Wombwell Rainbow Interviews

I am honoured and privileged that the following writers local, national and international have agreed to be interviewed by me. I gave the writers two options: an emailed list of questions or a more fluid interview via messenger.

The usual ground is covered about motivation, daily routines and work ethic, but some surprises too. Some of these poets you may know, others may be new to you. I hope you enjoy the experience as much as I do.

Anna Forsyth

is a writer and editor from New Zealand, currently living in NSW Australia. She is the founder of feminist poetry organisation, Girls on Key providing opportunities in publishing and performing for women and non-binary poets. Her work has appeared in journals online and in print and her latest poetry collection, Beatific Toast is available now.

www.facebook.com/girlsonkey

https://www.girlsonkey.com/poetryportalshop

https://www.girlsonkey.com/poetryportalshop/Beatific-Toast-Anna-Forsyth-p106347890

The Interview
1. When and why did you begin to write poetry?

I never read or thought about poetry until my last year of university in Auckland, when I was playing a lot of music. I was asked to be the guest musician for a local regular night called Poetry Live and I was really struck by the art form. My first feeble attempts were more like bad lyrics, but I soon found that I loved crafting poems more than I liked song writing. That was in 2004 and I have been actively writing and performing poetry ever since.

2. Who introduced you to poetry?

If I look back now I can see that my mother is a poetry lover (and lover of literature in general) and I think that instilled in me a love of words. She loved James K Baxter, a New Zealand poet and we both share a mutual love of Wordsworth. I have a beautiful print of his poem, On Westminster Bridge that we purchased when we visited his house and the area in the UK on a family trip. It’s been a prized possession. She has also written small poems for me that are treasured. I have a running joke with her, because one of her dreams was to get up on a microphone and recite a poem and I asked her to do it once for my birthday. I still haven’t got my present. So I’m hoping that will happen one day. She is one of my first readers and I can hear it in her voice when the poem needs work and having her like my poem means everything.

3. How aware were and are you of the dominating presence of older poets?

I don’t find the older generation dominating at all in poetry. In fact, I wish there was more appreciation and respect between the generations. We can all learn from each other in so many ways and I think to discount any poet or their work because of their age would be a foolish thing to do. The Maori of NZ have a word for lineage or ancestry called Whakapapa and I think it’s important to acknowledge your genealogy as an artist of any type because it grounds you. It reminds you that you don’t have all the answers but at the same time, you realise how many people have taken the same journey before you. Hopefully we can learn from each other. I don’t believe in pitting generations against each other. It seems to be a distinction that people make in the poetry world. With the work I do with Girls on Key, that’s one of the things I try to directly combat, firstly to break some of the isolation that older poets encounter and secondly, to show the broad spectrum of what poetry is and can be. I think it’s vitally important in a day and age that glorifies youth and ephemerality.

4. What is your daily writing routine?

Journaling is an essential part of my life and has been ever since I was a child. It does something for my soul that nothing else can. I have to have a beautiful notebook and a pen and I am actually a ridiculous morning person, even though I haven’t always been getting up early lately. That solitude and personal time really makes a huge difference to my life in terms of my mental health and dealing some of the challenges of being an empath and sensitive, slightly introverted person dealing with lots of other similarly inclined people on daily basis through my work.

5. What motivates you to write?

When I have a philosophical idea or a problem that I’m gnawing at intellectually, writing is my go to. It’s my way of processing or allowing ideas to take shape and of finding a unique spin on whatever is on my mind. I have a very active imagination, so I use metaphor a lot to cope with navigating challenges. I’ll make up a story about it or transform it into something poetic that often has a slant to it. It’s an alchemical process that I’m really fond of. I was a very shy child who lacked confidence. Writing gave me a way to own my own unique way of viewing the world and to validate difficult feelings. It’s a great tool, that I highly recommend. I love that if you have a voice, a pen or even just your imagination, it’s something that anyone can take advantage of, regardless of their personal circumstances.

6. What is your work ethic?

My day job is editing, so I’m quite pedantic in re-writing and checking my work. That said, I trust my intuition to know when a poem is complete. I’m not one to keep adding to a poem or working on it for years, I think poems can get really overcooked that way. A lot of my poems have a brevity to them, which I’m fine with. Often, the kernel of the idea has already sprouted and germinated before I get to the page, as I only write when I have a seed that I know is interesting to me. It could be anything, from an image to a person’s quirk or a life experience and the subsequent fresh metaphor or creative slant. So when I get to the page, I’m just exploring that. Then there is a little ding and I just take it out of the oven and don’t keep going over it, for fear of ruining it or over-thinking it.

7. How do the writers you read when you were young influence you today?

I only ever read fiction really (and a lot of it) as a young person. It’s difficult to know how that has influenced my poetry. It definitely inspired me to write fiction, which I also do regularly and sometimes enjoy more than poetry, if I’m honest. There was one poet, a New Zealand man called Sam Hunt, who I think had an impact on my poets of my generation. He is a real character and he was popular in the 70s and 80s when poetry was having its democratic shift and moving out of academia and the halls of the elite and becoming more accessible. He made it look like fun. He also has a very idiosyncratic style of reading and a cheeky approach. It’s very endearing.

8. Whom of today’s writers do you  most admire and why?

Many New Zealand poets are doing great work, especially Pasifika poets such as Karlo Mila, Serie Barford, Tusiata Avia, Grace Taylor, Courtney Sina Meredith and Selina Tusitala Marsh. There is something so spellbinding and I think quintessentially New Zealand about their work. I also love the way they combine performance and page craft.

I mostly connect with oceanic poets and I’m very inspired by poets working in Australia too, such as Anne Walsh, Robbie Coburn, Eileen Chong and Amanda Anastasia in particular. There are just too many incredible poets to name!!

Outside of Australasia I’m a sucker for the work of Dylan Thomas, e e Cummings and Wordsworth.

9. What would you say to someone who asked you “How do you become a writer?”

I don’t think you ever do. It’s a gradual process that unfolds as you start writing and keep writing, even when the end product seems ridiculous or others disapprove. I don’t really think of myself as a writer, I’m just someone who really, really enjoys writing. I think there are weird mythologies around what it is to be a poet or a writer (in quotes). When the idea becomes loaded, for example, you have to be an intellectual, or young, or drunk…anything that dictates what that should be, I think is a kind of distraction from the work to be honest. It can be difficult to untangle from cultural expectations though, as art goes through fads and fashions. With the younger generation currently, spoken word is equated with poetry and many wouldn’t engage with the written form. So it’s all about finding what you like and creating your own path. To me, that’s the most authentic thing you can do.

10. Tell me about the writing projects you have on at the moment.

I always have a lot on the go but I have a couple of film scripts I’m working on, a YA novel series and a new collection of poetry, The Unknown Great, for when I have enough fresh material. I have a radio play that has been finished for a while, but I’d love to take it off the shelf and have it produced at some point.

https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/the-real-enemy-in-writing-the-poets-who-slay-me-and-do-i-really-roast-my-kids-1.3737906?mode=amp&fbclid=IwAR3BrwjLtSFhU1LKE8UayZi0XrkxAyOB2Zx3Ob5u8_BERTysF-Vr6E8fMc0

Wombwell Rainbow Interviews

I am honoured and privileged that the following writers local, national and international have agreed to be interviewed by me. I gave the writers two options: an emailed list of questions or a more fluid interview via messenger.

The usual ground is covered about motivation, daily routines and work ethic, but some surprises too. Some of these poets you may know, others may be new to you. I hope you enjoy the experience as much as I do.

Wendy Pratt

was born in Scarborough, 1978, and still lives there today. She is a fully-qualified microbiologist, but also has a BA in English Literature, an MA in Creative Writing, and is working towards a PhD in poetry. She is the author of Nan Hardwicke Turns into a Hare (Prolebooks, 2011), Museum Pieces (Prolebooks, 2014) and Lapstrake (Flarestack, 2015). She can be found on Twitter @wondykitten and blogs at https://wendyprattpoetry.wordpress.com/

The Interview

1. What inspired you to write poetry?

I was never really ‘inspired’ in the true sense of the word. There was no sudden flash of lightning. I wrote poetry from about the age of five, at school, and continued writing poetry as part of being creative. I was always drawing and writing stories and poems. I continued writing poetry in my teens and early twenties, but, unguided, I was writing what I thought poetry should be, based on what I had been exposed to in school. It was only when I came across some modern contemporary poets in my local library whilst in the middle of a bout of severe depression that I realised there was another way to write. I guess, as a short answer, poetry has always been a way for me to record, analyse and reflect on myself and the world.

2. Who introduced you to poetry?

We did a little poetry at secondary school, the war poets mainly, but by and large I introduced myself to poetry because I spent so much time ensconced in my local library.

3. How aware were you of the dominating presence of older poets?

‘Dominating’ is an interesting term to use. I was always aware of a canon of poets which seemed to be held in high regard, mostly old white male poets, mostly dead poets, at school. I suppose in that respect, yes, they were dominating, but only because that’s who was on the syllabus. I come from a working class background, my school wasn’t geared towards any sort of academia, it was very much geared towards making sure you left school with the basic qualifications you needed to get a job in one of the local industries. I come from a town which has a very high unemployment rate and a lot of drug and alcohol problems, so I guess the main thing the teachers wanted for us was to be anchored in a job. Because of this, I don’t think the incentive was there to guide students in what was out there in terms of current, contemporary poets. You only know what you are exposed to.

4. What is your daily writing routine?

My routine varies, but I write every day. I’m a light sleeper and an early riser and tend to wake around half five or six, make coffee and write a page in my journal. I like this time best because my mind is full of the stuff that my brain has been processing while I’ve been asleep, so I am invariably sorting out worries or describing dreams when I write in my journal and it empties my head whilst also getting my creative muscles working. Then more coffee. I’m usually at my desk by seven and that’s when I produce my best work. I generally have several prose projects on the go at once, because I work as a freelance writer, writing long form articles and reviews for magazines, but I always have at least one creative project on the go too. My deadlines tend to dictate how much tie I spend on either thing on any day. Having said that, sometimes I have to write the poems that are, for want of a better description, ‘coming through’ at that point in time. When I wrote my last collection it was mostly written in a period of about three weeks of intense creativity when I wasn’t sleeping.

5. What motivates you to write?

One of my interests is in the communicative use of poetry, the narrative tradition and the role of poet as story teller. I’m interested in the psychological aspect of languages, and how we use imagery to pass on information, how art and poetry in particular is part of our evolutionary story. Exploring these concepts is part of my motivation, but the truth is I can’t not write, it’s just a part of what I am. I have done such a wide range of jobs in my life from factory work to being a microbiologist, and the only time I have felt I fit properly was when I was writing. In terms of themes I am motivated to write honestly about my own life experiences and to break the taboos that surround women who are infertile, childless and who have lost babies. But at the same time I don’t want to be defined by that story. As I say, writing is how I process the world, so it’s really very much just a part of me just being me. I use the success of others to motivate me, in many ways, because I want to be the absolute best that I can be in my chosen field. When I see writers such as Helen Mort, Liz Berry, Rebecca Goss excelling in their work, when I see what can be achieved with talent, dedication and hard work, it inspires me to reach further. That doesn’t mean I want to be better than anyone else, I’m not sure how that could be judged anyway, because art is so subjective, but I want to know that I have given everything and achieved what I aimed for. A lot of my work is personal, I have written extensively on the experiences of infertility and of the death of my daughter in 2010, and when I write about her I am aware of a responsibility to do my absolute best for her, and to represent the experience honestly and genuinely. I’m quite driven, but I’m also working out how to be at peace with what I am, and what I have achieved without reaching further all the time.

6. What is your work ethic?

This is tough to answer. I am driven, and I work very hard. It is almost impossible to make a living from the arts so it’s a given that you will work a lot of hours for not a lot of money. But I’m aware that I am doing work that I love, and it’s work that I can’t not do. My writing tends to be instinctive and natural, but on top of that is a shed load of hard work around technique. I am a bit of a perfectionist and am quite hard on myself, I set my targets high, deliberately so, because I know that if I don’t achieve the top I will come in high enough to be satisfied that I have done the best I can. I’m aware that my lack of self-confidence and low self-esteem (which tends to manifest in over achieving and perfectionism) is a barrier and I tend to check myself quite a lot, it’s easy to make excuses not to do something based anxiety around it. I struggle with quite severe anxiety which affects how I live my life a lot of the time, as does depression. I push through that as much as I can, but am slowly learning to slow down, and that being kind to myself isn’t a sin. (this is a lie, I don’t think I will ever learn to slow down) What I’ve found is that the sense of success and joy I feel when I am actually doing the work I love is worth the anxiety beforehand. I don’t believe in climbing up other people to achieve my own aims, this has happened to me twice now and it’s completely soul destroying to realise that someone has cultivated a friendship with you based on what you can do for them, rather than the fact that they like you, it’s made me wary of friendships on social media in particular. I don’t believe in climbing over people to achieve success. The poetry world can be a bit back stabby; it’s a pressurised environment with everybody going for the same jobs, publishers and awards in a very narrow field, but I genuinely believe there is room for everyone and that includes light, funny verse, academically competent and more accessible poetry. Poetry is like music, there’s no one way of making it.

7. How do the writers you read when you were young influence you today?

I think Sylvia Plath was probably the first poet I fell in love with. It was like finding that there was a feast going on next door when all you’d been doing is eating wan sandwiches at your desk. That’s what poetry is like for me, like nourishment, and I think she was my first love, along with Ted Hughes, Jackie Kay, Seamus Heaney, Simon Armitage and just too many to really mention. I’m always inspired by Plath’s dedication, her work ethic, as well as her incredible talent and style. Heaney is like a God to me, I love how he writes about the natural world and history, I love the connectedness of his poetry and often find myself trying to emulate that connection. I saw him read once and am glad I travelled to see him before he died. Jackie kay taught me to be free, to be conversational, to use rhythm and cadence and naturalness, that was a big eye opener for me. It freed me.

8. Who of today’s writers do you admire the most and why?

That’s a tough question too, there are so many good writers out there. From a poetry perspective I would say any poet who is using their experience honestly and genuinely and making a conversation happen through their art. I’m thinking of Liz Berry and Rebecca Goss here, who are changing the shape of how we view motherhood and how we write about women’s experiences and encouraging and inspiring other women to write about experiences which have generally been missing in the poetry world.

9. Why do you write?

I can’t not. Writing is everything to me. I only ever feel real when I am writing, at other times I feel undefined and without purpose.

10. What would you say to someone who asked you “How do you become a writer?”

You write. And you keep writing, you keep making mistakes and you keep practicing. You just keep writing. The hardest thing by far is facing the prospect of writing rubbish. The secret is that everybody writes rubbish. I tend to think of it as a rule of three: for every three poems you write, one will be good, one will be OK and one will go in the bin. But in order to get that good one you’ve got to keep writing through the other two and accept that rubbish writing happens. A finished poem never, ever happens on the first go.

11. Tell me about the writing projects you have on at the moment.

I am currently working on a play based in a working class seaside town which explores drinking culture and friendship between classes. I’ve recently finished my third full collection, which will be published by Valley Press late next year, and I am starting to put some ideas together and do some research around another collection. I’ve also just taken over as the editor of York based Dream Catcher magazine, which is exciting. I’m looking forward to 2019 and all the challenges it will bring.

https://www.ianbadcoe.uk/2018/12/review-paul-brookes-please-take-change.html?fbclid=IwAR3bBjuFK9UvuQQXVi2njXffhE_C8sQ8NLVRkCCWgZlfSHu0v4RT3dNsLmQ