In conversation with Kate Deimling
Our readers would like to know your inspiration (or story, if any) behind One Goose Lands.
This poem describes an experience I had walking in a park by the East River in Brooklyn with my husband. I’ve seen geese in flight many times before, but it was surprising to see them land so near us, and to see the physical effort of one goose who came to earth practically right in front of us.
Tell us more about your creative process in general.
Many of my poems follow some kind of experience, often in the natural world, that I want to capture in language. There’s also usually some mood or emotion that I hope to evoke in the reader. When I write a poem, it will start to flow from the first lines and sometimes lead me in a direction I was unaware of. Although I always revise my work, I can tell as soon as I start a poem whether or not it's going to work. If it doesn’t flow from the very start, then I end up discarding it.
Do you have any creative influences? What do you like the most about their work? Does it have a discernible effect on your writing?
Some of my favorite poets are Ted Kooser, Marilyn Nelson, Aimee Nezhukumatathil, and Patricia Smith. Although each has a unique style, one thing I think they all share is a way of using language that is both natural and poetic at the same time. What I mean is that there is a plainspoken or direct quality about their choice of words or syntax, but they still create extraordinary effects of sound and musicality. That’s something I strive to do in my own poetry.
Are there any creative genres, forms, themes, techniques etc. you wish you could employ in your writing which you haven’t yet?
What a great question! I love poetic forms, and I’ve written one ghazal and am working on a second. I’d like to try my hand at a duplex. I’ve written individual sonnets, but not a sonnet crown. I think I’d have to find the right subject to pull it off.
What are you looking forward to in your creative career?
As a middle-aged emerging writer (not as much of a rare beast as I first thought!), I’m looking forward to publishing my first book of poetry.
Kate Deimling is a poet, writer, and translator from French. Her poems have appeared in Slant, Notre Dame Review, Tar River Poetry, I-70 Review, The Midwest Quarterly, Valparaiso Poetry Review, Plainsongs, Crosswinds Poetry Journal, and other magazines. She lives in Brooklyn, New York and is an associate poetry editor for Bracken.