An Interview
with Ohio Author Patricia L.H. Black
with Gina
McKnight – Monday Creek Publishing
Patricia
L.H. Black
launched her new children’s literature Twillaby
Pond this month. A prolific poet, Black takes imagination to a new
level with little wee-pocks, telltallies, striped pricklychore,
and other fantasy creatures. Black collaborated with Ohio fine artist Deborah
Hayhurst to bring Twillaby Pond to life. Sure to become a children’s
favorite, Twillaby Pond is full of suspense and adventure.
Welcome,
Patricia!
GM: At what age did you write your first
poem? Can you share?
PLHB: That
was so long ago it's lost in the mists of time.
My family did a neighborhood newsletter called the Nosey News and
we may have used my poems in there as fillers, but I'm sure no issues still exist. In the early years, after I learned to write,
I was focused on prose. I had big
notions about an epic titled The Pinto Stallion but that never got out
of the barn, so to speak. The first of
my poems to appear in a serious venue was in the Ohio State Lantern. The
Friday issue of The Lantern featured
work by Fine Arts students, music majors, English majors and anyone who
submitted something. Being primarily a formalist in my poetry, I wasn't a fan
of the free verse/blank verse/who even wants verse trend favored by my contemporary
English majors, so I sent in Vision by Lantern Light. It was meant as a scathing criticism of the
trend. It is stuffed with all the things
that were driving me crazy: no punctuation; little, if any, capitalization; cliché
piled on cliché. Even the title was a
jab.
Apparently,
it was not read that way because it was printed and I received a lot of compliments.
I've never decided if the poem was a success or a failure.
Vision by
Lantern Light
in the
owl hour
i saw
bleeding
phrases torn
ruthlessly
and with malice
from the
serene verse
of
established poets.
the road
beneath
my feet
was
cobbled with
unused periods
and question marks
thrown
down in contempt
by
fluttering hearts.
a cup of
commas
mixed
with
accidental hyphens
spilled
like muculent vomit
on the
small-i'd verse
of
disappearing aspirants
GM: In your opinion, what makes a perfect poem?
PLHB: As I stated above, I'm a formalist. I think Dylan Thomas's villanelle Do Not
Go Gentle is a beautifully crafted work of art. The villanelle is a complicated form with
strict rules governing which lines rhyme with which others and Thomas nailed
it.
GM: What is the premise of your new book Twillaby
Pond and who is your niche audience?
PLHB: Twillaby
Pond started out in imitation of Irish poets. I love the lilt in most of their poetry,
echoing the lilt in their everyday speech, the turn of a clever phrase, the whole
language bit. The first stanza of Twillaby
Pond almost wrote itself, requiring just a few tweaks. One very important comment pointed out that
my original "little, small pocks" skated a bit too close to a dread
disease! Besides, "little, WEE
pocks" is closer to my Irish target.
To get back to the actual question, whenever I read the poem at
workshops and open-mike sessions people said they could just see it as a
children's book. Judging by the reaction
to the actual book, I have to agree. I had
originally thought children were my niche audience but on reflection I think
grandparents are the audience. At
readings, that's who say, "I want to read this book to my
grandbabies!"
GM: How
was the production process and were you happy with the process?
PLHB: This
is the first book I've ever had published and you, Gina McKnight at Monday
Creek Publishing, were a wonder and a marvel.
You helped me find the perfect illustrator, guiding me through
interviews with several fine artists who, for whatever reason, just didn't feel
right for the poem. Then you brought in
Deborah Hayhurst and that was it! During
the putting together of the book, whenever I would make some neophyte
off-the-wall suggestion, rather than shrieking, "Are you out of your
mind!!?", you would gently, sometimes firmly, suggest an alternative. In every instance, you were right and I was
wrong. It has been an exciting learning process
and the final product is proof!
GM: Patricia,
it is a joy to work with you. The process from paper to book can be magical. Besides
writing poetry and children's literature, what else do you like to do?
PLHB: A major characteristic of mine, both pro and
con, is that I am tangential. I always
have several (several is probably an understatement) projects in process at a time
and there is no way to count the ones that are swirling about in my mind. I
like to garden and am currently in the process of digging (be honest, Patricia –
having dug for me) a pond, I have half the materials for a duckboard walk in a
waterlogged spot in the front of the house.
I like to knit and have an afghan, some scarves and a hand purse in
process. I love to cook and have
collected more recipes than any three humans can prepare in a lifetime. I do beadwork and have been working on window
suncatchers that I think of as Thank-You Pretties for hostess gifts. The name comes from the German Danke Shcoen
(which is probably misspelled here), which means "Thank You" but
translates literally as "Thank you pretty." And I talk.
GM: Can
you share on of your favorite poems (of your own creation)?
PLHB: I'll give you the poem with the line I stole
from the poem above.
In The
Owl Hour
In the owl
hour, drawn
from
slumber by the tidal urge
of a moon
grown full,
and the
trees spectral
in lambent
light,
I lay
waiting for return
of sleep,
listening
to
illuminated silence,
able to
imagine myself
the only
mortal awake
of all on
Earth.
Then away
across the city
came the
keening of a siren
grieving
its way to disaster.
GM: Do
you have advice for novice poets?
PLHB: Read,
read, read -- novels, short stories, poetry, newspaper headlines, magazines,
cereal boxes. Though what I just said is
one in the realm of poetry, avoid clichés.
By doing so you may find you have written one of the most stunning lines
in your whole opus. I'm ambivalent about the other cliché of write, write,
write. I do not write every day. I write more by inspiration or prompt. Keep some sort of notebook of phrases that
catch your ear, surprising or startling juxtaposition of words. In my computer I have a file named Noodling
that fills that need. You'll hear
"That sounds like a poem" or words to that effect. Think about it and if it sounds to you like or
belongs in a poem, put it in your notebook.
And refer often to that notebook.
Challenge yourself. Take a
well-known poem and rephrase it. It's
what painters do when they sit in galleries and copy paintings. They are learning the rules and techniques
that went into making a masterpiece.
Dali, for example, made many very traditional paintings before he
decided to break the rules he had learned so well. Believe in yourself (one of those despised clichés,
right?).
GM: Who
is your favorite poet? What is your favorite poem?
PLHB: It
depends on my mood. I like most of the
Irish poets, many American poets. Among
the latter I think Edwin Arlington Robinson comes to mind and his Miniver
Cheevey, in particular. His Richard
Cory found its way into American popular music, though I forget who sings
it.
GM: Are
you planning on any future publications?
What can readers expect?
PLHB: I
would like to put out a book of poetry, though it might have to be two. I have a collection I've titled Let Us
Look for Violets which I think covers my work pretty well. I am an eclectic poet so the collection
ranges from very serious through lyrical description to downright daft. I've thought I might need to do a second book
titled Smith Versus Shoemaker and Other Long Poems. I often write ballads which can run on for
many stanzas. Now that I'm thinking along these lines there are two
others. I have a whole collection,
titled The Anna Graham Chronicles, of poems with internal anagrams and I
would like to do a book of ekphrastic poems written about the amazing painted
rocks my niece does. As I said above,
I'm tangential and once I pick up a thread, I run right up the road with it.
Twillaby
Pond is
available in hardcover edition from Barnes&Noble
and Amazon,
also available locally in Athens County Ohio at select locations, including
White’s Mill and Nelsonville Emporium.
About the
Author
Patricia
taught English in Italy, was editor of Ohio University Publications, worked as
a travel agent and drove a bookmobile. Now she writes poems, does beadwork,
gardens, and edits academic papers for international students. She is a member
of the Athens Poetry Group, the PentaPoets online poetry group, the Evening
Poets, and the Ohio Poetry Association. Her poems have appeared in Common
Threads and in the Ohio Poetry Association's juried anthology Everything Stops
and Listens. She has been a featured reader in Ohio in Athens, Cincinnati,
Columbus, Coshocton, Marion and Wooster. She lives in Athens, Ohio.
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