#12 Amy Key, poet

'I felt my hand taken by the speaker of the poem'.

Amy Key is a poet and writer based in London. She is the author of two collections of poetry, Luxe (Salt, 2013) and Isn’t Forever (Bloodaxe, 2018), which was a Poetry Book Society Wild Card Choice and a book of the year in the Guardian, New Statesman, Times and Irish Times. Her poems have been widely published and anthologised, and her essays have appeared in At The Pond (Daunt, 2019), Granta, The Poetry Review and elsewhere. Her first work of non-fiction, Arrangements in Blue, will be published by Jonathan Cape (UK) in Spring 2023, alongside publication in the US (Liveright) and Italy (Rizzoli).

Where do you write?
I mainly write in my bed, but I am a fidget and if I feel I’m getting stuck I’ll move to my dining table which doubles as my desk. I am rarely able to write or edit in public, writing for me is a private act and to really connect to what I’m writing, particularly if that writing involves engaging in my own vulnerability, I need to feel safe. The bed is that place for me. 

Morning writer or late-night words?
My mind is most receptive to writing in the morning, before all the noise of the day enters. I have a full-time office job and by the end of the day my brain is slurry. I like to get an early night and hope there’s something waiting for me when I wake up. 

Coffee, tea or any other drinks?
First thing in the morning I’ll have coffee, after that probably just some tap water.

Handwritten notes or phone files?
I am always gathering scraps – fragments I’ll email to myself or type into my notes app, sometimes voice memos and occasionally when I’m on holiday, handwritten notes.

What's your most tempting distraction?
The group chat. Other people’s writing. Household chores. Deheading flowers. Giving the cats scritches. Online shopping. An embarrassing thing I did several years ago. Everything I don’t know. Repositioning the candlesticks. Menu planning. 

Writer uniform?
Pyjamas.

A poem that has changed your life:
Art in America by Sophie Robinson. I felt everything in this poem. Every now and then a text comes along that says something to you that you powerfully needed. This poem was that for me:

there’s a power in loneliness i need to channel
there’s a freedom in not being loved i need to channel

I felt my hand taken by the speaker of the poem. I didn’t want them to leave me, I thought please keep telling me everything you think about your life and the people you love and don’t love. I’m learning so much.