Monday, January 25, 2016

LIFE OF A POET ~ MATTHEW HENNINGSEN

This week, my friends, I have a special treat for you. One of our newer members, Matthew Henningsen, who writes at Matthew Henningsen's The Literary Doc, is a world traveler, as well as a poet. I had asked him if I might interview him, so we can get to know him better, and it turns out he leads the most interesting life, and has traveled the world. Be prepared for adventure, some great poems, and some really beautiful photos.







Sherry: Matthew, as you are a new poet in our community, it is a delight to have this opportunity to get to know you better. I couldn’t find many clues on your site, so we have a wide focus for our conversation! Why don’t we start with where you live, and anything you'd like to share, to give us a sense of your life?

Matthew: For the past 7 or more years, I’ve been what you could call a wandering poet and scholar. By this, I mean I’ve been in graduate school, and have spent my summers traveling the world, and writing.

Originally from Denver, Colorado, I moved for 2 years out to Massachusetts to earn my M.A., and then over to Wisconsin to earn my Ph.D. in English, which I just received in May. I was then fortunate enough to make my way back home, and find a professor job at the University of Colorado, Boulder. All of this helps explain my site name a bit more, “The Literary Doc.” It’s a pun on my profession, and the fact that the page itself is full of literary documents!

Sherry: You are on a marvelous journey, Matthew.  Is there anything, looking back, that you think influenced your becoming a poet?

Matthew: A huge, pivotal moment in my life happened during my undergraduate days at the University of Denver. I fell in love with literature and with writing because of one professor, William Zaranka. He was just an awesome guy, full of joy and passion for what he did. He especially had that rare ability to touch everyone around him with his love for learning and for writing. And so… I was drawn to him, and he took me under his wing, and set me on my path. Now I’m the professor he once was!

Together we wrote poetry and he helped me hone my craft, and I published my first poems under his tutelage. I can honestly say that without his help, and the love for learning he instilled in me, I wouldn’t have ended up where I have. 

Sherry: 'When the student is ready, the teacher appears', as Siddhartha is supposed to have said, and he sounds like an amazing mentor. When did you pen your first poem? And why a poem rather than prose?

Matthew: I tinkered around with poetry from a relatively early age. I think I was 15 or so.

During this time, I also started writing prose, which I occasionally keep at to this day. But I’ve increasingly turned completely towards poetry lately. A poem, I feel, can give you more than prose, mainly because of the inherent mystery of a poem. Prose you tend to get what you pay for, whereas poetry leaves the door open, and can pack a harder punch. One good, short poem can be as powerful as a 200 page book.

Sherry: You are so right. What do you love about poetry?

Matthew: As a lot of my poems somewhat reveal, because of all of their allusions, I love poetry because of its deep, rich tradition. All of those great poets of the past, and their unique ways of writing and constructing their pieces. In my own humble way, I always try to learn from and continually channel these past poems, and so see them both as helpful guides, and as jumping off points for my own attempts at creation. Poetry gives us the chance to keep the past alive.

'Poetry gives us the chance 
to keep the past alive.'

Sherry: I love that idea, Matthew! I am very intrigued by your series of poems about J. Humbert Riddle. Tell us about this series, how it began, and what plans you have for developing this theme. Any plans to write a book-length series of poems about this character?

Matthew: J. Humbert Riddle is a character that I’ve had a lot of fun with over the past 6 months or so. His name is a mash-up of 2 literary characters I’ve always been fascinated by: T.S. Eliot’s J. Alfred Prufrock, and Vladimir Nabokov’s Humbert Humbert of Lolita. He’s also the product of poems that I’ve written and rewritten, and ultimately retitled, probably 5 or more different times. So, Riddle is the odd offspring of the poetic tradition and a mad series of visions and revisions.

Also, I do plan on continuing Riddle’s odd saga, and am getting very interested in piecing together his narrative in a book form. But how would you end this??? I’m not sure if Riddle even exists in the literal sense of the word, so maybe he’ll just fade away or vanish suddenly? I guess I’ll just see where it all goes. Do you have any ideas? I would love to hear them.   

Sherry: Ha! I actually love the idea of a mysterious ending that leaves the reader wondering. I suspect that, as this theme continues, at some point J. Humbert will take over and begin leading you where he wants to go.

When did you begin blogging? How has blogging impacted your writing?

Matthew: I’m very new to blogging, and am still trying to figure the whole thing out. I think I only really got into it this last September. But, that’s not to say that I don’t enjoy it. Blogging has, most importantly, got me writing again, and spurs me to be as active as I can. This is what I truly love about it. It keeps me active. It’s so easy to wallow and procrastinate when you don’t have a community of readers you want to write for each week. So, thank you, everyone, for reinvigorating my love of writing!

Sherry: Well said. That is what blogging did for me as well, got me writing again. It keeps me productive. Are there three poems, written by you, that you would like to include here? And might you tell us something about how each poem came to be, and its meaning for you?

Matthew: I selected three poems that are some of my personal favorites, mainly because I think they revolve around certain fundamental themes that always seem to crop up in my writing. Nostalgia, memory, time, lost time, history, tradition, and the unknown and unknowable. The first is…

The Cambodian Jungle


Boxes and Batteries

On a bus in a deep Asian jungle,
Full of rain and wet,
I thought of a time when I
Held my memories in my hand,
Squeezing them and squeezing them…
So alive.

I thought of a box with a lid
Cracked open, a gap where we see
Time walked in parks, hands held in
The fading light of a distant day. Hollow
Trees on campus greens, places where
Gold was hidden. Moments so
Fragile, like plates thrown into
The air, suspended.

People I wave at, smiling.
I knew them once.

Yes - a kiss hurled by the hand,
Like a football toss in a game. Looks
Before lights dim, glimpses and
Memories trapped, sealed in a box I
Hold under my arms on days when views
From cars mingle with my mind, and
I’m taken from jungles to dry moments when
People waved, and I waved back. 


Sherry: I feel the nostalgia, especially in "People I wave at, smiling. I knew them once."
Cambodian jungle, near Angkor Wat

Matthew: This poem is actually an older poem that I’ve slowly worked and reworked over the years. It stems from a memory I have of driving to the Cambodia border from Thailand in a giant bus, and lurching along the road. For me, it always brings back this time, and the sad but sweet thought that this moment has slipped away, and is both lost and stored somewhere. A similar expression of these ideas appears in this next poem, another personal favorite…


An Egyptian Hunt

          … Je me souviens…

I am more convinced… more 
Prone to stop in my walks,
Staring at lone blades
Of grass. I

Will stop.
I will scratch
My mind and toss
Time to canopic jars. Yes,

Canopic jars I
Pick up and rearrange,
Pick up and rearrange, placing
Some behind chairs I
No longer sit in, down
Hallways I am too afraid
To walk down…
Just past that door
I used to push open
Into our rose garden.

Some I put in purses.
Hide in the soft felt lining
Of fur coats for
Safety.
For safety. But,

The jars, no matter
How secretive how
Wild, pass and
Repass through
Vague secrets of lost time.
Moments by ponds -
Past seconds measured out
With spoons on mornings
Too early for rising - 
The dawn crisp.
Almost disconcerting.

***

I would like to take
My canopic jars and plunge them
Under a tepid pool
Of pale water.
I would work at them
With rough hands, twisting
And twisting… the clock
Breaking from the water
I push up
From my tub. Then,

The top is popped. I
Squat to the floor
And listen, expecting
A heartbeat.

***

The jars only hold so much.
I think they are full
Of mystery, of some
Sacred second trapped
Forever, like little worlds
Of water and snow
Picked up on long forgotten
Vacations.

I shake and I shake.
I turn the jars over
And pound them harshly
Against the floor.

Jars of sunshine
And snow, of
Days ticking beyond
That precise pounding
Out of time. Days
Of moments. Days
In the rain during an afternoon
Walk in Ayutthaya –
Mists among
The ruins.

***

They are the smell
Of nights before rains.
They are the sounds
Of midnight thunder.
The hush before a storm.

I hold them close, these
Canopic jars… the paths
I take and took.
The routes to towns
I got stuck in…
If only for a little while.


Me, walking up to Angkor Wat


Sherry: How beautifully you write! You take me there, make me feel the misty rememberings. Sigh. 

Matthew: I love this poem. It always makes me smile when I read it, I think because it brings back so many fond, almost forgotten memories, especially in Thailand, where Ayutthaya is. I also selected this poem because I do like writing long poems, and the ability length affords to create a type of story and narrative that can twist and turn around bends and breaks. On another note, this poem was actually started in Egypt (hence the name) while I was heading off to explore the Valley of the Kings in Luxor. I wrote it from the car I had rented, looking out at the Nile. But I did finish it later, and only bits of the original survive.


Egypt


Sherry: Yes. These poems are imbued with the memory of your travels. The reader follows in your footsteps, experiencing, if only for the duration of the poem, the remembered places. 

Matthew: Finally, to switch things around, I love this last poem, and it talks about different things and themes, and is shorter…


4 Stanzas for Dominique

1.
Madness,
Dominique it is
Madness – pure, unadulterated
Looking, yes you looking
Out at us viewers, unknown?

2.
Hair, your hair bouncing
In curls, your hair. A touch
Soft of cigarettes between
Lips, pink and pursed together.

3.
Dominique… more… I
Words failing words
Like plates crumbling on floors
That collapse as you walk, float
Across so graceful - 
Always so graceful, Dominique.

4.
I, then, hoard away, lock
On rainy days under arms
Looks stored beneath floor boards - 
Or, on snowy days, on mountains
Where cars park, waiting, waiting while
Your image, Dominique, is all
Askew, pounding on quiet window
Panes. I look, I do, Dominique,
But…


This last poem was actually inspired by Bernardo Bertolucci’s film, The Conformist. The “Dominique” is Dominique Sanda, the film’s main actress. I really like how oddly this film looks, and the interesting angles of it all. I tried to capture something like that in this piece.

Sherry: And you succeeded! I see her pouting lips, and want to know more about the closing "But....."

The one clue I found, browsing your site, is your love of travel, which flows through your poems so beautifully. You have been to some amazing places.  Which was the most awe-inspiring for you, and why?

Machu Picchu

The Sun Gate


Matthew: My great love is definitely travel, and is a huge source of inspiration for my writing. I’ve been fortunate to really travel the world so far, and have been to such places as Machu Picchu in Peru, Egypt, Greece, Turkey, all throughout Europe, and around Asia, especially Thailand and Vietnam. 

Easter Island


But, my absolute favorite place was Easter Island, that far-flung island way out in the South Pacific. This is the most remote, isolated place I’ve ever been, which probably added to its allure and charm. I loved being so far removed from everything and everyone. It was just me, the ocean, and those marvelous, mysterious statues that dot the island.


The famous statues on Easter Island,
the moai


Sherry: You are a fortunate traveler! I can only imagine what it must feel like to be among the ancient standing stones. Wow. Is there a country you have not yet seen that you long to visit? Top of your Bucket List?

Matthew: I have 5 big places I still really want to see. This summer I’m going to Australia, mainly to see Sydney, and Uluru in the Outback. I also must at some point see the Holy Land and Petra, Russia, India, and China. For now, those places top my Bucket List.

Sherry: And we shall talk with you again, after you've seen them! Smiles. What other activities do you enjoy when you aren’t writing?

Matthew: If it’s not obvious by now, definitely travel, even just local travel around Colorado. Seeing new places and people are a continual source of enlightenment and inspiration. I also love spending time with my family. 

I have a travel blog that I've kept, of my voyages around the world, at bravenewworlder.

Sherry: It is so worth checking out, kids -  a wealth of wonderful photos! Is there anything you’d like to say to Poets United?

Matthew: Thank you so much for reading, and for your comments! I greatly appreciate this, since it truly helps me become a better writer.

Sherry: Thank you, Matthew, for letting us get a better sense of who you are, a fellow traveler on the planet. We are happy you found Poets United, and look forward to reading many more of your poems, and to following the further adventures of J. Humbert Riddle.

Wasn't this an interesting visit, my friends? Each pilgrim poet's story is so unique. Do come back and see who we talk to next. Who knows? It might be you!




33 comments:

  1. So good to hear more about you and your writing Matthew - thank you both...you are certainly a rich addition to our blogging circuit...your Riddle poems are particularly intriguing and interesting - and it's great to hear about the genesis of them...the journeying is evident...for me it also has the sense of internal exploration..one person left in the world..their world perhaps..trying to work out the other..apocalyptic in some senses but never depressing..I always come away with hope..questions and a wow!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Jae Rose,
      I'm so glad you pick up on the underlying sense of hope. Sometimes I feel like people take my poems as bleak and sad. But... there's always that hope of meeting again, if anything at least in memory.

      Delete
    2. I hear you - and so does Alice ;)

      Delete
  2. Thanks, Sherry and Matthew. Matthew, I have really enjoyed your presence in the poetry blogosphere; so it is nice to learn a bit more about you. I am thankful for a bit more explanation of your J. Humbert Riddle series, as that has always kind of confused me. (Smiles) I admire anyone who has a theme or character and just keeps writing to it. I like that you said you LOVE one of your poems! I firmly believe we should be able to love our own poetry, as - in the end - each poet is their own most interested audience, I think. We MUST like what we write, or why write! I like the flow of your poetry and the depth. They are not poems to be read quickly, but poems to savor. I am enjoying using your travel photos at Poetry Pantry....you really have seen some interesting places. Looking forward to reading more of your work, Matthew. And thanks, Sherry, for the interview!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Mary,
      Thanks so much for these nice thoughts! And I think you are right on when you say that you must, on some level, love your poetry. It must make you smile (or cry?). We really are our own audience of one... which may or may not be a good thing? Who knows. It doesn't stop me from writing! Thanks for this.

      Delete
  3. Sigh, yes, this was such a lovely visit, wandering the globe, armchair traveler that I am. Thank you, Matthew, for taking us on a journey with your photos, and with every poem. I, too, like that you said you loved your poem. I agree with Mary, if we don;t like them, how can anyone else? LOL. I shall be back in a few hours and will pop in again. Thanks again, Matthew. You made my Monday!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Sherry,
      Thank you again for this interview! This looks absolutely wonderful! And I'm glad you enjoyed wandering around the globe... these pictures always bring me back to very special moments.

      Delete
    2. It was my pleasure, Matthew! Thanks for saying yes!

      Delete
  4. What a great interview and so interesting to learn more from you Matthew ... you are a great poet and also sharing your impressions of what other's write.. Your Riddle poem's and the persona behind always had me searching for clues.. (I think I got the reference to Nabokov...) but each of them brought forth new images... I have a brother in law in Boulder... I wonder if we will travel there sometimes.. and it's one of my favorite places to visit..

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Wow! I love your connection to Boulder! This really is a wonderful place to work, and I count myself lucky each day that I get to be in such a place. Let me know if you're ever around!
      And... I'm so glad you picked up on the reference to Nabokov. Humbert Humbert, the mad, perverted professor! That definitely sheds some light on the work as a whole.
      Thanks for reading! And I'm so glad you like what I've been writing.

      Delete
  5. A fantastic interview, Sherry. I look forward to reading more of your writing, Matthew.

    ReplyDelete
  6. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Another great interview Sherry! And Matthew it is great to meet you....your adventurous nature certainly comes through your poems. And I love your thoughts about poetry, especially...'Poetry gives us the chance to keep the past alive.' It does...each of those memories we put there on the page let us go back and revisit again. Congrats on the PhD and job. Enjoy traveling around that amazing state CO...so much to see there!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Donna,
      Thanks for this! And I'm so glad you like my thoughts on poetry, especially that crucial idea about the past. This helps explain my poetry a bit more.

      Delete
  8. Whew! Traveling with these three poems, Matthew, I feel as if I've lived, died and been reborn a few times. I have favorite phrases in each: "Yes - a kiss hurled by the hand,
    Like a football toss in a game." This surprised me, and I saw a completed pass wrapped and sealed for remembering. And then, after an image of a potter's wheel, this one of snow globes:
    "I think they are full
    Of mystery, of some
    Sacred second trapped
    Forever, like little worlds
    Of water and snow
    Picked up on long forgotten
    Vacations." But of innards!! Wow!
    And all of "Dominique." Thank you for your work.
    And Sherry, your interview rocks, as usual. This, among other snippets of wisdom is true of how my character Dr. Alice N. Deed works in my current writing: "I suspect that, as this theme continues, at some point J. Humbert will take over and begin leading you where he wants to go." Thank you always.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you for your kind words, Susan! I'm so glad you liked these poems... they really are true favorites of mine, and make me smile.

      Delete
  9. Hi Matthew, I have seen you around the blogland and have read your wonderful poems. They are layered with depths that make my mind wander to those faraway lands. I find it interesting how the teacher came to guide you the student and now you are the teacher. One of those connections in life that are life changing. I wondered about this persona J Humbert perhaps, he represents you in another realm of existence or you picked him up in your travels. Just pondering..

    This was a great interview Sherry! Thanks Matthew for sharing a part of your journey.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Truedessa,
      I love what you said about J. Humbert being picked up somewhere in my travels. That is an awesome idea! And it actually ignites some type of creative impulse... I think I have the beginnings of a new poem. Thanks for this great insight!

      Delete
  10. A wonderfully inspiring read, both the interview and the poetry interspersed. I feel the poet is deep, understanding parallels of existence and meaning...yet the work is accessible, not at all difficult to read and savour. I'll be coming back here for a second dip, and following more on blog.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Linda,
      Thank you for these comments... I'm so glad you find my poetry accessible. Some people don't think so??!!

      Delete
  11. I love Mondays! I knew you would enjoy learning more about this talented poet, photographer and traveler. Thanks for stopping by to add your support and encouragement, week after week, to our fellow poets.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Awesome interview, Sherry and Matthew - I so enjoyed the poems. And thank you for sharing your thoughts on fundamental themes, Matthew: nostalgia, memory, time, lost time, history, tradition, and the unknown and unknowable. I agree (though I had not thought about it quite that way before). And I also agree that the right professor at the right time in one's life can have a tremendous impact on a student's direction and passions. A fascinating Life of a Poet!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Wendy,
      It is so true about how profoundly a single person can influence a life. No doubt about it.
      Thanks for this! And for stopping by to read.

      Delete
  13. Thank you for the lovely interview Sherry ~ I am envious of Matthew's travel photos and experiences ~ It gives your poems though a unique perspective and flavor ~ Sigh, how I would love to travel again back to the Asian countries ~ Thanks again ~

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Grace,
      Thanks for these comments! My travels do definitely influence my poetry... and I think are actually my single biggest source of inspiration.

      Delete
  14. Sherry, I so much enjoyed this interview! Thank you.
    Matthew, your poetry always fills me with delight. I am particularly fond of the J Humbert Riddle series, partly because of the allusions and the mystery. I am so glad you found your way to Poets United.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Such an interesting conversation, Matthew and Sherry...travelling definitely adds an extra dimension to your poems Matthew...really liked how 'time' becomes a character in your lines....& welcome to India :)

    ReplyDelete
  16. Matthew, I don't think your poems are long. They are just right and so beautiful. So glad to know you. I envy your travels but am delighted that you shared your photos. I look forward to reading more of your blog .
    Sherry, thank you so much for this interview. Nice, how poets have such fascinating lives.

    ReplyDelete
  17. And to think I almost missed this interview. Matthew, I have to admit that your J Humbert Riddle series had me a bit rattled when I first read them (and kept promising myself to go back to the beginning to maybe figure out what I had missed). But, after reading this, the interview and your poetry, your character suddenly came clear. For me, he is your Other I Am. Thank you so much for sharing with all of us. And I agree that one must love ones own poems. They are pieces and parts of us, our experiences, and our own personal truth. Our personal Cliff Notes, if you will,

    Elizabeth

    ReplyDelete
  18. Matthew, nice to know a bit more of you!
    that's a wonderful selection of your poetry here. i am particularly intrigued by the poem on the canopic jars. there's a sense of mystery in your poems, which i really like. :)

    ReplyDelete

This community is not meant to be used in a negative manner. We ask that you be respectful of all the people on this site as each individual writer is entitled to their own opinion, style, and path to creativity.

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.

Blog Archive

Followers