Michelle Moloney King : part nine

How does a poem begin?

A poem begins when I get that flash of the poetic potential from a word, colour or object and knowing I've the wherewithal to bring it to life and hopefully do it justice.

Michelle Moloney King : part eight

Why is poetry important?

Because it's the essence and vessel of language and helps us question mark making and the symbols of symbols of symbols language feeds us as reality and it very well could have the potential to break down the biased narrative of life into threads and we can free our minds.

Michelle Moloney King : part seven

What do you find most difficult about writing poetry?

The admin side of it all: Who did I sub to, what was the response, which poem is published and where, when is it published, did I update my website with the latest journal, should I be sharing more on social, am I boasting on social, what is social!  

And also, life is overwhelming for me due to understanding asemic poetry and postmodern poetry of using found text….and loving poetry objects...I can see the poetic potential of everything. 

I've simplified it down to leaning into my heart and knowing what to work on and make a poem and what to admire and let go.

Michelle Moloney King : part six

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

Avant-garde poetry is can be more art than contemporary poetry and certainly has that same feeling of brain tingles. It can look like childsplay to a child's mind as it asks the reader to create their own meaning. It's a mirror of your inner life. If it's simple then what does that say about you? Relaxed? Naive? Chilled out? And that's fun, it's playground messing about with art history as the poets arsenal and crafted with informed design. 

Michelle Moloney King : part five

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

It first enters the world through poetry journals publishing the work. 

I'm a primary school teacher with an undergraduate in computers….my mind is geared for quick answers and people knowing who they are...I'm not into sharing my work for feedback. I'm not going to grow from another's biased perspective but from reading widely and asking how I'd incorporate expansion into my own work. 

But I'm a firm believer in CPD so I'm doing workshops with Nikki from Streetcake and Mum Write. They're excellent for experimental poetry, playing with the visual form and techniques to create the first layer of your poem, which before, for me, were constructed in a very labour intensive fashion. 

And I've enrolled into Steven J. Fowler's asemic poetry course and cannot wait.

Life isn't about ego brain learning but chatting to people who are excelling in their field, supporting their work and lightly playing and expanding your own work.

Michelle Moloney King : part four

Has your consideration of poetry changed since you began?

In a way, yes. I feel contemporary poetry is like a slave or a potion to raise poison from your soul. For me, it's almost manipulation from emotions being triggered. Which is beautiful and takes enormous trickery and talent of techniques. Avant-garde poetry….well wow it has opened my mind and has been like the actualisation of transcendental meditation on the page.

Michelle Moloney King : part three

How do you know when a poem is finished?

When I read it back and snort with laughter at the pure audacity of its break from lyrical norm. I view my written poetry as painting as I work on it in layers to subvert the flow, add dabs of pop culture, washes of high culture. Whereas my visual poetry...I view that as writing with words as it is created as one writes a page of notes, in one sitting and either in heavy fat waxy pigments with asemic language scraped into it or my own handmade inks with scrawl.

Michelle Moloney King : part two

How did you first engage with poetry?

Poetry was just a part of growing up in Ireland. As a Roman Catholic, Irish farmer's daughter in rural Ireland, I could feel this generational shame at my Irishness. 

We were told in school that before the 1920s our schools used to be hedge schools and teachers used to be considered rebels and that our language and identity was stripped from us and we had nothing but our minds and words to set us free. 

We were told that all the 800 years of indentured servitude, famine of genocidal proportions, all the fighting, bloodshed, risings, civil war and bombs ended when Ireland used words….

John A Costello’s November 24th, 1948 Dáil speech on the Republic of Ireland Bill, available online from the Oireachtas archives. The Act came into force on Easter Monday. And in it Costello simply and formally declared Ireland a Republic and that we had left the British Commonwealth.

And that was it….the response was...yeah, ok.

In school we were told that the UK thought nothing of us, our culture, our language. And that, in their eyes, we were the punchline of Paddy Irishman jokes which were created as a tactic to discredit the Irish. 

We were told the only way to gain back our potential was to grab an education, get a degree and use our talent to be a refutation. John A. Costello's speech bypassed bloodshed and finger pointing and said, thanks we are a Republic now and so long. Sling your hook.

I mean, wow….oh and I'm the decadent of a famous Irish Revolutionary and writer so...

Also, bedtime reading was poetry in place of stories or celebrating Irish poets in school; it has always been a way for the Irish to gain recognition and love on an international stage. I mean, the Irish are loved the world over and known for our wit with words.

My great-great-great grand uncle was Thomas Francis Meagher, the founder of the Irish flag, a writer and revolutionary - in one of his speeches he highlights Ireland's artistic talent and almost tries to convince the foreign listener that we should be considered as an asset and worthy of more due to this very artistic talent. 

And finally, I wrote in my head for years but only started writing about 10 years ago. I wrote in every genre but always knew I'd arrive at my voice from an outsider perspective. 

And that moment arrived during Ireland's first lockdown, I needed a creative outlet from my doomsday thinking and so wrote a poem. That started a journey into poetry, courses, workshops from the comfort of my home.

Michelle Moloney King : part one

Michelle Moloney King {she/her} neo-postmodern poet, visual poet, asemic poet and editor of Beir Bua Journal. Degree in  computer science, post grad in education & Master Hypnotherapist. Work published in Streetcake, a glimpse of, The Pi Review, Spillwords, Artistic Differences, Babel Tower Notice Board amongst others. Pushcart Nominee 2021. Visual Artists Ireland member. Website: MichelleMoloneyKing.com and @MoloneyKing 

What are you working on?

I wish I was polishing my poetry for a pamphlet or collection, I also wish I was putting together a collection of my visual poems but I follow a mischievous sense of play and so I'm creating redacted poetry and subbing them to journals, it's lots of fun. 

And the journal, Beir Bua, takes a lot of time even when submissions are closed. So, more work to do on the design of the website and maybe seeing what I can learn about business models I could use to make it a print issue or a print anthology and printing avant-garde poetry pamphlets….. But I'm not about efforting or trying - I imagine something, see it clearly and then if info comes my way I recognise that potential and dive in.