Mia Nelson ’22 will publish her debut poetry collection, “I’ve Never Loved Somebody and Made Them Worse” on Oct. 15. Set against the backdrop of New England, Nelson dives into the turmoil of young love, loss and self-discovery through rich language and literary allusions. Novelist Daisy Alpert Florin described Nelson’s work as “an intimate and sensuous collection exploring the many permutations of love.”
The Dartmouth sat down with Nelson, who is now a graduate student and predoctoral scholar at the University of Washington, to discuss her new book, its connection to New Hampshire and how her Dartmouth experience shaped her as a writer.
The sense of place is so strong in your writing. How did your environment and your time at Dartmouth shape this body of work?
MN: I went to Dartmouth from 2018 to 2022, so the pandemic was a major part of my college experience and shaped the sense of longing and distance I tried to convey through the book. Dartmouth is uniquely situated in that people leave for 10 week periods, which leads distance to be baked into relationships, making the element of longing in my poems not particular to the pandemic.
I lived in Colorado my whole life, and my first time on the East Coast for an extended period of time was going to Dartmouth. I remember driving on the bus to Moosilauke for my freshman trip and how green it was compared to Colorado. My main social commitments at Dartmouth were Cabin and Trail and the Viva Hardigg Outdoors Club, so most of my free time was spent outside. Having my first big adult feelings in a place so distinct from anything else I’d ever experienced caused place and love to be intertwined inextricably with each other.
The title of your collection is so evocative, especially because it was taken from the closing line of one of your final poems “Consolation Prizes.” How did you choose this particular line as your title?
MN: I think of the title primarily in relation to my epigraph from Joan Didion, “was anyone ever so young? I’m here to tell you that somebody was.” The statement, “I’ve never loved somebody and made them worse” is a little dramatic! It’s in the words of my younger, 18-year-old self, but the line felt so truthful at the time. The ethos of my writing is that to make something beautiful, you must remember it truthfully even when it is embarrassing or painful.
Connecting to the poem “Consolation Prizes,” this book is a catalog of things that I lost to this difficult love. However, this love was also a learning experience. I am able to sleep happy knowing that I left it all on the table. Anything beneath giving my all will always be a consolation prize. The consolation prize from having loved and lost is knowing you’re capable of it, and these poems are a record of how capable I was of it.
You reference Greek mythology in two of your poems, “Myth of Devotion” and “The Odyssey.” Can you tell me more about these two pieces?
MN: “Myth of Devotion” is written after “A Myth of Devotion” by the poet Louise Glück, who is one of my greatest literary inspirations. She has a suite of poems called the Persephone Poems in which she interrogates the myth of Persephone. For me, Persephone is a myth involving love, lust and is so situated in the environment. The Greek myth of Persephone also explains why we have winter. For me, the Dartmouth winter was so terrible and so cold! At the same time, I miss how terrible those winters were because it forced me to be inside with the people I loved, which ties into how Persephone often symbolizes desire through her yearning to be with Hades in the underworld.
The poem “The Odyssey” is an example of my love for the reinscription of feminist figures. Penelope is the faithful wife of Odysseus who is always making this tapestry while awaiting her husband’s return. In the same way Penelope builds her tapestry, the building of my poems is a way of retaining that closeness. Through looking at Penelope from a different angle, the poem also shows how this collection is more about my own strength than him.
What writing classes would you recommend to Dartmouth students?
MN: My advice for Dartmouth students is to take a poetry class, especially if you are experiencing love and loss. What’s so great about Dartmouth’s creative writing program is that it’s workshop-focused, and I loved being surrounded by people who were dedicated to creating together.
You use such vivid images throughout the collection. I especially loved the line, “I think of the golden crumbs of my life: look at this red sweatshirt, these inscribed books, the sunspot on my cheek from laying by the river & talking so long & not wanting even to move to the shade for fear of shaking the undulating, green dream.” Can you touch on the significance of some of these images?
MN: Being involved with the DOC, I fell in love outside, in the White Mountains, on the Green, so I think the undulating green dream describes how it felt to fall in love with this person and with the New Hampshire landscape.
The red sweatshirt and the sunspot are the tangible aspect of what I still have from this love. The sweatshirt, funny enough, is a real red sweatshirt that I still have. I reference the sunspot on my cheek because I’m very neurotic about sunscreen and burn super easily. One of the first moments I knew I was in love with this person was when I was on the Green and the sun came out, I didn’t leave to go put on sunscreen. I love that almost nothing in the world doesn’t remind me of the people that I love. That can be painful, but it also can be really meaningful.
This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
