Kim Goldberg : part five

How does a poem begin?

With an instigating line, or an image, maybe a sound, a dream even. Or witnessing something so bizarre it begs for the slantwise approach of poetry to make sense of it. This morning I read an article (on the heels of another horrific school shooting) about a religious congregation in Pennsylvania coming to church in the hundreds for a mass wedding of all congregants. And they were toting their AR-15 rifles because they believe the AR-15 symbolizes the "rod of iron" in the biblical Book of Revelation. How can this not be the basis of a poem?

I often discover after I have written a poem that the reason I wrote it, the motivating force, was to try to understand or make some sense of the incomprehensible. Fortunately, I don’t see that when I start writing, or it would probably wreck the poem.

Kim Goldberg : part four

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

The best book on my shelf for getting me writing new poems is In Fine Form: The Canadian Book of Form Poetry, edited by Kate Braid and Sandy Shreve. The book contains great discussion, explanations and examples of various poetic forms. Within 20 minutes of opening that book, I find myself trying my hand at a pantoum or triolet or sonnet. Lately, I’ve had a good run with Sam Hamill’s magnum opus of collected poems Habitation as being a rich source of inspiration for me. I am very fond of prose poems, so opening almost any anthology of prose poems gets the words flowing.

Kim Goldberg : part three

What poets changed the way you thought about writing?

Jane Hirshfield – especially her collection of essays Nine Gates: Entering the Mind of Poetry. And of that collection, it was particularly the final essay “Writing and the Threshold Life”. This essay changed my life. I couldn’t possibly do it justice with any recap or summary. People should go find the book and read that essay.

Kim Goldberg : part two

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

Creative expression is empowering and inspiring. One of my books, Red Zone, is a poetic chronicle of homelessness in downtown Nanaimo, BC, where I live. People have grown somewhat apathetic to the systemic problem of homelessness because they feel helpless to do anything about it when they are reading headline after headline, statistic after statistic. But I found that by documenting it creatively, poetically, instead of journalistically, people became very interested in discussing and devising strategies to address homelessness locally. In other words, creative energy inspires people to tap into their own creative energy, to think differently, solve problems. Creative energy is ultimately energy of hope (regardless of the subject) because creativity is the counterweight to inertia.

Kim Goldberg : part one

Kim Goldberg is the author of seven books of poetry and nonfiction including Red Zone, poems of homelessness, and Undetectable, her haibun poetry journey through Hepatitis C and cure. She organized the Women’s Eco-Poetry Workshop and Panel at the inaugural Cascadia Poetry Festival in Seattle. Kim’s poems have recently appeared in Literary Review of Canada, The Capilano Review, Augur, Big Smoke Poetry, Poetry is Dead and elsewhere. She lives and speculates in Nanaimo, BC, and on twitter: @KimPigSquash

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

Normally a poem of mine leaves the nest by getting published in a magazine or anthology. But that is a very slow process. It can be easily take two years from the time I write a poem until it appears in a magazine or antho. And even then, most people I know will never actually read it (the sad fate of lit mags). I have recently come to feel the whole prolonged publication process was causing me enormous blockage of creative energy and robbing me of interactions/engagement with my audience and literary community. So I changed my policy and started posting some of my new poems directly to Facebook. That has felt very freeing. Of course, those poems cannot go on to be published elsewhere in most cases. I also perform new poems at open mic events around town (which let’s you know pretty damn quick whether you’ve got a page poem or a stage poem!)

As for writing groups where members share and critique each others’ work, these are incompatible with my creative process, although I realize they are very nourishing for many poets and writers. In my case, I really do not want other people’s creative energies or preferences influencing or skewing my choices on a piece. It feels contaminating. So I do not share work until I feel it is complete. In other words, I never offer it for feedback or suggestions. I don’t attend writing retreats or workshops or courses for this reason, although I have supported myself from my writing for 40 years.