poetry
Word from the Editor:
Dearest Moondance Poetry Readers,
Welcome to the Search Issue. In honor of our theme, we decided to engage some of our recent poets on the topic of their own poetic quests and journeys. I, your humble and benignly mad editor, decided it would be a good idea to concoct a quiz. The day I decided to do this, I was feeling a little, shall we say, winter-bluesy about the state of poetry in society. I get this way a lot, as a poet. Probably because, sometimes, some of the things I am most tempted to write about are things I know couldn't (and maybe shouldn't) be taken seriously by the contemporary poetry community. I'm talking about, those flights of fancy where craft goes out the window and the ensuing tumble of linguistic impulse nets a gorgeous, shimmering, mysterious mess that you just don't want to clean up. It is definitely worth cleaning up. But sometimes you resent having to.
I was in a mood about authenticity, is what I'm saying. So the questions I came up with were kind of, well, difficult and challenging. To my immense delight and gratitude, however, the participating poets rose to the challenge and answered the questions I hurled at them with such grace, wisdom and passion that I was reminded, yet again, of poetry's power to break through "moods" such as this one and put things into stunning perspective.
Poets have a way of doing that. It never ceases to amaze me. This is what the best poetry does: rises above the Sturm and Drang of 2007 (or 1640, or 1789, or 1919, or 1945) and manages to see with a clear eye. And to communicate that vision in a resonant and powerful voice.
I threw a big, heavy, fragmented, kind of accusatory, kind of skeptical pile of questions at them, and they responded to it all in true poetic fashion. They completely ignored the irrelevant stuff and went straight for the marrow. For that, I cannot thank them enough. Notice that each respondent chose to ignore certain questions outright. I advised them to do this, so that they may, instead, place their focus on questions of import to them.
Below is the questionnaire I threw at them. Well, emailed to them. I invite all of you to join in, and have a go at it yourself. At the last minute, I decided I would answer my own questions, out of fairness, and to give myself the opportunity to reflect on my own poetic quest. I've heard many writers claim that, for them, poetry is "a way" — a way of not only being in the world, but understanding and navigating it. I believe this is true for me.
When it comes time for your "way" to enter into relationship, commerce and exchange with the rest of the world — it is inevitable that this "way" will be thrown into question. This is as it should be, for it helps us to weed out our own baseless assumptions. I fervently believe that reading and writing poetry has enriched my perspective on the world, a perspective that sorely needs occasional injections of clarity, wonder, laughter, and colour. Poetry provides this. And if I haven't been able to articulate it as well as I would like, that's because my days are filled with politics and business and the "busyness" Patricia Wellingham-Jones so astutely points out in her responses. It is very hard to slow down to read a poem, think about poetry, or write. A shift in consciousness is required, and life, as we all know, affords most of us very few of these. We have to create these, and insist upon them, as doggedly as we write, assigning value to our work, and the work of other poets as we go. In this way, we will take strides in returning poetry to the place of privilege it once held. If we are able to do this, the rest (more opportunities for poets, more recognition, and more money) will follow…
Poetry Editor Jenn Houle's Answers