Paul Pearson : part four

How important is music to your poetry?

Of course music, specifically rhythm, is an integral part of poetry. I'm assuming that kids are still being taught rhythm and meter in school. What I suspect they're not being taught is that the pinnacle of human artistic endeavour is the music video.  If music is  poetry in to time and visual art is poetry in image, then the music video, which combines both of these, is poetry squared - at least when it's done well. Go ahead, try to change my mind ;) 

Len Gasparini : part two

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

I’m inclined to agree with Polish poet Czeslaw Milosz who said quite succinctly that “one clear stanza of poetry can take more weight than a whole wagon of elaborate prose.” I don’t think an explication is required.

Primessa Espiritu : part four

Why is poetry important?

Is it? If it takes you somewhere, it becomes as important as the journey. It can be transformative. It can also be a joke. Whatever I think it may be is inconsequential. Art is a personal act that can be taken hostage, celebrated and ignored. 

Jake Byrne : part four

What do you find most difficult about writing poetry?

Securing income.

Carolyne Van Der Meer : part one

Carolyne Van Der Meer is a journalist, public relations professional and university lecturer whose articles, essays, short stories and poems have been featured in journals internationally. Her first book, Motherlode: A Mosaic of Dutch Wartime Experience, was published by Wilfrid Laurier University Press in 2014, while her second book, a collection of poetry entitled Journeywoman, was published in 2017 by Toronto-based Inanna Publications. Her third book, Heart of Goodness: The Life of Marguerite Bourgeoys in 30 Poems | Du coeur à l’âme : La Vie de Marguerite Bougeoys en 30 poèmes, for which she translated her original English poems into French, was published by Guernica in 2020. Another collection of poetry, Sensorial, is forthcoming from Inanna in 2021. Carolyne lives in Montreal, Quebec.

Photo credit: Bassam Sabbagh

How did you first engage with poetry?

I first engaged with poetry as a child. I remember reading a long poem version of the story of Pegasus and Bellerophon, which has always stuck with me. Then, as a teenager, I started writing poems about horses because I rode regularly. Images from my riding and dressage work melded with mythology and other influences. And then I started writing love poetry. It was terrible! I got over this phase and left poetry for a long while, to pursue journalism and then short fiction. I came back to poetry as an adult with a small child—and then became very committed, using it to explore the experiences of illness and motherhood. My practice grew from there.

Jeffrey Harrison : part four

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

We often talk about the limitations of language, and of course it is limited. Nevertheless, the language of poetry can do an enormous number of things, and often at the same time. It can be both literal and figurative, pursue sound and sense in tandem, engage simultaneously in syntax and poetic form (especially in the play between sentences and lines). Narrative, argument, description, song, incantation—they’re all there (and I’m probably forgetting something). The images aren’t as vivid as in painting, the sounds aren’t as viscerally affecting as in music, but I don’t think there’s another art form that can do so many things at once. 

Sally Ito : part three

How do you know when a poem is finished?

When it’s been read and there’s been some feedback given on it by an editor, or a writing friend.  After it’s published, I don’t go back to it.