Three Questions for Alayna Hinson

What inspired your choice of genre and/or form for "The First Cracks"?

"The First Cracks" was inspired by many things. My deconstruction began during the protests after the Michael Brown shooting in Ferguson, and I felt I had to acknowledge that during this piece. The Bingo page was inspired by my frustration when attending the Christian fundamentalist church I grew up in; I noticed so many logical fallacies in the sermons that I started to joke that I could play Logical Fallacy Bingo. I also wanted to play with the cliches I heard during church and find a way to poke fun at them while also making them visually interesting. 

Can you walk us through your creative process for this work?

My creative process for this piece was a real hodgepodge. These were all initially separate pieces that I began cutting my favorite parts from and then decided to put them together. After I tried putting a few different pieces together, I found I really liked the result. 

What is the significance of the work to you?

The significance of the work, to me, is its goal in communicating the despair and frustration of feeling trapped inside a system that shuts down critical thinking. However, I am much more interested in what others think the significance of the work is. 

Alayna Hinson is a multimedia poet and recent transplant to Minnesota. When not writing, she loves geeking out and cuddling with her dog. A nominee for the Pushcart Prize, her work has appeared in Foglifter Press, Messy Misfits Club, Grass Routes, Exist Otherwise, The Dimeshow Review, and other publications. She holds an MFA from Stetson University. To learn more, follow her @alaynahinson on Twitter.