poetikat's blog tour stops by the manor

My bloggy friend, Kat Mortensen, asked me if I would be gracious enough to host a spot here at Life at Willow Manor on her new chapbook's official Blog Tour. Kat's Poetikat's Invisible Keepsakes was one of the very first blogs I found, back when I started blogging, just over two years ago. Not only did we connect on a poetical level, but she also happens to be quite a film buff, and well, just plain fun. Kat writes most often in delightful rhyming form, with just the right amount of sparkling wit.

Her instructions were for me to ask her three interview questions. So without further ado, here they are:


1) Who is your favorite poet, and why?

I don't think I can narrow it down to one. I like the work of many and varied poets. As with most things in my life, be it food, film, literature, music or art in general, I have eclectic tastes. I enjoy the classical, romantic poetry of Coleridge, Wordsworth and Robert Browning, but I am equally happy to delve into more modern poets such as, T. S. Eliot, Edwin Arlington Robinson, or Ursula LeGuin for example. I do enjoy building my collection and my method coincides nicely with my preference for diverse work — I pick up most of my books at thrift and used book stores. I have a growing collection of the Canadian poets and am particularly fond of Robert Service, Earl Birney and E. Pauline Johnson.

To be more precise in responding to your question, I would say, my favourite poet is the one I happen to be reading at the time I'm asked, so currently, my favourite is Irish writer, Dave Lordan and his fine work in "Invitation To a Sacrifice" (Salmon Poetry).


2) What is your most unusual inspiration experience?

That would have to be what inspired one of my very first poems, "Dorothy's Adventure". The source of the poem came from a news-story about a skunk from California who stowed away in a truck and ended up in Toronto, Ontario. The issue was how to get the skunk back home and experts were brought in to resolve it, but what happened ultimately was that two radio disc-jockeys offered to drive up to Canada and take the skunk back with them in a Winnebago! Well, I could not resist writing about that! In fact, there was a competition in our national newspaper to name the skunk and I entered it, offering the suggested name of "Dorothy" because she "fell asleep and woke up in a strange new world". I won the contest and "Dorothy" the skunk went on to be rescued and released. Of course, my poem has a bit of a cynical twist at the end, because I never see things in "black and white".


3) What influenced you when making the decision to self-publish?

I am not one to enter many contests with my poetry, nor do I try very hard to get published in literary magazines. As a result, I have only my blog and my catalogue of poems to stand behind me in the pursuit of being "traditionally" published. I did not foresee that publishers would take much interest without the obligatory accolades associated with a "legitimate" poet. I also believe there is, unfortunately, somewhat of a stigma associated with being a "blog-poet". The bottom line however, is that I'm a rather impatient person and the relative immediacy of self-publishing was too much for me to resist. I have no regrets, now that I've got a reliable printer/publisher in Volumes Publishing Ltd., and I fully intend to utilize their services again for my next book.

To purchase Kat's new book Shadowstalking visit Volumes Publishing.