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.