11/10/11

Except from the interview for my upcoming chapbook, Palimpsests:

12)    Tell me about the cover and/or title:

The cover is my own artwork, augmented by a cool font discovered by the publisher. I had lots of fun making the collage and coating it with layers of encaustic (wax). The cover was meant to illustrate the title, about which the publisher acutely commented, “No one’s gonna understand that word, Cathy.”  But it’s such a cool word…. And it most perfectly sums up the book theme, in my opinion. A palimpsest is a document on which an underlying “story” or text was scraped away (usually by medieval monks) before they wrote their new text on the pages (books were leather and too expensive to throw away). So, too, these modern incidents resonate with old stories that live on through history.

What is the message in your book? What are your readers’ reactions to it?

I gathered poems that seemed to combine old stories and new – so often I see a current incident that evokes a myth or fairytale. The old stories continue to live because people haven’t changed that much over the eons. Thus, “Curing Cassandra” is set in a modern hospital, and Athena shows up in the Middle East, and the Little Mermaid lives again in a local pub. It has been important to me to understand the historical patterns of our most troublesome situations. I won’t prescribe for others, but in this “a-historical era”, where history is held to be irrelevant, there is much to learn from old stories, not the least of which is, “Here we go again!”

Those who have read some of the individual poems (since the book’s not out yet) have said that I have helped them see the similarities between old stories and current events. Others commented on my ability to present multiple layers of meaning in a few phrases. Many have commented on my use of big words. ;-)

Did you learn anything from writing your book and what was it?

I think learning happened on a couple levels – the technical side, and the expanded awareness that comes when I explore a theme.

 The specific task of assembling a chapbook is eye-opening: how poems shift subtly when they are placed next to different poems (like the way colors can seem different next to other colors). And how a narrative path can emerge from a collection of poems that were not written “near” each other in time or space. And how there is often a “missing poem” that I end up writing specifically for the collection. How could it be missing, when these poems were all written individually?

 The expanded awareness comes when I see that there are patterns in my life and thought, as evidenced by these repeat themes. And a fun observation: there is a collection of “favorite words” that I use over and over; kind of my “signature words”.

What are the most important elements of good writing? According to you, what tools are must-haves for writers?

I am a narrative writer, deep down. So I prefer a storyline, even in the briefest of poems, although clear, evocative observations can also be gems. The philosopher in me hates fuzzy thinking or disingenuous explanations – and I guess you can tell that I enjoy big (because they are precise and gorgeous) words!

 Tools? Your self is the biggest one, so working on yourself – deepening your self-awareness, your ability to perceive clearly – is a very important goal. I find over and over that no one can explain or share more than they themselves understand. The best writers seem to have learned life lessons that, shared in their writing, become a guide for me. The best poetry, to me, is a combination of luminous language and deep understanding. So – learn the language you write in, but also learn to know yourself.

 If you really want to be published, it’s essential nowadays to get your work onto a computer, have access to the internet, and to know your markets. But that’s marketing – different from writing. Keep the two separate.

Here are links to some of the book’s poems that have been previously published:

Curing Cassandra   http://www.melusine21cent.com/mag/node/114

Knives, Then Foam http://www.enchantedconversation.org/2010/06/knives-then-foam-by-cathy-mcguire.html

Overlay http://homesweet-or.blogspot.com/2011/06/var-gajshost-https-document.html

http://www.newversenews.com/ (search for “McGuire” or “Orphic”)

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 I have now had more than 200 poem acceptances, a milestone for me.

Currently you can see my poems online (archived) at  Sketchbook, Dark Mountain and  Grey Sparrow Press, New Verse News, The Enchanted Conversation, and FutureCycle.

On a lighter note, my garden and chickens provide me with much material, and are a welcome respite for the difficult conditions of the current economy.  I was having so much fun, I decided to pull together a chapbook of my chicken poems and pencil sketches (self-published).

Here is a  sample:

Watching Chickens Run

like a plump dowager might

hike her skirt

and stagger on high heels

like a stubby tugboat might

breast the swell

and wobble in the troughs

or a troubadour fleeing

the come-home husband

lurch over benches and pails

                                        my fluffy-thighed hens

                                        alarmed

                                        high-tail through the clover

                                        bounce, bounce, leap –

                                        matronly dignity

                                        left behind with the bee.

(recently published in Farming Journal)

I currently have a chapbook and 2 full-length manuscripts of poetry going the rounds of contest and publishing houses.

I was first published in 1975, and my long career in business writing includes technical, marketing and fundraising, as well as literary pieces. I can provide samples of writing upon request. Email me at cathy[at]cathymcguire[dot]com.

A partial list of where I've been published (in no particular order):

Online: New Verse News, Smoking Poet; FutureCycle;  melusine, The Road Not Taken, Adagio Verse Quarterly; Rhythm;  MReview, The Enchanted Conversation, Sketchbook, Dark Mountain and  Grey Sparrow Press,

Anthologies: The Quizzical Chair, Tuesday, Verseweavers; Portland Lights; Raising Our Voices; Poetry Against the War;  Out of Line

Magazines: Main Street Rag; Windfall; California Quarterly; Folio; Tapjoe; Into the Teeth of the Wind; Mobius; Plainsong; Hazmat Review; Bogg; Arnazella; Connecticut River Review; Cape Rock; Mid-America Poetry Review; Poetry in Motion (Portland buses and MAX trains); Green Fuse; Fireweed; Crab Creek Review; Poetry NW, Avocet, Nebo, Tidal Basin Review, The Lyric, Greensilk, Nibble, Birds Eye Review,

My 2008 Chapbook: Joy Holding Stillness
 

LINKS