Katherine Lawrence : coda

Why is poetry important? 

I chuckle when I hear someone say that they don’t read poetry. Poetry is everywhere! It shows up at the wedding, crosses the street to attend a funeral, dashes downtown to baptize a baby, races across town to plaster itself across a billboard, then slips inside a greeting card on the way home. In the kitchen, it roasts a chicken from a recipe full of savoury, buttery language. It’s the da-DUM, da-DUM, da-DUM, of first language. Is poetry important? Poetry sustains us like daily bread.

Katherine Lawrence : part five

What poets changed the way you thought about writing?

Margaret Atwood. I first read You Are Happy when I wasn’t. It was 1974 and I was 19 years old. I’d been scribbling poems but I remember how her voice, her images, her subjects woke me up. Atwood’s work emboldened me. I began to pay closer attention. Her work taught me how to be an observant writer.

Katherine Lawrence : part four

What do you find most difficult about writing poetry?

I love writing. Yes, it’s difficult but I feel like I’m exploring, learning, on a quest when I sit with my journal and later open my laptop. I take pleasure in every step of the process. 

My truth is that the hardest, most challenging part of writing poetry is getting the work out there. The marketing. I’m grateful to my publishers for all their efforts on my behalf yet the marketplace is crowded and noisy. It’s for this reason that I’m happy for bloggers like Thomas Whyte. Thanks Thomas! Thanks for adding my voice to your mini interviews.

Katherine Lawrence : part three

What do you feel poetry can accomplish that other forms can’t?

I don’t believe that poetry sets out to accomplish, succeed, complete or finish anything. Perhaps that’s why I love poetry. It lives in the margins. Poetry is never sure of itself, yet a good poem will suggest an opening, a way to hold what cannot be said in the speech of common hours. 

Katherine Lawrence : part two

How does your work first enter the world? Do you have a social group or writers group that you work ideas and poems with?

I seem to wait for two things to occur. First, I get a feeling sense of something. Next, I read or hear a word or phrase that somehow aligns or reminds me of that feeling sense. I may not keep the phrase but the ‘found’ language gets me going. 

I’ve always been part of a writers’ group. I currently hang out with two groups of trusted writers. The back and forth, the feedback we exchange with each other, is gold.

Katherine Lawrence : part one

Katherine Lawrence is the author of three collections of poetry for adults and a young adult novel-in-verse. Her books have won and been nominated for numerous awards. Born in Hamilton, Ontario, Katherine has lived in Saskatoon for over thirty-five years with her husband and their two daughters.

Has your consideration of poetry changed since you began?

Today I understand that I am forever a student of poetry. It’s a relief to arrive at this place. I bring the same attitude to reading other poets. A good poem will always prompt me to ask what I can learn.