How "Felling Trees" Came To Be: An Interview With Samantha Terrell

The name of Samantha Terrel's Felling Trees was a funny story.

During her book querying process, the mulit-nominated, prolific poet Samantha Terrell originally chose "Samantha Terrell:  Selected Poems, 2000-2025." After partnering with Low Hanging Fruit Publishing, Terrell began working out the details of her new book with the editors. When Low Hanging Fruit featured her now-titular poem, Felling Trees, something clicked for the writer. Terrell herself describes the title as “meant to be”— a certain kismet of the name and soul of the book.

Like many poets, Samantha Terrell is informed by the greats: Robert Frost, Emily Dickinson, and Walt Whitman; literature that transcends generational boundaries. She also loves to glean inspiration from contemporary poets such as Diana Seuss and Billy Collins. As for Terrell's work itself, she intends for Felling Trees to be a lesson in taking a variety perspectives. Like the poets that inspired her, Terrell wants her book to help  “emphasize self-awareness as a means to social awareness." She uses poetry as a method of accessing her more compassionate self in the present, and to explore her concerns for the future. Terrell is also inspired by her children. Her thoughts on what the coming years will bring for them, and the emotions that follow, give her the momentum to write.

Terrell stays connected with the modern poetry community through social media, where she often engages in “writing and challenge prompts” to improve her craft. Community is very important to Terrell, as can be seen in her perspective on her favorite poem from Felling Trees, “Oversimplification."

Oversimplification 

We sketch our realities with great 

Care, filling in details that are perpetually 

Smudged out with a grain of salt,  

Instead of charcoal or pencil, for perspective –  

Revealing a pensive 

Look; or, shadows in trees. 

Otherwise, every box is a square; 

Every moon, a sliver;  

Every truth, a dare.  

But, for some reason,  

From this view, even realism 

Is abstract; even calm, is quiver.

Though she may have picked a winner, she mostly hopes readers "find something in Felling Trees that resonates with them, moves them, inspires them, or just generally provides connection...writer to reader”. 

Terrell's emphasis on connection alone is a good reason to give her work a try. Even if poetry is not your native tongue, there’s a word for everyone in Terrell’s stunning new book, Felling Trees.

More about Samantha:

Samantha Terrell is a Puschart-nominated poet, Forward Prize-nominated author, and curator of the international poetry series, SHINE. Her multiple collections, most recently Delta Function (Alien Buddha Press, 2024), have consistently earned five-star reviews. Terrell's poems have been widely anthologized in publications such as:  100 Subtexts, Door=Jar, Eunoia Review, Green Ink Poetry, In Parentheses, Poetry Quarterly, The Orchards Poetry Journal, and others. In 2021, her poem "Just Justice" received First Honorable Mention for the Anita McAndrews Poets for Human Rights Award. Terrell and her family reside in Upstate New York.

See her website here

Adam Weinstein is a writer and journalist with Low Hanging Fruits winter internship program. Look out for more articles coming soon!