Grace : part five

Why is poetry important?

Poetry is important because—and this is somewhat related to the fact that it can accomplish what other forms of writing can’t—for me, it requires me to look at and think about my world in a different way.

You could technically make that argument that sci-fi (which I also love) and other types of writing can do something similar, but there’s an immediacy in poetry for me that really gives you that “punched in the gut” feeling.

I think it’s because whether you’re writing or reading poetry (or listening to a song), the sounds and rhythm, the creativity with which the sentences and phrases are formed—all of that works together to suck you in, and invites you to consider the world around you in a way that maybe you haven’t considered before.

Grace : part four

How important is music to your poetry?

Extremely. Hip hop was how I really learned to master English in the years after my family immigrated to Canada, and it was probably my first “favourite genre of music” growing up. There are poems that I enjoy, even though they have no musical elements—but to be honest… The consonance and assonance, rhythms, and (gulp) rhymes in a poem are often just as pleasurable to me as a good metaphor.

Grace : part three

When you require renewal, is there a particular poem or book that you return to? A particular author?

Lately, Mary Oliver. We have a few of her books, so I’ll just pick one off the shelf at random. There’s an optimism in her poems and a grace that I’ve needed a bunch these past couple years. I never really cared much for nature when I was a kid, but as I get older, it’s something that I think about a lot more. There’s a great sadness that comes with this change—or maybe it’s just the sadness of growing up—that Mary Oliver’s poems have a knack for soothing.

Grace : part two

What other poetry books have you been reading lately?

I just finished Deaf Republic by Ilya Kaminsky. Had no idea what I was getting into, and I’m just floored by the concept of the book and how it’s not your typical collection of poems. Also Sanna Wani’s My Grief, the Sun and Conyer Clayton’s But the sun, and the ships, and the fish, and the waves. I’m very behind on my book stacks…

Grace : part one

Grace is a settler living in Ontario on the traditional and Treaty territory of the Anishinabek people, now known as the Chippewa Tri-Council comprised of the Beausoleil, Rama, and Georgina Island First Nations. Her debut collection of poetry, The Language We Were Never Taught to Speak, is published by Guernica Editions and a Lambda Literary Award finalist. Her work can be found in Grain Magazine, Contemporary Verse 2, Frontier Poetry, Arc Poetry, and elsewhere. Find her on social media at @thrillandgrace.

What poets changed the way you thought about writing?

There are so, so many! Amber Dawn’s collection of glosas really opened my eyes to the magic of form beyond sonnets, and how poets can have all these conversations with each other—sometimes even crossing space and time—by getting their poems to talk to each other!

Reading Chrystos for the first time was also amazing because it completely up-ended what I was taught in high school, and even university, when we studied poems. The subject matter, her tone of voice, her humour and brilliance… It had a huge impact on me in terms of showing the power of poems to not only teach you, but also make you feel things. Uncomfortable things, happy things. It definitely expanded my own approach to writing when I was first starting out.