Jessica Jopp

Jessica Jopp grew up in New York state. She holds an MFA from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. An award-winning poet, Jopp has published her work in numerous journals, among them POETRY, Seneca Review, and Denver Quarterly. Her collection, The History of a Voice was awarded the Baxter Hathaway Prize in Poetry from EPOCH, and it was published in 2021 by Headmistress Press. She has been a finalist for the Yale Younger Poets Prize, the Juniper Prize, the Prairie Schooner Book Prize, and the Honickman Prize. Jopp teaches in the English Department at Slippery Rock University. She lives in Indiana, Pennsylvania, where she is on the board of a nonprofit working to protect a community woodland.

What’s your favorite comic strip or graphic novel?

Alison Bechdel is amazing!  Though I loved her comic strip Dykes to Watch Out For, I had a bias against graphic works for some reason; I was not inclined to read any graphic novels or memoirs.  Then a few years ago I was visiting an old friend in North Carolina, someone who I love to discuss books with, and she said something like “You have to read Bechdel’s Fun Home.”  I picked up her copy of it and was instantly riveted.  I have read Bechdel’s other graphic memoirs as well, Are You My Mother? and The Secret to Superhuman Strength.   One drawback of starting my reading of graphic work with her is that nothing else will measure up!  Her illustrations and her writing are both incredible, as is her wide-ranging intellect.

Is your go to comfort food sweet or savory? Is it something you make yourself? Does food inspire your writing? 

I am fortunate to have an amazing bakery within walking distance!  And the proprietor is a dear friend of mine.  He is a marvel with breads.  I would say my comfort foods are one of his sourdough varieties or one of the bakery’s sweets, like a maple madeline.   I do find great comfort in food and enjoy cooking, and that deep daily savoring is something I got from both of my parents.  Food inspires my writing in that way: because it draws attention to the ordinary textures and tastes of daily life.

Is there a work of art that you love. Why? Have you ever visited it in person?

I love the paintings of Georgia O’Keefe, especially The Lawrence Tree.   I love the colors of this painting, and the scope of it, as well as the perspective: the human vantage point cannot help up look up in wonder! Though I have been to exhibits of O’Keeffe’s paintings, I have not seen this one in person.

What do you worry about? 

I worry generally about the state of the environment, from more frequent rain-bombs to disappearing glaciers to strain on trees to decrease of habitat for animals, including us of course!  This worrying usually leads me to angst over human complacency, and ultimately, anger over human greed.

What brings you great joy? 

Being in nature provides tremendous comfort and solace for me, and inspires my awe.  Two recent examples, among many, will illustrate.  I was walking with a friend near a lake, and we had binoculars with us.  One of us caught sight of a flock overhead, and we assumed it was geese.  Looking through the binoculars we realized we were seeing a flock of migrating trumpeter swans!  It is difficult to describe that ribbon of white, long necks, wide wings wafting far above. 

Just this week I hiked with a friend, on a windy and snowy day in the woods of our town.  It was gorgeous—not much for leaves this time of year in Pennsylvania, but the tulip poplars and oaks were beautiful anyway, their shades of textured bark against the grey sky lovely, the sound of the wind through the winter trees magical.