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Blake Auden: "I have spent a long time thinking about legacy, and how I might one day be remembered"

Hello beautiful creative people!


April's poet of the month, Blake Auden, has released a new collection of deeply moving poems, called The Things We Leave Behind. We caught up with him to talk about some of the themes in the book, and about how it feels to be making a career as a writer.


Here's what he had to say!



Congratulations on the release of your new chapbook, The Things We Leave Behind. The idea of legacy is a recurring theme in the book; you mention wanting to leave ‘an echo’, and in the acknowledgements you say that the book itself is one of the things that you will leave behind. What is it about this idea that you find so powerful?


Thank you. It was a really tough book to write, but it’s a collection I’m genuinely proud of.

I have spent a long time thinking about legacy, and how I might, one day, be remembered. I have a genuine fear of living an unremarkable life; being forgotten by the world. I think it comes from an extract in Irvin D. Yalom’s book, Love’s Executioner and Other Tales of Psychotherapy:


“Some day soon, perhaps in forty years, there will be no one alive who has ever known me. That’s when I will be truly dead - when I exist in no one’s memory. I thought a lot about how someone very old is the last living individual to have known some person or cluster of people. When that person dies, the whole cluster dies, too, vanishes from the living memory. I wonder who that person will be for me. Whose death will make me truly dead?”


This extract has been playing on my mind recently, and particularly since the start of the pandemic. I have grown haunted by this concept of a second death - the last time a breathing person says your name, or allows themselves to remember you.


For most people, I think they can be comforted by the knowledge that their memory will be carried with their children, but this isn’t an option for me.

There are, however, other ways to leave our mark on the world, and to live a life with meaning. For many this is through acts of bravery, charity, athletic prowess or great kindness. For others, this purpose is found through their work, and I think this is particularly true of artists. It’s certainly true of me.

There is something about a global pandemic that forces you to reflect on your own mortality, and I have become increasingly driven by this idea of leaving something behind me through my writing; producing a body of work that might, one day, outlive me.


I think this, more than anything, is the subject of my new book. The title is inspired by this idea that we can leave parts of ourselves behind us, whether that’s in the people we have loved, the things we have done, or the art we have found a way to create. We all have our own kind of legacy, it’s just a question of who we choose to leave it with, and how long it manages to last.



Your relationship with anxiety is something that you have spoken about very openly and very honestly – both in interviews and through your poetry. There is ever-increasing public awareness and understanding of the importance of mental health; do you feel that your contribution to this conversation will be another of the things that you ‘leave behind’?


I wouldn’t for a minute think my voice was significant enough to contribute to that conversation in any meaningful way, but it would certainly mean a huge amount to me if I could. I think it’s so important that we have these conversations openly and honestly, with each other, but also with other generations. I would be extremely grateful if any of my work became part of this discourse, even if it’s in the smallest of ways.



The book is filled with aching emotion and longing, although the poem that we are sending out to our subscribers is one which also contains a strong element of hope. What does hope look like to you, and what do you currently feel hopeful about?


Wow, that’s a really tough question. I find hope to be a very complex, and often painful, thing to feel. But, it’s the thing that keeps us going.

When I was young, my dog had an accident that resulted in a broken back. He needed specialist surgery, and was left with very limited strength and mobility in his hind legs. His recovery took months, and every single day during that recovery he did his best to stand, and wanted to play with me. The look on his face when he saw me each morning; I think that’s what hope looks like to me.

I feel hopeful about a lot, these days. Despite the current state of the world, I’m hopeful that we will come out of this a more caring, understanding species. It’s rare for me to look to the future with hope, because I’m a little scared of it, but I’m also hopeful that I might be able to make a real career from writing, and that’s something I’m truly grateful for.



We’re pretty hopeful that we’re on the home stretch of this pandemic! Which creators - artists, musicians, poets… - have kept you going throughout lockdown?


Oh, so many. Keaton Henson, Ocean Vuong and Ada Limon have been pretty consistent for me since the first lockdown last year. But I’ve also discovered some wonderful new writers, poets and musicians, notably Pheobe Bridgers, Becca Thomas, Eavan Boland, Jenny Offill, Hieu Minh Nguyen and William Bortz.



You have a large and very loyal fanbase through Instagram. Was being a poet always on your agenda, and how do you feel about the success you have built?


I’ve always wanted to be a writer, but over the years I’ve gone back and forth between poetry, fiction, journalism, scriptwriting and songwriting. I have a degree in film, and another in music, so doing something creative was always the goal – it just took me a few years to find the medium that felt right.

It’s an interesting question, because I still feel like I’m just getting started. But more than anything, I feel lucky, and humbled. It’s still a little difficult for me to accept that people want to hear what I have to say, but I’m so grateful to be in the position I am.



Like Poems by Post, you’re based in the amazing city of Brighton. What are your favourite things about the city (when they're open!)?


I love the beach, the independent shops and retailers, the food and the creative scene, but for me this city has always been about the people. I’ve never been somewhere so welcoming, open, gracious and non-judgemental. I feel like I can be the most authentic version of myself here, and there really is nowhere I’d rather be living.



Thanks Blake! The Things We Leave Behind is out now, and available to buy on Blake's website, www.blakeauden.com. You can also follow him and see lots of his short-form poetry on Instagram (@blakeaudenpoetry).




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