Interview
What do you write?
I write Maine based stories, mostly fiction with an undercurrent of nonfiction. I have written numerous short stories and poems and am now trying to expand my repertoire to include a novel.
Is there an author or artist who has most profoundly influenced your work?
It would be difficult to pick one, but when we speak of the profound, I would choose Tom Robbins. I write nothing like him, however, the book Still Life With Woodpecker has had a tremendous influence on my life. I own two copies and they have traveled with me all over the country. The first was given to me by my brother when I was in high school. The second was given to me by my future husband and is signed by Mr. Robbins. The book addresses the question “how to make love stay,” but on a larger scale it talks about choice. Tom Robbins says “There are only two mantras, yum and yuck, mine is yum.” I think it is profound to understand that each person’s perception of their own life experience is a conscious choice. I, like Mr. Robbins, have chosen to perceive it as “yum.”
Why did you choose Stonecoast?
The reason I chose Stonecoast is tied to my favorite Stonecoast memory. When I first started dating my partner, we took a trip to Wolfe’s Neck State Park. We ended up continuing down the road and discovered the stone house. Curious, we googled it and discovered it was where the Stonecoast MFA residency was held. “Someday, you will go here,” he said. We creeped around the property, admired the building, made out a little in his car, and then decided to head home, but his car would not start. I had to push his Saab down the hill so he could jump it. We were both laughing like crazy, and I thought “this is a great guy.” He could have gotten upset or felt embarrassed, but instead he seemed happy and joyful. I decided his mantra must also be “yum.” A few years later he took me back to the stone house and proposed to me on the back deck.
What do you hope to accomplish in the future?
I think all writers want recognition, heck, we want a Pullitzer, but the recognition I really want is the recognition of self. I want to connect with my readers so deeply that they see themselves in me and my writing.
If you could have written one book, story, or poem that already exists, which would you choose?
The bible, because then I would know what part is fiction and what is nonfiction. I could end wars. I would slay the bible category on Jeopardy. Besides, I would definitely include more penis and/or fart jokes in it.
Featured Work
Beach Dongs — A Toast to My Sister
The following is a creative nonfiction piece by Aimee DeGroat exclusively for Stonecoast Review.
My sister, Ginny, called me to discuss the plans for her second wedding. “I’m not doing the whole traditional ceremony this time,” she said. “Instead, we want each of our guests to send us a short video toast. We’re going to edit all the video clips together and play the montage for everyone instead of walking down an aisle. Reception to follow. And please, Aim, record something decent, this is serious.”
“Yeah, okay. So what’s the dress code for this shindig? Can I wear, like, jeans?” I asked.
“Um…no. This will be fancy. You should definitely get something new. Why don’t you Facetime me when you shop and I’ll help you pick something out.” I felt a twinge of anxiety as I grabbed my purse and headed for the door.
“Not that one,” Ginny said later as I stood in Old Navy holding a dress out in front of my cell phone. “Maybe something a bit more…ah…upscale.”
I knew the main reason she wanted to see my outfit was because she wanted me to fit in and feel comfortable with the rest of the wedding party, a group of doctors, scientists, and high-ranking military officers. Secretly, though, I think Ginny was worried I might wear something inappropriate to the ceremony, like a dress patterned with mini-penises, and if I had found one in time, I would have.
My sense of humor has always been crass and offensive, and the more I am expected to contain myself and behave with decorum, the more I feel pressure build within myself until eventually I start doing something obnoxious, like singing song parodies involving penises, farts, or poop. Worse, I never know when to stop. Of course, when I end up upsetting someone, I feel full of remorse.
Like when Ginny completed her PHD and made me promise not to post any more penis pictures to her Facebook page. “I’m looking for post-doctoral work, Aim, please. I know you think it’s funny, and I do too, but can you lay off a bit?” she pleaded. I tried hard to restrain myself, but when I found a picture of a cactus that looked like a giant erect phallus, I snickered gleefully, posted it on her Facebook page, and then tagged her just to make sure she saw it. I immediately felt guilty, but not enough to delete the post.
I made a short script for the toast that my boyfriend, Dane, and I would record for Ginny to play at her wedding. “Are you sure about this?” he said, and I hesitated for a moment, but then nodded my head and hit the red button on my phone. I replayed the short video several times, chuckling, before I hit send. Immediately, I started to wonder if I had made the right decision. I expected to hear from Ginny demanding a new recording, one not so lowbrow, but all of our conversations revolved around travel plans and what she was doing to prepare for our visit.
When Dane and I arrived in California for her wedding, we were swept up in a flurry of pre-wedding parties and wine tastings. Dane looked handsome in slacks and a button-up shirt. I envied the simplicity of men’s dress-up clothes as I struggled with heels and eyeliner and held my one good skirt up with a safety pin through the zipper. I was polite and demure at dinners, but I could feel the urge to misbehave filling me up like a kettle full of steam. I needed some down time before I blew it and did something to piss off my sister.
Dane suggested a trip to the beach. We climbed down cliffs in the morning mist and walked barefoot along the California coastline. My brother, Dylan, and my sister, Sara, joined us. Dylan, a lanky twenty-something with a mohawk and Buddy Holly glasses, loped across the sand and made funny faces every time I took his picture. Sara, my youngest sibling, sauntered serenely along the edge of the ocean holding her skirt up with one hand, her long brown hair tucked behind her ear.
We came upon a fort that someone had constructed out of driftwood. It was about six feet tall, the size of a small bedroom, and we could not see inside. Dane struggled to fit his wide shoulders through the door. Inside the structure was a small seating area with a stump for a table. On the wall was a drawing of a gigantic dong. Dane lured my brother in to take a look. “Hey Dylan, you won’t believe this, but there’s graffiti with your name on it in here,” he said, smirking and elbowing me.
It reminded me of the last time Ginny and I had been together. She had still been married to her first husband, Dustin, then and had brought him to her hometown in Maine for a visit. She insisted on a trip to the coast even though it was March. The day turned out to be unusually warm and all the snow was gone, so we stuffed our socks in our sneakers, and clambered over the slick, gray rocks in winter coats and bare feet.
When Dustin, found the pink clutch in among the boulders beside the ocean, we were all surprised to find it contained a wide selection of dildos. Dustin took each dong out of the bag one by one. He ran his fingers over them, a look of stunned wonder on his face. They were fleshy and pink, bulbous rubber, and hard plastic. My favorite one was crafted out of one piece of solid clear glass. Dustin held it above his head and the afternoon sun lit the tip up like a torch. A penis on fire. Ginny was horrified but I thought it was hysterical.
“Dustin, put that down! You don’t know where that’s been!” she said as he held one up to his nose, as if to sniff it.
A few short years after that, Ginny left Dustin behind in Arizona and moved to California. It was strange to think how much had changed in both of our lives, but yet how much had stayed the same between us.
Dane and I left the beach with Dylan and Sara and headed to Ginny’s wedding event. We pulled into a large Spanish style villa with a gated driveway, fountains, and manicured gardens. My sister looked beautiful. Her hair was long, blond, and expertly styled by the same team of people who applied her makeup. She greeted us at the door with her new husband. He wasn’t wearing a uniform but even if I did not know him I would be able to tell he was an officer in the military by the crisp press of his suit, the cut of his hair and the stiff, formal way he held his shoulders. A photographer circled around us snapping pictures.
As the guests milled around with drinks and waited to be seated, I could feel my anxiety grow. Maybe the video clip I had emailed Ginny was too over the top. Maybe no one would get my joke. Ginny had not mentioned it, and didn’t seem upset with me, but maybe she had deleted it and wouldn’t include it at all. It might be better if she didn’t, I thought.
“Let’s go for a walk,” Dane suggested. We left the grounds and climbed the small hill behind the villa. From the top we could see over the walls that surrounded the property. All the guests formed little circles below. They swirled around my sister and her new husband, offering kisses and hugs. Men clapped my new brother-in-law on the shoulder and shook his hand. The crowd began grabbing glasses of champagne from waitresses with trays. They were heading to a seating area in front of a movie screen that had been set up on the patio. Behind us, the sun started to set and the surrounding fields took on a pink and golden glow. Dane climbed up on a fence to take a picture of some cows. I took a picture of his rear end.
“What if she gets mad,” I said.
“There’s nothing you can do about it now,” Dane said. “It’s not as if you could stop her from playing it, besides, if she didn’t like it, she wouldn’t include it in the final version.”
“Well, she hasn’t said anything, so I’m worried she didn’t notice.”
“If she didn’t catch what you did, that’s her fault. She knows how you are,” he said. “We should head back down before all the good seats are gone.”
The guests all smiled as Ginny and her new husband, Kris, appeared on the screen and thanked us for coming. They were watching together from the front row. My mom was beside me and had tears in her eyes as video clips from my siblings played wishing Ginny and Kris love and happiness. Finally, I appeared on the screen, Dane by my side.
I thought my face looked fat, but other than that, the quality was good. In the clip I was standing on my front porch at home and wearing a t‑shirt with PE on it in giant letters. Dane had his arm around my shoulder and was wearing a shirt that said IS. After I congratulated my sister, I called to my son and asked him to come out on the porch and wish his Aunt Ginny good luck. I made him stand between Dane and I. He grinned at the camera and waved, a giant N on his tee. My sister turned to me from her seat in the front row and winked.
After the movie, Dane and I and walked around the fountains in the garden. I bent over one to make it look like I was pooping a stream of water and Dane took my picture. Later on I would post it to Ginny’s online wedding album, but for now, I posted it to her Facebook page and tagged her. When I looked up from my phone, she was headed my way, Kris by her side. She raised her glass of champagne in the air and smiled.
Aimee DeGroat is an aspiring novelist, blogger, and travel writer. When she is not traveling (and sometimes when she is) she writes character driven fiction that focuses on people struggling to get by in a rural environment. Aimee was the 2018 and 2019 winner of the Islandport Press Fiction Writing Contest. Her fiction has been published in Islandport Magazine, her travel writing has been featured on Roadtrippers.com, and her nonfiction pieces can be found on her blog, almostfamousamos.com.