UnCensored Ink Interview – Amanda Hayden

Hey everyone,

Ian Tan here, lead editor and project coordinator of UnCensored Ink: A Banned Book Inspired Anthology, set to release this October 29. Here is the UnCensored Ink interview series to introduce you all to the incredible writers, as well as the local bookstores and libraries that gave them safe creative spaces. Hopefully, you can put these incredible places on your to-visit list, and feel inspired to support your own local bookstore, library and indie authors.

Today, I am with Amanda Hayden from Ohio. She is the current Poet Laureate for Sinclair College and award-winning Professor of Humanities, Philosophy, and World Religions. She lives on a windy little farm with her partner, daughters, and many furry rescue babies including two goats, seven pigs, and an incredibly special, blind, three-legged “angel in a dog suit” Vinny Valentine.

1. You’ve written a fine piece for UnCensored Ink: A Banned Book Inspired Anthology. Can you give us a synopsis? How did the idea for this piece come about?

This prose poem is called “School of Athens at the Vatican” and was inspired by my trip to Rome and seeing this painting by Raphael up close and in person for the first time. I have taught Philosophy for 25+ years and so this is a familiar painting I have discussed with my students pretty much every semester. To see it in real life, how enormous the painting is, and all the details of each philosopher, was nearly as moving to me as seeing the David or the Sistine Chapel. I wrote it as both a descriptive narrative of several of the philosophers portrayed and as highlighting some of their individual philosophies in a poetic and stream-of-consciousness way.

Philosophers are by nature questioners of the status quo and strong advocates for knowledge, with a long history of facing censorship. Socrates was killed for his questioning, which directly affected Plato and Aristotle. Diogenes was exiled; Hypatia, the lone woman philosopher (there are many more) was literally torn limb to limb for her “radical” ideas, Simone de Beauvoir’s writings were banned by the Vatican as “pornography” and on it goes.

One of Plato’s greatest contributions is the “Allegory of the Cave” where he likens our journey to knowledge to being in a cave all our life, believing that the shadows we see are the only reality, but once we climb out into the light, we realize we were mistaken to think that the cave was all there was, that there is a whole new, brighter, clearer reality to understand and know. Historically, those who exit this cave “of ignorance” into knowledge are taunted, mocked, or even, like Socrates, killed. I end the poem with the line: “Socrates…said an educated person is defined by their ability to entertain an idea without agreeing to it and 2500 years later, we still look at those who climb out of the cave, dirt still under their nails, in fearful disgust, offense burning our faces.”

2. Now, we would love to know you more! What do you enjoy doing in your free time, what is your favorite book quote, and how did you get into reading and writing?

Well, I’m a mother of 3 fierce, amazing daughters and am a full-time Professor of Religion and Humanities and also have a small farm with several rescue animals with special needs, so “free time” is definitely the holy grail. We have several acres, so walking in our woods and prairie is my favorite way to relax and unstress, just wandering and wondering at all the beauty in nature. I do yoga regularly and have loved reading and writing from a very young age. I received a diary at Christmas when I was five and that’s when I began writing…and never stopped. My favorite book quote is a tie between the last line of Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder: “This could not be forgotten because now is now…it can never be a long time ago.” (this line inspired one of my poems in the first book) and the Shakespeare line from A Midsummer Night’s Dream: “Though she be but little, she is fierce.” I was in this play many years ago as Hippolyta and I’m also 5’1, so this quote has always resonated with me!

3. Do you have a favorite local library or bookstore? Also can you remember bookstores and libraries from your childhood, if they are not the same as the ones now?

YES! We frequent our Greene County Library. My favorite local bookstore is Half-Price Books. Also, there is a lovely little nook called Rabbit Hole Books in Dayton, Ohio.

I do have a vividly positive childhood library memory – our library was a little old building with green carpet, very 70s, and had a musty, old book smell, which I loved and STILL love to this day. It was a small town, so there was not too much selection, but I remember getting so excited to pick out a few books for each weekend, sometimes reading my favorites over and over again, a lot of Beverly Cleary and Judy Blume, I remember. I still find older books that I’ll stick my nose in and take a big whiff because they smell just like that library and take me back to such a great memory/feeling.

4. Tell us more about this bookstore/library. What do you love most about it?

Everyone at Green County Library is SO wonderful, especially librarian Mary Stamper – she does so much there, including starting a seed library! I’ve done a couple of presentations there on our farm and recently, on writing.

You can always find great deals at Half-Price Books and I love searching the poetry sections. And every book is $1 in Rabbit Hole Books! I’ve picked up some great poetry finds there.

5. What do you have to say on the importance of sustaining bookstores and libraries?

SO IMPORTANT! Local bookstores are vital – they are hubs, community builders, safe havens, so many things. Local Libraries offer so MUCH to our community, classes, resources, films, seeds! Their value to educate (for free) is extraordinary.

6. Do you have any projects that your current and future readers can look forward to?

I do!! It’s a lifelong dream realized to be able to say the following: my debut poetry collection, American Saunter: Poems of the U.S., will be published this fall, 2024, by FlowerSong Press. My first chapbook, How to Tie Tobacco will be released on May 27^th, 2025 by Wild Ink Publishing and then, my second full-length collection, Old World Wings: Poems of Europe, will be published in late fall 2025, also by Wild Ink Publishing! I am ecstatic and so grateful.

7. Lastly, what platforms can we find you?

https://windychickenpoet.com/

https://www.facebook.com/WindyChickenPoet/

https://www.instagram.com/windychickenpoet/