Interview / being fallow / fellowship

There is a great new online literary journal called Talking About Strawberries All of the Time. They invited me to submit some of my visual poetry in the second edition. Most recently, I was interviewed for their 'Art of Writing' series.

Imposter syndrome makes us question doing interviews when one hasn't written much in a few months, but a dear friend reminded me that thinking about/through our work is part of the process. It's true, writing is often a thinking through for me. Each form has its own language, it's own ways of thinking, it's own pathways and movements. Our (western) minds sometimes forget this, and sometimes it takes a while to integrate modalities, or to integrate our thoughts into the making, the making into the thinking. Being fallow is part of the process. Maybe that's why I sent the journal a winter photo, although I was very actively creative last winter than I was this summer. Somehow the vibrancy, the intensity of green, the business of tourists on the river kept me more distant from the river trail (of course going through a major life transition influenced my active creation these last months).

The best of the last few months was time at the Hall's Island Residency with chris turnbull . Thanks to funding from the Canada Council for the Arts and Hall's Island, we were able to spend a week thinking together about writing, visual poetry, and digging into the full length collection I am working on (yep, time to become active in the writing again). If you haven't encountered chris's work, do so (in print and on her curated rout/e). I feel so grateful for her mentorship and support, and of course the funding from the Council which will give me a couple of months this fall and winter to work on the poems.

To read my short interview, visit the blog here.