delighting the casual reader with their ability to notice the everyday.
Hazen has published two collections of poetry, Chaos Theories (2016) and Girls Like Us (2020). The Sky Will Hold, her third collection, is out in April 2026 from Riot in Your Throat press, which believes “in poetry that punches you in the gut and refuses to be quiet.” Hazen’s poems have never been quiet, a perfect fit for the Arlington-based press’s roster. This collection should be enjoyed by a window as the morning light is breaking.
It was a pleasure to talk with the poet and look toward the continued conversation at her launch party at the Ivy Bookshop (details below).
Did The Sky Will Hold start as a concept, or did it begin to take shape as you immersed in your writing practice?
When I started working on this manuscript, I was obsessed with the idea of stepmothers. I wrote many poems about my own challenges in that role as well as about the portrayal of stepmothers in fairy tales and pop culture. I wanted to call the book Better a Serpent, which comes from a Euripides quote, “Better a serpent than a stepmother.” There are still some poems about stepmothers in the collection, but as I grew to accept and adapt to my own role as a stepmother, my interests shifted to broader questions of parenting, marriage, and finding purpose in middle age.
These poems have remnants of form, but their space and shape is expansive. How did you approach form, like the glose, and sound in this collection, differently from previous works?
I have always been drawn to formal constraints, and I wrote the early drafts of many of the poems in this collection in blank verse. So much of what I was writing grew out of big, uncontrollable and often unpleasant emotions, so having a way to order that chaos was helpful to me. I think I relied on structure more in this collection, at least in the drafting stage, than in earlier works.
The glose – an old Spanish form that rhymes and uses four lines from an existing poem as the final lines of each 10-line stanza – provided me with a technical challenge along with the comfort of knowing where I was headed. I love taking my own experiences and using them to create a dialogue with existing poems. The gloses were some of the most fun and satisfying poems to write, and I have continued to work in the form.
I was moved by the lack of fear in writing about anger, the complication of jealousy in a second marriage, and the humor in aging. Your poems have never shied from exploring the complications within feminine expectations. It reminded me of Miranda July’s novel, All Fours. Are you hoping this conversation stays loud in our broader culture?
First, thank you! I really loved All Fours, and I am glad that some of my own sense of humor about the aging process comes through in my poems.
As for the conversation staying in the broader culture, the short answer is yes. I do hope the conversation continues, and I am genuinely glad that we can talk candidly about our experiences. The longer answer is that I worry that much of the progress we see is illusory and that the same capitalistic, misogynistic forces that shaped my sense of self as a teenager are continuing to shape me (or try to shape me) in middle age. The relentless messaging still presents the female body as a problem to be solved. I would love to see the conversation shift to redefining beauty and empowering women and move away from discourse about how we need to “fix” ourselves.
Poets pull so much from the world around us. Part of my reading experience was listening to Garbage’s new album Let All That We Imagine Be the Light while sitting with the poems – the experience felt complimentary. How have other art forms shaped your poems?
I love music and books and movies, and I think everything I consume gets filtered into my work in one way or another. Anything I am reading – poetry or prose – influences the cadence of my poems. Imagery in movies and art often stays with me and finds its way into my descriptions. Mainly, though, when I read or listen to music or walk through a gallery, on some level I am seeking new ways to understand my own place in the universe. This understanding then gets filtered into my own process.
I especially enjoyed the repeat imagery of the deer in this collection, with the undercurrent of their mythical ability to be messengers at times when grappling with how to move forward. How has this act of noticing the bridge between writing and nature evolved in your writing process?
In the last five years or so, nature has become much more important to my work. I live right behind Druid Hill Park, so I often walk there and see not only deer, but snakes and groundhogs and crows and hawks. I often marvel that there is so much natural beauty right in the middle of Baltimore, and I am in a phase of life that allows me more time and space to simply look around in wonder. This has been incredibly meaningful for my spiritual wellbeing and, I think, my writing.
The collection has such tension between home routines versus the possibilities in travel. At the start of part II, you break the fourth wall and make a joke within “A Kind of Magic” about how often you’re staring out windows. How do you experience movement as you are writing?
I love that observation! It’s so true – I love routine and I also love experiencing new places. And I do spend a lot of time at my desk staring out the window, waiting for poems to come to me . . . but movement is hugely important to my writing process and often I get inspired when I am taking walks or driving. I have a harder time articulating my thoughts when I am static, so the voice memo feature on my phone is one I use all the time. I know there have been studies on this – the way movement opens channels of creativity – and it has certainly been true of my experience.
Something I have always loved about Baltimore is how invested creatives are in continued opportunities for their community. Could you talk about how participation in the writing community, through board service, arts coverage, hosting events, fuels your own creative practice?
Baltimore is really a gem of a place, and I feel very fortunate to be part of the arts scene here. I am quite introverted, and as a younger person I tended to isolate myself, but over the years I have gotten more comfortable with my place in the community. I am so grateful for this sense of belonging. Writing about artists and arts organizations for BmoreArt Magazine and helping facilitate author events at Good Contrivance Farm are experiences that complement my own work as a writer. Meeting so many talented artists and supporters of the arts is inspiring and makes me want to work harder so I can be a part of the conversation. I have also greatly benefited from the generosity of other writers, and I want to reciprocate when I can.
The Sky Will Hold releases 10 years to the date from the publication of Chaos Theories. What has surprised you (or not) in the lead-up to the publication of your third collection?
I think the main thing that has surprised me is that the collection is quite hopeful. For most of my life I have self-identified as a cynic, but when I read my own poems, I see how deeply I believe in the redemptive power of nature, love, and art.
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Baltimore Launch:
Saturday, April 4, 4pm at The Ivy Bookshop. Mary Jo Salter and Courtney LeBlanc will join Elizabeth Hazen for a conversation about The Sky Will Hold.
Monday, April 6, 6:30 pm, Manor Mill featured poet/open mic series. More info here.
Saturday, April 18, 2pm at The Writer’s Center, Bethesda, MD, with Rose Solari. More info here.
