by Bill Schroeder
I worked with Marianne on the Coats for Kids program when she was a department head at Women and Children’s Horizon’s and recently found she had a book of poetry published this June. The title is “Cool Shade and Sweet Water.”
Normally, I’d start and end the interview with the same person, but not this one because I started out interviewing Marianne, but she quickly transposed into Namarine.
Marianne works as an Employment Support Specialist at the Ellsworth Prison in Union Grove, helping the women reintegrate into their communities. Namarine writes wonderful introspective Poetry. As Marianne spoke, Namarine became a powerful draw for me, a little like Kahlil Giban in his book “The Prophet”.
Bill: Do you use life experiences in your writing?
M: Life experience with a twist. A walk in the forest is not just a walk, but is taken to its fullest extent. A connection of two is not just two, but a meeting of heart, body and soul.
Bill: How do you pick your subject?
M: In some instances I have a word list, perhaps 30 words and pull images together with them and before I know it the word picks me. A poem weaves around that word. A nurturing journey evolves. I write for the she of myself. I am able to share a part of me, Namarine, who I am. It’s the closure to my day.
B: What do you mean by “the closure to your day”?
M: After work I arrive home, put in a load of laundry, fix my meal and write a poem. It completes me. I write a poem every day. “Cool Shade and Sweet Water” comprises 149 poems of 390 I wrote in 2005. The best of the 390.
B: The name of the book sounds very gentle and calming and conjured up a very relaxing time and even has a kind of Southern tinge to it for me?
M: Perhaps romantic, spiritual and an invitation we don’t experience.
B: Is that what you want the book to do for the reader?
M: I want words triggered that I like to be reclaimed and then let inspiration come out
B: OK ,getting down to some basics of your writing. Does your poetry flow easily from pen to paper?
M: Yes, it completes itself.
B: Can you write about any subject?
M: Yes! Colors, scents, what have you. If I take the word reclaim for instance and look it up in the dictionary or thesaurus, the meaning unfolds as I embrace it. It may not be what you expect, but my spirit will evolve and then the poem unfolds.
B: Do you read your poetry to others in the first draft?
M: With selected friends and other poets to get feedback, but I usually know within twenty minutes if the poem works. If it takes longer it won’t work. I also correspond with a few online sites and post some for feedback. I have one individual, Richard in Canada who has been most helpful to me with much encouragement.
B: How does your job fit in with your writings?
M: I personally find my job at the prison working with the women inmates very stressful. When I write, the more I write I am able to float among the stars because of my poetry in that environment. At the end of each day I am then renewed. The she, my spirit.
B: Has your life in any way helped you to develop your poetry skills?
M: Yes, it seems that through adversity in my life it helped me to find my other side.
B: Namarine?
M: Yes. She visits with sorrow, emotional wellness and yes-freedom.
B: What can you add or say that I did not cover?
M: Everyone has life experiences. Each of us has an inner artist, working in clay, metal or as a wordsmith, etc. I believe as one writes, we meditate and embrace our deeper self and are able to solve our problems inwardly by truly knowing our other side.
B: Is that a way you have progressed?
M: Even as a youngster of age twelve, I wrote and finished several novels. One was over four hundred pages.
B: Do you have any of those first novels?
M: Unfortunately no, but I wish I had retained them.
B: This is a question I should have asked earlier. When did you start writing poetry in earnest?
M: I have been totally committed for the last three years. When I worked at the Women’s Horizon, I wrote for the newsletter and wrote a book on peace. Someone said I should go deeper; that is when I started my poetry in earnest after many years of yes and no with poetry.
B: I’m happy you did. I intend to purchase your book to read over the Holidays, relax and get to know my inner self more completely as you have. Will we see more of Marianne or perhaps I should say Namarine?
M: She will be visiting in the not too distant future.
B: Thanks to you both.
I only had the opportunity to thumb through the 229 pages and read one complete poem, but it was enough to induce me to immediately call Barnes and Noble who ordered a copy that I should have in the next few days.
Marianne Zirkle you have been “Exposed”.
You can learn more about at PublishedAuthors.net
You can e-mail Marianne at: mzirkle@wi.rr.com
Bill Schroeder is retired and writes poetry and short fiction and is therefore able to lie, exaggerate and relate half truths. His writing may stimulate, depress or horrify a reader; sometimes even causing a laugh at the human condition. Doubtless veracity is not one of his unvarnished qualities. Bill is a member of the Kenosha Writers’ Group
6 comments ↓
Bill, I’m happy you found Marianne had a book of poems published…The interview is a prelude that draws us to her…, I would like to know her better via her writng or in person. Thanks!
Suzanne:)
[…] Check it out! While looking through the blogosphere we stumbled on an interesting post today.Here’s a quick excerptThe title is “Cool Shade and Sweet Water.” Normally, I’d start and end the interview with the same person, but not this one because I started out interviewing Marianne, but she quickly transposed into Namarine. … […]
Thanks for interveiwing my mom! Its really a great work, and inspires everyone who reads it, including myself! Thanks!
Bravo! I will be ordering the book immediately.
Bill Schroeders words always enthrall me. I am normally not a poem person, but his interview with Marieann /Namarine peaked my interest and I will definately read the book. Marianne is the kind of women we could use more of. She is talented in writing, and compassionate in her work aiding women.Bless you both
I first read Marianne’s writting’s when we were just kids. But I knew then that she had this passion in her that needed an outlet. She started with short stories and moved on to her poetry with such ease. You know someone has a natural talent when it flows out the way it does.
Maybe someday we’ll do that project of her words and my images…..
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