BLOG OF THE WEEK ~ AN UPDATE WITH BKM (BARBARA MACKENZIE)

Today, my friends, we are paying a visit to one of Poets United's very first members, Barbara Mackenzie, otherwise known as bkm, who blogs at signed bkm. Barbara joined Poets United in 2010, when Robert Lloyd first began the site. She took a few years hiatus from writing, as poets do from time to time, and we were so pleased to see her name pop up again at Mr Linky. I asked Barbara if she would give us an update, and she graciously agreed. Make yourself a lovely cup of afternoon tea, and pull your chairs in close. Let's dive in!   

Sherry: Wonderful to be chatting with you again, Barbara. We last spoke with you in 2011, for our Life of a Poet series. Would you give us a snapshot of your life today? 

Barbara: I live in Northern California in a valley community steeped in farming from nuts to rice to olive oil.  I live with my husband and one rescue dog, a black shepherd named Indy that is a sweet heart.  I am also in the process of getting a new puppy (a cavapoo); she will be moving in the beginning of January.  

Indy

Sherry: Oh, my goodness, Barbara. Indy looks like my boy, Pup. And you are so lucky to be getting a puppy! I long for one. Haddie is adorable.

Haddie

Barbara: I have been retired from Federal Service since 2009 but work part time in town for a Reclamation District that services the rice farmers in the area.  It is just enough to keep my hand in the workforce and socialize.

Sherry: It is nice when we work fewer hours. That works well with the creative process. You were very active in the poetry world, and then took some time away, as poets do from time to time. Tell us about what brought you back?

Barbara: I was very active in 2010 and 2011, writing and experimenting with various forms, then my husband became ill; that took precedence over writing.  Then I had a few health issues myself, but now everything has stabilized with the both of us, and life is moving at a good and healthy pace.  I now have time to listen to the words in my head and let them take form again with time to put them to the page.

  

Sherry: And we are so pleased to have you back! I'm so happy to know that you have both returned to good health. When did you first begin writing poetry, Barbara? What do you love about it?

Barbara: I began writing a few words as a child, always being drawn to verse and fairy tales.  I loved children’s poetry books and stories and collected and cherish them to this day.  I played with it throughout my life only studying it on my own mainly by reading various poets. 

source

Drawn of course to Browning, Dickinson, Frost and Millay .  I did not get really serious about it until about 2005, probably because I had more time available.

What I love about poetry is that a whole story can be told in few words, the challenge of expressing a vision and or emotion with few lines is what I love the most. I have never been a lover of novels or long drawn out story telling, maybe because I see the world in snippets of small tiny stories and events that make up the collective which is life.  

Sherry: That is a good explanation! Which do you prefer, when writing a poem, form or free verse?  Is there a form you find most challenging?

Barbara: I prefer free verse as any of those who have read my poetry can note. I occasionally will take on a sonnet or prose form, but prefer to let the words direct themselves and create their own form.  My poetry is how I view the world at that moment; it is up to me to put that view into writing and to let the words speak for themselves as they feel the need. I find writing poetry cleansing and at times a sacred space away from the world.

source

  

Sherry: I like the sound of that: a sacred space away from the world. When reading other poets, what kind of poem brings the strongest response from you? 

Barbara: It can be just about any form, but what the words have to do is take me to that place or moment or experience where I can feel, smell or hide in the words. When a love poem can let me experience the touch or warmth of a lover, when a river can beg me follow or I can feel and smell its rush of water or I (become/am) the one looking out a window as the writer and observe the world below with all its happenings and all its color.  I want to be drawn in and left wanting more.

Sherry: That could not be said any better. What impact does blogging have on your work? 

Barbara: Blogging is where all my work winds up. I have not written on paper in quite a while. Not only does it allow me to write quickly and place thought to paper, it allows me to then place it out there into the cyber world and hope that someone enjoys it. I have never published a collection or book of poems, so blogging allows me to set the words free and get some feedback and connect with other poets and, in kind, read their work. 

            

Sherry: This would be the perfect time to look at a few of your poems.

long sought

do not love me like another or one with feathered hat you bought

love me like the lover your heart has for so long sought

take me to the morning, the one the dawn has yet to kiss,

take me there, there where long since lovers in forever reminisce

held between the moon and midnight, between the stars and eternity

holding my name as your next breathe - is held in sweetest ecstasy...

do not love me like another or one with feathered hat you bought

love me like the lover your heart has for so long sought

give me but the moments that write volumes without end

suspend the ever after knowing full well it shall not come again

let me read within your eyes the words your silent lips dare not address

and press them to the pages that my life will inscribe as - its happiness

no, do not love me like another or one with feathered hat you bought

love me like the lover your heart has for so long now - sought....

bkmackenzie

copyrighted 2010

Sherry: Oh, so romantic, Barbara. How lovely. 

Mississippi Mud

i have pulled

the bullets from my head

and laid them on

the table

your attempt

to kill me has again failed

(failure) it was you

who chose a white world an unclouded day world

not me - i told you

i preferred black and white - soil

and mud against a purified

parceling - muddy, murky writing, mississippi bottom

mud - Faulkner writing, sweaty,

somewhere between light and dark - somewhere between

living and dying; an unsettling word - don't think you

can hold me against

a white background - an all white background

dressed in white

i don't know that kind'a

humble....

bkmackenzie

copyrighted 2011

Sherry: I can feel the narrator, not wanting to be boxed in, defined, preferring the unsettled, conducive to creative release. Well said! And lastly, we have a poem written more recently, which I really love. Let's take a peek.

clouded heart

  

do not reprimand me

i have been under the influence

the present moon has rendered me

speechless

and unquantifiable

as

human

i love you

more than a raining sky loves tears

mine

weeping warm

for a moon covered in the greys

of a clouded heart

how can you fault me for such

loving something so primal

as a moon

bkmackenzie

2016

Sherry: I adore "i love you / more than a raining sky loves tears." Beautiful. What other interests do you pursue when you aren’t writing, kiddo?

Barbara: I have had many interests throughout the years accompanying poetry. I sang in choirs for years, studied philosophy and human psychology, and am a close follower of Carl Jung’s view of life. I have many interests and consider myself a lifelong learner.  

Currently I have expanded creative forces into quilting, having studied textiles and their design. I am looking now into creating quilts that have a unique form of expression. I especially love the Modern/Abstract Quilts their simplicity and art forms.

Sherry: Your quilts are so beautiful. I imagine that must be very peaceful and satisfying work. Is there anything you’d like to say to Poets United, in closing? 

Barbara: I am thankful Poets United has always been there, with a place to express oneself and to make it available to be read by others. It has been a place where I have connected and met other poets from across the globe, to not only read their work but understand what is happening in their world.

 

I am especially thankful for you, Sherry, for all you have done and championed in keeping Poets United going and poets connected; that is a blessing for all of us.  

Sherry: We have a wonderful team, kiddo; I am just one humble part of it. I am so grateful that Mary stepped in to keep the site going when it was looking for an admin. Poets United is one of the great blessings of my life. We are very grateful for founding members like you, who keep coming back. Thank you for this lovely visit. We look forward to reading much more of your work.

It is so lovely, week after week, hearing from both old friends and new, catching up, getting to know each other better with every year that passes. Do come back and see who we talk to next. Who knows? It might be you!