Jackie McManus : part five

Why is poetry important?

It’s important because it can be a gateway to other things, so be mindful! It can open one up to empathy, to understanding, to learning how language works for both English and nonEnglish speaking people. It teaches punctuation, calls on intuition: to feel where a line ends or does not end or how to extend a metaphor or recognize a brilliant simile. I think most importantly it teaches us to live in the uncomfortable space of that poem, of whatever that poem means to us because in it we have something to reach for, to grow from. The discomfort of figuring that out is fearful but we must fight for it. Poetry is the only medium we have that doesn’t ask for a happy ending, doesn’t require closure and we can let things stand as they are. Our culture likes to pretend closure is possible, even necessary, and that’s a myth based on fear. Poetry’s importance is primal.

Jackie McManus : part four

When you require renewal, is there a particular poem or book that you return to? A particular author? 

I am not a believer in writer’s block. There may be blocks but writing is a path to unblock. So when I need renewal, I go to words. I read anything. Poetry, a nonfiction book, the newspaper, it doesn’t matter. I just get words in front of me and it invariably happens that I will fall in love with some of the words, so I’ll have to get out my Word Journal and jot them down, and often that is the beginning of a phrase, an entry into what may become a poem. I am not organized, though! I recall Ellen Bass admitting her messiness, and I can relate: that’s me! There isn’t one book or thing I return to. I dabble. I’m a dabbler. But I do make sure the author’s work I am reading is someone who is an excellent poet or writer, someone better so I can work on being better.

Jackie McManus : part three

How do you know when a poem is finished?

Revision could go on forever! But there is a sense of finality for me when I know I have said what I intended to say, when my word choices are the best I can make them, when I’ve gone through the whole checklist of, is it developed enough, are the line breaks right for what I want to say how I want to say it, is the form the right form for this poem, etc, etc. I send it to my two writing groups for a final critique, and sometimes I will read a poet’s work that I admire, like say, Louise Gluck, Billy Collins or I go back to Sylvia Plath’s work because reading ignites the poet in me and helps to focus my own work. 

Jackie McManus : part two

How did you first engage with poetry?

I wanted to be a teacher when I was small but only because I loved paper and pencils and all of the paraphernalia associated with writing. In the fifth grade, I wrote a poem called ‘The Spy’. It had about ten 4-line stanzas. The teacher liked it so much she made copies and passed it out to the class. I wish I still had it. I was an introvert and liked holing up in my bedroom to write, away from my six siblings. I was very shy so writing was an outlet. I had notebooks full. And then our house burned down. That was my first book review. I always say poetry chose me. For instance, I tried writing my book Related to Loon: a first year teacher in Tuluksak, in prose, as nonfiction. That attempt stalled me for years, but when I took those pages and turned them into poems, I had a rough draft in one winter.

Jackie McManus : part one

Jackie McManus is the author of The Earthmover's Daughter and Related to Loon, based on her teaching experiences in a Yup’ik community in southwestern Alaska. She has been published in Cathexis Northwest, Sky Island Journal, Barstow & Grand, VoiceCatcher, Thimble Literary Magazine, among others. She resides in the NorthWest.

What are you working on?

Finishing Line Press just published my book, Related to Loon: a first year teacher in Tuluksak about my experience teaching in a Yup’ik community in southwestern Alaska. So I am busy getting the word out, marketing, the thing every poet or writer wrestles with. It’s in presales which means it can be purchased on their site with the hard copy shipping out in June.

Besides marketing the book, I have been revising my next chapbook, ‘Curses & Delights’ that I hope to have ready for publishers by summer. I am also working on a memoir with my daughter tentatively titled, ‘Blindfolded.’