Natalie Lim : part five

How important is music to your poetry?

Music is incredibly important to my life in general, so it becomes important to my poetry by proxy. When I listen to songs, I like paying close attention to the lyrics and how they work, which is why I think I gravitate towards musicals so much. In well-crafted musical numbers, every lyric has a purpose. Every line works to move the plot along or reveal a secret or draw you deeper into the mind of a character. I try to bring that same attitude to the editing process, where I look closely at each line of a poem and question whether or not it needs to be there, whether or not it’s contributing to the grander narrative of the piece.

Natalie Lim : part four

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

I have a couple poems I always come back to in different situations. I read Natalie Wee's "Least of All" and Mary Oliver's "Wild Geese" when I am trying to hold myself more gently, Danusha Laméris' "Small Kindnesses" on days when I need to be convinced the world isn't all bad, and Ada Limón's "What I Didn't Know Before" when I want to be reminded what love looks like. But my heart poem is "Good Bones" by Maggie Smith—I know every word by memory, and will for the rest of my life.

Natalie Lim : part three

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

My poems usually start as a bullet point in the notes app on my phone—I write down all sorts of things I’ve noticed or pulled from conversations around me, images that won’t leave my head, the remnants of a dream I’ve just woken up from. These bullet points are the jumping-off point for me when I sit down to write.

I currently have a few close friends that I share my poetry with on a regular basis, although I would love to join a writer’s group at some point in the future!

Natalie Lim : part two

How do you know when a poem is finished?

I don’t really know how to explain it—by instinct, I guess, as lame as that sounds. Sometimes I’ll sit back and look at a poem and just get this feeling that it’s done; other times I’ll realize that I need to stop working on a particular piece and come back to it later.

Natalie Lim : part one

Natalie Lim is a Chinese-Canadian writer based in Vancouver, B.C. She won the 2018 CBC Poetry Prize and has work published or forthcoming in Room Magazine, Honey & Lime Lit, PRISM international, and more. She is a recent graduate of Simon Fraser University, an unashamed nerd, and a believer in good bones. You can find her on Twitter @nataliemlim.

How did you first engage with poetry?

I’ve been a writer since I was very young, but the world of poetry was truly revealed to me in high school when I stumbled across YouTube videos of spoken word poetry. The lyrical, personal nature of that style resonated deeply with me (and still does), and I owe a lot of my inspiration to poets like Sarah Kay, Sierra DeMulder and Shane Koyczan.