In the aftermath of using drugs, Myles argues, there’s this gap – just like when a lover leaves or a parent dies – but eventually, that gap closes, and you can move on. Myles liked the effect of e.g. amphetamine and acid, which they believe made them good at writing about different altered states, and made reality understandable when Myles no longer did drugs: “It seemed like there were all these realities next to each other and behind each other, and indeed it’s true.” Moreover, Myles shares the experience of writing great poems in the first couple of hours of a hangover: “There were things that were about the effect of drugs on my chemistry that were sort of marvellous for a while until it wasn’t marvellous.”

Eileen Myles (b. 1949) is an American poet, novelist, performer and art journalist, who has produced several volumes of poetry, fiction, nonfiction, libretti, plays and performance pieces over the last three decades. Publications include ‘Afterglow’ (a dog memoir) (2017), ‘Inferno: A Poet’s Novel’ (2010), ’Skies’ (2001), ’Cool for You’ (2000) and ‘Chelsea Girls’ (1994, 2015). In 2015 ‘I Must Be Living Twice. New and Selected Poems 1975-2014’ was published. Myles has received a wide range of awards and fellowships such as four Lambda Book Awards, the Shelley Award (Poetry Society of America) (2010), a Guggenheim Fellowship (2012) and The Clark Prize for Excellence in Arts Writing (2015). For more see: http://www.eileenmyles.com/

Eileen Myles was interviewed by the Danish poet Mette Moestrup in August 2017 in connection with the Louisiana Literature festival at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Denmark.

Camera: Klaus Elmer, Mathias Nyholm, Simon Weyhe

Edited by: Roxanne Bagheshirin Lærkesen

Produced by: Roxanne Bagheshirin Lærkesen and Christian Lund

Copyright: Louisiana Channel, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, 2019

 Supported by Nordea-fonden