Poetry as release: Interview with poet, Deborah Mashibini
by Katerina Canyon
Tonight the Peace Economy Project will feature female poets from the St. Louis area who will be reading poetry to highlight vulnerabilities women in war zones face every day. The purpose of this reading is to shed light on the suffering of civilian women in war zones. The reading featuring local poets, Deborah Mashibini, Susan Lively and Erin Goss will be held at GYA/Yeyo Arts Collective 2700 Locust Street, Saint Louis tonight from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.What follows is an interview with Deborah Mashibini, one of tonight’s featured poets:
Katerina Canyon: How does the subject of women suffering violence in war zones touch you?
Deborah Mashibini: This is a question that is not easy to answer with a simple, or single, response.
On the one hand the subject of women suffering violence in war zones doesn’t touch me because my life is so privileged. I am a white American living in the midst of the USA at a time when the likelihood of my having to directly face that kind or level of violence is practically nil.
On the other end of the spectrum I could say something about the fact that violence against women anywhere touches women everywhere…. I know I have heard that before; though I honestly think that sentiment is pretty empty and meaningless when weighed against the reality of the actual violence women in war zones face – minute by minute, hour by hour.
Every time I hear or read about gang rape, about children being killed or raped in front of their mothers, about child soldiers, about women, children and their men losing homes, family members, limbs, sanity and any sense of safety as a result of war I can’t help but feel tears come; and I get mad. How is it that we human beings have managed to live on this one earth together for this long and still not have figured out how to live together? What is it about our nature that results in such inhumanity and violence?
KC: What is poetry for you?
DM: Poetry is a release, a way to make sense of things, a way to absorb or convey a message…. a way to capture a feeling, a sense, a picture of those miniscule moments that might go unnoticed otherwise.
KC: Where do you find inspiration?
DM: Inspiration can come from anywhere….. I’ve written poems about broad social issues such as racism, about the people around me and our (or their) interactions and I’ve written poems about bugs smashed on my windshield. I try to be open to poems when they come.
KC: Where is your favorite place to write?
DM: That’s a difficult question….. not sure if I have one. I don’t have a private space in my household, and I am subject to being called at any moment by my disabled husband. Or to being snuggled, or fussed at or called by my almost two-year-old grandson who (along with his mother) lives with us.
I have written some of my best poetry during long drives, on scratch pads balanced on the passenger seat beside me.
I try to set aside time at my desk with my laptop late at night when everyone else is settled in. That works sometimes, though often after a day of working and care giving I am too tired for coherent thought.
KC: What does being a poet mean to you?
DM: Hmmmm……. Well…. It means working hard to craft language down to convey the essence of images and emotions that strike me. It means striving to honor the rhythms and music of language. It means I definitely have to do something else to make a living.
KC: Why do you write poetry?
DM: I write poetry because that’s how things come to me… I wrote an “aesthetic statement” about my work as a poet when I was finishing up my MA in Creative Writing at SIU Edwardsville, I’ll attach that here because it addresses that question.
KC: Where are you your happiest?
DM: Moments of happiness may find me in any place, at any time.
What message do you hope to convey at the February 11th reading?
Deborah Mashibini: That there is hope and love and humanity and a commonality we all share – even in the midst of life’s most extreme challenges. We have to hold on to that.
KC: How long have you been writing poetry?
DM: I wrote my first poem as a first year college student in 1977 after an encounter with a homeless person on a Greyhound bus. I still remember one of the lines, which is something he said to me: “I used to love to roam a lot, never stopping…”
KC: What first inspired you to become a poet?
DM: A poem came out of me….. a few days after the bus trip I was thinking about the encounter with that man…. I don’t think we exchanged names. He told me bits about his life. He cried. He laughed a little bit, wistfully. Something about him and the things he said haunted me and echoed the sense of being lost, unanchored, lonely and the longing that I was feeling myself at that time. Those feelings came out in a poem.
KC: What poet most inspires you and why?
DM: Well, now that is impossible to answer with just one person!
Lucille Clifton because she was such an intelligent, beautiful, fluent poet and so down-to-earth with her language. Her poems “Homage to My Hips” and “Cruelty” come to mind.
Aime Cesaire because I don’t know if I’ve ever come across a more beautifully written long poem than Return to My Native Land.
Jean Toomer because I love that Cane is a novel, Cane is a poem, Cane is an autobiographical narrative – all wrapped into one.
Sharon Olds for reasons similar to my admiration of Clifton’s work.
Patricia Smith because of her work in Blood Dazzler and the opening poem, “Building Nicole’s Mama”, in her book Teahouse of the Almighty.
And that answer doesn’t even begin to zoom in on local poets….. Shirley LeFlore and Matt Freeman come to mind for the distinctive ways in which they each use language and for their persistence as poets.
KC: What message do you hope to convey at the February 11th reading?
DM: That there is hope and love and humanity and a commonality we all share – even in the midst of life’s most extreme challenges. We have to hold on to that.
CLICK HERE for more information about tonights performance at GYA/Yeyo Arts Collective
