Today, I wanted to share my interview with Jessica Ciencin Henriquez. She will be releasing her poetry collection called Burn After Reading on the 25th and was kind enough to talk to me about how the book came about, what inspires her to write and much more. I hope you enjoy the interview. I hope to share my full review next week but for now I hope you enjoy this interview. And that it piques your interest in the book!
Interview With Jessica Ciencin Henriquez
1. Could you please tell the readers a little bit about your book, Burn After Reading?
Burn After Reading is a collection of poems about love and loss, motherhood and identity, grief and the parts of ourselves we bury to survive. It’s about learning how to hold contradictions—how we can be both heartbroken and healing, both fragile and fierce, both lost and finding our way. These poems are raw and personal, written in the quiet moments. Burn After Reading is a book for anyone who has ever felt like they had to walk through fire to get to the other side.
2. The poetry collection is so personal and intimate, what gives you the courage to share your innermost thoughts and experiences in this way?
I’ve been writing for a long time and I never think of fear when I write about things that are this intimate or this personal. Fear exists when you’re thinking of judgment or someone misunderstanding you. When I’m in the writing process, I don’t think about the millions of people who may read this book—I think about the one reader I want to connect with. I write for the person who needs these words. In this way, the writing feels more like an offering. I also believe that when we’re honest about our own experiences, we make space for others to feel seen in theirs. That’s the only reason I share what I do: because maybe, somewhere, someone is reading and thinking, Oh. Me too.
3. Do you have a favourite poem from the collection?
My favorite poems in this collection (and they’ll likely change as time goes on) are the ones about my son. He actually reads them in the audiobook which was such a beautiful gift! He’s growing so fast, and anything that puts a timestamp on our life together feels like a tiny act of preservation. Why Not and One Answer are two that I hold especially close for that reason.
And then there’s Ours—a poem about losing a partner I loved. That one still moves me, even after reading it a hundred times. I can’t read it without getting emotional because I land right back in the time when we love one another so much. That’s the power of poetry, it turns you into a time traveler.
4. Your poem, No Mistakes, explores the negative relationship so many women have with their bodies. It’s one of the poems that really stood out to me. How do you combat your insecurities and what advice would you give others that may be struggling with theirs?
I have so much compassion for women who look in the mirror and can’t see the beauty that exists. We live in a world that is constantly signaling to us that we are not enough that there is something wrong with us. I don’t buy it. I don’t let that message penetrate. For that reason, I don’t have any insecurities around my body, and I know that’s a wild thing to say. But the truth is, I stopped measuring beauty the way the rest of the world does. I think wrinkles are beautiful. I think cellulite, bumps, scars, and greys are evidence of a life lived. They create a map of our existence, and I refuse to call that ugly just because some beauty brand or influencer wants to sell me something.
I honor my body. I respect it. And I am constantly reminded of how strong it is, how much it has supported me. And I think when you change your reference for beauty—when you stop looking at yourself through the lens of an industry built to make you feel not enough—you start to see everything differently. Not just yourself, but the whole world.
5. What made you want to be a writer and what advice would you give to other writers out there hoping to share their writing as you’ve shared yours?
I became a writer because I had no choice. This was my blueprint—writing is the gift I came into this world to share. I’m lucky enough to have known that from a young age. So often people don’t know what their blueprint is and I suggest that they’ll know it once they find it—it is the thing that allows you to breathe, that allows time to expand and contract without any care. That’s always been writing for me. It feeds me, and in turn, I use it to feed others.
My advice to other writers? Move out of the way and let the words come through you, not from you. Stop waiting for permission. Stop worrying about whether your work is good enough. Stop shaping it into what you think people want to hear. Write what is true. Write what makes your heart race. Write the things you are afraid to say out loud. And then, if you can, be brave enough to share them—because someone, somewhere, is waiting for the words only you can offer.
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