Jonathan Ned Katz: “Interview with Alma” (poem), January 20, 1975

Interview with Alma

Alma always wants to know

how people manage,

how they live--

do they pray

or sing,

or have a friend,

or hope for heaven?

How do they keep going?

No matter how many times

she hears the same story

she's always interested

in the story teller.

She goes off

with a load of dirty laundry,

and comes home

with the laundry woman's life history.

Alma sleeps late in the morning

and writes at night.

She sings hymns.

She's bisexual,

sort of,

although she doesn't act on it,

because she's had to make a choice,

and she's chosen women.

She's been hurt by women

much more than by men.

But even when she has a broken heart

something in her says

"Well, at least it's over a woman,

at least she's worth it.

At least I'm not feeding the male ego,

that God damn beast."

She puts a lot of herself

into her writing,

making one character elegant,

as a joke.

She's not elegant.

She doesn't have a ruffled shirt

or two rows of buttons

on her waistcoat.

She wants our artists

to pay attention to us.

When I say

I think we have much to tell

about surviving

under difficult conditions,

and I hope she'll write about it,

she says

"I want to."

Adapted from an interview with Alma Routsong, author of Patience and Sarah, taped by Jonathan Ned Katz, January 20, 1975.

See the original interview on OutHistory.org at:

Alma Routsong: "Patience and Sarah," 1962-1972

On the historical characters that inspired Patience and Sarah, Mary Ann Willson and Miss Brundgage, see:

Jonathan Ned Katz: "Miss Willson and Miss Brundage", early 1800s

<comments />