Contributor Confab: Patrice Miller

"She might haunt me if I don't mention her"

The breadth of Patrice Miller’s interests and talent will be apparent from the answers she provides to our silly questions below. Her slips slips poem “How to Survive December” is a pitch-perfect evocation of the sad but hopeful feeling of another year ending in New York City - the perfect accompaniment to a hot summer day or a cold winer night.

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ss: Name three writers or artists, and tell us why you named them.
PM: James Joyce (he saved my life); Martha Graham (she might haunt me if I don't mention her); Audre Lorde (everyone, especially Americans, should read her work).

ss: Ghost, vampire, werewolf, or zombie? Why?
PM: Werewolf. I'm a sucker for a changeling, I wouldn't feel bad about being an omnivore, has some vengeful goddess in the woods vibes which who are we kidding we could really use right now, and the easy pun joke. Werewolf? Therewolf.

ss: What's the book everyone seeing this should read if they haven't already?
PM: Gonna cheat a little and say the MaddAddam trilogy by Margaret Atwood. Wildly and tragically relevant, possible survival guide for the near future.

ss: What geography has had the biggest impact on your life and work?
PM: Generally speaking, I love a North Atlantic island - be it the harbor islands off of Boston or off of Ireland. Specifically, Ireland's geography has had the biggest impact on me. It lives rent-free in my head and heart, I literally dream of being on Clare Island. The geography of Ireland shaped so much of the music and traditions that were passed down to me, that are in my DNA. Ireland is the land and waters of the Druids, the sacred Bards, the banshees and selkies, and, depending on who you ask, either the giant goddess Brigid or a giant Virgin Mary, both of whom walk one night a year to bless scarves and flowers left outside.

ss: What has been one of your most satisfying/gratifying creative moments?
PM: Watching my piece Elephant Foot Umbrella Stand being performed between my own solo performances of another piece at the Brooklyn Museum. I had three gorgeous actors (Ivanna Cullinan, Ivy Hong, Stephanie Willing), dressed in white, staged around Judy Chicago's The Dinner Party reciting a feminist text cycle I had edited together. I was separately performing a piece for one audience member that had me running around the museum a bit but in between cycles, I could sneak into the Sackler wing and watch those three call in the spirits of the women named and unnamed at "the party." I had previously written about 200 other pieces, all of which were terrible (truly) and I hated them, because I was trying to be a different kind of artist than I actually am. When I let go of all those other voices and embraced my own, this powerful piece came through. And the cherry on top was being part of an event with something like over a thousand audience members in total. That's pretty satisfying, but even if it had only been us, I still would have been breathless watching the three of them call up our feminist ancestors in that space.

ss: Rock or hard place?
PM: Rock, baby! 🤘

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See more of Patrice’s work at patricemillerperformance.com

Learn more about slips slips at slipsslips.net