Cobourg Poetry Workshop
POET OF THE MONTH
June 2010

linda hutsell-manning

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On entering my Seventieth Year

By seventy -
I can make
pronouncements
rail at mediocrity
tackle staid tradition
slide into flippancy
or cater sloth
become a crone
hold court with words
use silence as a sword
speak with impunity
of miracles.
Linda Hutsell-Manning, born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, moved to Ontario as a nine-year old child. After studying at Ryerson Polytechnical Institute and Toronto Teachers' College, she taught in one-room school for two years. Following her B.A. from the University of Guelph, she began writing full time in 1981. Her latest book is Jason and the Deadly Diamonds (Coteau Books 2004). Her award-winning short story, One Friday Night, appeared in Freefall Magazine in 2008. Her novel, That Summer in Franklin will be published by Second Story Press, Toronto, in 2011. Linda joined the Cobourg Poetry Workshop one year ago, a valued addition.
What started your writing poetry?
Although I studied and loved poetry while at the University of Guelph, when I graduated in 1975 to begin writing I thought of myself as a prose writer. Interestingly, my first published book was a narrative poem, but this didn't seem to change my focus. I continued to work on short fiction, which was rejected, and several children's plays which were produced. Then my mother's encroaching dementia produced a prose poem that was placed in a Grain magazine competition. But my poetry writing was, to say the least, sporadic. After two rhyming picture books were published by Oxford and Stoddart, an elementary school teacher suggested I join the League of Poets for school funding. So I spent a few months working on more poems and submitted them as a work-in-progress, along with my three children's books. After I was accepted into the League I took poetry writing more seriously.

How would you describe your work?
My children's poetry allows me to follow my imagination to fanciful heights while my poetry for adults often has a cutting edge, a darker tone. Of course, there are exceptions, as when my comedic side takes over. I would say my poetry is eclectic.

Much of your poetry has a rural theme. Could you expand on that?
My mother taught me to love and respect nature and plants. I spent my first nine years by the Assiniboine River near rural Winnipeg, which created an early bonding to the rural life. We subsequently lived on several farms and, as an adult, most of my years have been in the country. I remember, at university, the instant sense of connection upon reading Thoreau's Walden. Plants are living things and, being more vulnerable than us bipeds, require special care and respect.

You mentioned your Mother's dementia created a prose poem. What are your thoughts on prose poetry?
It's a wonderful, stream of consciousness way of writing a poem. I think it has connections to the dramatic monologue form and to some spoken-word poetry.

Okay, what is poetry?
For me, poetry begins with an intense, emotional reaction to something or someone. Often initial lines write themselves, not always in the correct order, but they spill out, demanding to be heard. I feel caught in the vortex of a poem, unable to do anything but work at it until it burns itself out.

Your favourite poets?
Lorna Crozia and Roo Borson are standard favourites. I recently heard Heather Spears and Susan McMaster read wonderful poetry and I'm hoping to get a copy of Giller Award winner Karen Solie's Pigeon.

What are you reading these days?
I just finished Ian McEwan's Solar and laughed all the way through it. I'm reading a writer-friend's published memoir, Jim and Me, A Love Story and hope to soon begin Annabel Lyon's The Golden Mean. I listen regularly to Garrison Keeler's Writer's Almanac which features a new poem each day. I also read David Kosub's excellent weekly blog http://speakingofpoems.blogspot.com/ And I often read from the dozens of Canadian poetry books I've collected over the years. Or go back to Keats or Yeats or Emily Dickinson.

Your thoughts on the Cobourg Poetry Workshop?
I joined the CPW last summer and this wonderful group has reactivated and rejuvenated my poetry writing. Thank you.
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