People of MQR: A Q&A with Bryan Byrdlong – Michigan Quarterly Review

People of MQR: A Q&A with Bryan Byrdlong

The “People of MQR” series highlights the people who make up the MQR staff as they consistently contribute to the richness of the magazine and work towards making each issue the best it can be. As the people of MQR work behind the scenes, their individual writing goals, experiences, and backgrounds are not at the forefront of the magazine. This series allows us to get to know each of the people of MQR through a Q&A series about their own writing, their favorite part of working with the magazine, as well as other related questions about the writing process.

Bryan Byrdlong is a Black poet from Chicago, Illinois. He graduated from Vanderbilt University where he received an undergraduate English/Creative Writing degree and was the co-recipient of the Merrill Moore Award for Poetry upon graduation. He has been published in the Nashville Review, Apogee Journal, Pleiades Magazine, and The Adroit Journal. He is a graduate of the Helen Zell Writer’s Program at the University of Michigan and an incoming PhD in Creative Writing and Literature Student at USC.

Byrdlong serves as MQR’s Assistant Editor and Reader.


What do you like most about working with MQR?

I think I like that MQR encourages a collaborative working environment. The editors show this behavior with their willingness to share pieces and books for review. During reading sessions it was fairly common to hear us asking each other what we thought about a certain passage or piece. Not to mention as an assistant editor I was allowed to co-edit an issue with Joumana Altallal, another assistant editor. 

What is your favorite piece from MQR?

I have a lot of favorite pieces. But, one that keeps coming back to me is a poem titled “Winged Victory of Samothrace” by Alana Folsom featured in our Summer 2020 issue. I just love the way is meld the speaker’s personal journey with art. In doing so it makes art in itself and I think that’s what all great poetry does.

 How did you pick your primary mode of writing? What did you find enthralling about writing in that mode instead of another one?

I started writing poetry in high school. I find it enthralling because, I think poetry particularly can make up for the limits of language to articulate. I think in terms of the written word poetry best allows humans to say the unsayable, the untranslatable. I think that’s why it can resonate so deeply for people. 

How would you describe your writing process?

I think that right now my writing process could be described as R.W.E.Q.R. or Research, Writing, Editing, Questions, Revision. First I’ll start with research whether or not I want to use a traditional form or not. Then, I’ll write. Editing is different from Revision for me. With Editing I’ll do things like make sure my syntax is musical or make sure my line breaks are working. Then I’ll ask questions of the poem like who is the real audience or is the current beginning working? Then based on the answers to those questions, I’ll revise accordingly. 

What writers inspire your work the most and why?

I think Patricia Smith, Tiana Clark, and Jericho Brown inspire my work the most today. I think Patricia and Tiana because of the tension I see in their work between traditional and free form. I think as a Black poet that tension is fascinating to me regarding the idea of tradition as constraint but also something you could build with. And, I think Jericho’s creation of a new poetic form, the Duplex is similarly an inspiration of a different kind of innovation.

If you could recommend one book, what would it be?

I’d recommend “Life on Mars” by Tracy K. Smith. It’s a book you could read anew every year.

How did you decide that a career in writing was for you?

I think it was actually when I wrote my first book review. And so, it was the first time I was published in a genre that wasn’t poetry, my main genre. I think that moment is when I saw multiple avenues of opportunity open up and I thought, “Ah yes.” This writing thing could be a career.


You can read some of Bryan’s work here. You can find him on Twitter and Instagram as @BByrdlong.

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