Logan Phillips is a bilingual poet, performer, and DJ based in Tucson, Arizona. Fluent in English and Spanish, he is an educator from elementary to university levels, having been a teaching artist in residence in several countries. Logan has visited Westtown School as visiting poet several times. Most recently, he spent the week with us from April 21st through the 25th. Brown & White writer, Jacob Liu ’25 sat him down to talk about everything from writing influences to new music and inspiration.
So, obviously, you’ve been to Westtown several times. This has been your third year in a row right? I came here as a sophomore. I’m now a senior, so I’ve seen you every year. During these three years, I changed a lot, but what would you say is your biggest change throughout the three times that you’ve been?
Wow, that’s a great question. Yeah, you know, I think like my mom says, we never stop changing. You know, it’s more drastic at certain times in our lives, but we’re always adapting and growing. I would hope. And I think, for me, I’ve learned again that even in that I have an agency, not just in creating my work, but also getting my work out into the world. These last three years I’ve self published three print projects. and now my next full-length book is forthcoming next year, from the University of Arizona Press. And that book, called Reckon, is a book I’ve worked on for a number of years. And so the lesson I’ve learned is it’s not a “either or” when it comes to self publishing or being traditionally published that the writers can do both.
About your book, Reckon, would it be a poetry compilation? Is it something that is completely new?
It’s considered to be creative nonfiction, a memoir. It also has poems in it, but it’s about where I grew up – in Tombstone, Arizona, where I was born – and dealing with all of the many myths and stories that are told about that place.
About all these book compilations, what do you think makes these different from each other?
Well, they’re all created to be a triptych, which means like one work of art that has three parts. And so they’re actually very similar in a lot of ways. They’re written to go together. But I think as the series went on, I learned more about challenging myself to think about patterns in a different way, if that makes sense.
Do you always write poems under a specific theme, under the idea that you’re going to put it in respect with some other poems to create a collective? Or, do you work on singular poems?
Good question. When I’m writing, I try not to think about the final product, or I think about it as little as possible. When I’m sitting down to write, I’m not even really interested in writing a poem. I’m more interested in just writing poetry and seeing what happens. You know, like in the studio arts or in, you know, working with clay or working with paint, a lot of the time you’re just exploring and seeing what emerges. I want to stay in that same sort of energy when it comes to working with words.
Well, are there art forms that you have explored or you would love to explore? Poetry, prose…
Yeah. Photography was one of my first loves. Graphic design, obviously. I love music. I also work as a DJ. So I spend a lot of time listening and thinking about and curating music. Art forms that I’m interested in, but have less experience with are stage acting and plays. I’m going to be in a play in June in Tucson, and so I’m starting to push myself to be out of my comfort zone and learn new skills.
Can you tell me about your garden?
Yes, you always know what I want to talk about. Rather than the term gardening, I use the term earthworking, because I think that it’s important to remember that it’s part of a whole, rainwater, harvesting, food growing, cultivating land, thinking about who has access to land, who doesn’t. That’s all part of a whole to me. Working with the Earth and growing plants is a way to help myself stay in relationship with the seasons, time, my community, my neighbors, because then I have too much food and I get to give it away, which is exciting. Lately, our winter rains didn’t come this year in the desert, and so the desert is just about as dry as I’ve ever seen it. Where we’re from, it’s considered to be a very lush desert, so normally we get about 11 inches of rain a year, and that comes in two big spurts, one in the winter and one in the summer. And we’ve barely received any rain so far this year, and we’re coming up on halfway through the year. So it’s a sad time in a lot of ways, It’s a scary time in a lot of ways because a lot of living creatures are just barely holding on.
What do you grow in your garden?
I grow tomatoes, watermelons, and cantaloupes. Some other melons, some other gourds. Limes, oranges, grapefruits, sour oranges. Two kinds of figs and mulberries; two kinds of grapes, cilantro, mint, thyme, those are mainly the edibles. Then, I grow all kinds of native plants that I give away as well. I like making sure that people in my community have access to plants, and one way I can do that is just propagate them myself for free, and then give them away.
Can you tell me about your rings?
My rings? I wear a lot of jewelry, I’ve always loved jewelry, but I’m spoiled because my partner is a jeweler herself. Her brand is called Heliotrope, and she does metal casting, so I have first dibs on all kinds of cool stuff. But each one of these has a story behind it for me, so. Tombstone, for example, it’s a double ring, and I wear it on my left hand, and it helps remind me of where I came from without identifying with it too much, but also not forgetting that it is there and it’s the one origin for me.
How many times do you write in a day?
I try to not think about writing and not writing as a dichotomy, which I think I’m writing all day long. every day. Every podcast I listen to, every TV show I put in my brain, every album that I listen to. That’s all becoming part of the soil that the poems grow from. And so in that way, I think of not only the books that I read, but all of that other media also as being part of the writing process. As far as putting a pen to paper or fingers on the keyboard to get words down, I do that at least once a day. And it’s usually kind of one extended period, but then I might take some notes on my phone or in my notebook at various other times.
What advice would you give to an emerging writer, no matter their format?
I think it’s important for emerging writers to remember that it’s a marathon, not a sprint, and that it’s a process and not a product. And it’s more important to come into a healthy relationship with the process than to place all of your validation in the product. Because, as a writer, you’re going to be rejected over and over and over again, in many different ways, in many different forms, on many different scales. And it’s important to remember that that’s not a reflection on the quality of your work, much less who you are as a person. It has more to do with just what is needed at a particular time by a particular outlet. And that all boils down to my main piece of advice, which is: just don’t stop. There’s an endless amount of times between 15 when I started writing and sitting here today that I could have stopped. And if I had stopped at any point along that line, I wouldn’t be talking to you today. And also remember that writing doesn’t have to be the career. The goal doesn’t always have to be being a professional writer or a professional artist and making all of one’s money off of that. In a lot of ways, I like having a day job. I like my paycheck coming from somebody else somewhere else. Something that I can do, not have to think about it too much, not have it take too much of my time. so that my headspace is more free for writing and the economic income pressure is taken off of my creativity.
One last question. What’s been on your playlist lately?
I mean, the Doechii album, Alligator Bites Never Heal is one of the best hip hop albums of the last 10 years, for sure, I’ll say that. I’ve just discovered this artist from Spain named BB Trikz. It’s just pretty amazing… I’ve also been listening to a lot of Earth, which is kind of a doom metal or drone metal band. Also the lead singer from Little Dragon, whose name is Yukimi. She has a solo album out called For You. It’s really good.. And besides Doechii, I’d say my favorite rapper out right now is Little Simz. Little Simz has a new album coming that I’m looking forward to, and basically everything she touches is gold. I listen to a lot of different styles for a lot of different reasons, like the BB Trikz. It’s more like stuff I want to play when I’m wanting to dance or facilitating dancing for other people. Earth, stuff that’s really kind of sludgy and drony is stuff that I listen to when I’m writing.
