Jenn Bredl has
a distinct style and condensed turning
language. She often sets up a sort of
tension between the racing enjambments and
the embedded pauses. The pauses seem to
request syntactically that reader see and
consider, take words apart and look at split
halves and part, such as in "un de fine able
/ land scape"
"minus 10 / / & damn / it's cold
a gain
& damn / the ground is gone from sight
a gain / /
a foot of snow over night / & very earth
i walk up on / dis solves / in to
Is a freshness of critical
thinking something you want to encourage in your
reader or world?
Yes, definitely. I always write in my own voice,
how I would be speaking if the words were out
loud, if I was in front of an audience. I want
to the reader to relish the pauses. The story
behind “the word splits” comes from my
frustration of the rules of poetry. All good
poets know, leave your gerunds at home and kill
all those passive verb phrases. I found, that in
order to stay true to my voice, I needed those
sorts of things to sound natural. It became a
combination of editors mind versus the reader.
Okay, this is what I’m saying if was speaking to
you, and, this is what I’m saying if you are
reading this in print with a critical eye.
Do you
ever do public readings? Why or why not?
Yes, I do public readings as often as I
possibly can. I love the thrill of being in
front of an audience. I consider myself a
performance poet. I’m also guilty of reading
new work before it’s been edited and use
this as a tool in my editing process. When
I’m reading aloud, what’s not working
becomes apparent very quickly.
Do you have a person in mind as an
audience when you write? Do you have
test readers? Is there an overlap
between?
I would have to say for poetry, I rely a
lot on poetry boards, ‘the random
reader’, as my test reader(s). Because I
have such a large family, I find the
only way I can work on larger pieces,
such as short stories and plays, is to
literally leave town for a few days so I
can “submerge” myself. I generally go to
a girlfriend who lives in a neighbouring
town. I always read my first drafts to
her. As far as having a particular
person in mind as an audience when I
write, I can’t imagine who that person
is.
Do you create answers or questions with
your poetry? What would they be?
I think I create both, in a very
disturbed way. I tend to write from a
very internal, personal place, which of
course makes me fearful of submitting my
work, lest I get published and “reveal”
myself. I think my writing creates
answers for myself, and perhaps
questions for the reader.
In poetry, would you rather construct or
deconstruct narrative?
Oh definitely deconstruct. I’m
always about, what’s between the
lines, the subtext, the story behind
the story. I’m crazy about symbolism
and metaphor. I think this is why I
do so much theatre. I’m all about
the written word, and trying to
figure out the unspoken words the
writer is saying.
Do you have a closer relationship
with the page or the digital page?
Although I do the majority of my
writing “into the box”, I’m a
fool for the printed page. Very
rarely do I submit work to
on-line publications. Actually,
I rarely submit work anywhere.
You wrote about the Nina
Courtepatte verdict. Do you think poets are
an indicator species for the everyday
person? an early alarm system?
Oh yes. Poets and good journalists always
reveal the truth. I see the poet as
journalists of the literary world, but at
the same time, I see journalists as poets,
the truth of the world. Prisoners of
“freedom of expression” are detained in
various parts of the world as we speak.
People who speak the truth are never popular
with extremist governments.
Do you believe poetry is the voice of
reason?
Oh yes, always, because poetry is
always, ultimately, somebody’s truth,
and I strongly believe, truth is the
voice of reason.
What responsibilities do
poets have to society? To themselves?
To tell the truth. To not be the “keeper of
the skeletons”. There are 3 worlds to the
individual: the outer world ; the inner
world / revealed /, and that place deep
inside/ the soul / the place of , unspoken
thoughts. As humans we share all these
traits. I think the poets job is to decide
which part to reveal and how to reveal with
honesty and integrity. How does one move the
soul of others? How does one reflect?
Your family keeps you busy. Do you
find yourself composing poems and
transcribing them when you get a chance?
or do you set aside time in your week to
compose?
I write 99% of my poetry late in the
night, after my children are in bed.
My night papers. I write conscious
stream of thought. Most of it is
cathartic, getting the days thoughts
out of my head. Out of that writing
I go back and glean maybe twenty
percent for poetry. I compose poetry
in my head all day long but rarely
write it down.
Do you tend to write on single
poems or series?
I would have to say I’m very much a
serial writer. I find myself writing
into a topic over and over. I guess
in some way the topic of my own life
and how I connect with the world
around me is an endless series of
poems.
How do you see your poems
relating to your photography?
Oh my god. Sometimes when I’m going
through a new batch of photos I have
taken, it literally takes the words
from my mouth. I see the miracle of
nature as true poetry. It reminds me
that poetry is so many things, what
the ear takes in, what the body
feels, and ultimately, what the eye
takes in. With poetry, as well as
photography, I’m always trying to
convey what my eye is seeing in the
immediate. Sometimes it works.
Photography is some thing I’ve only
taken up in the last two years. I am
grateful for the diversion.
You take a lot of images of
flowers. What's your favorite
pollinator?
That would be the mason bee.
They are called solitary bees
and lay their eggs in holes.
They looks strangely like a
common housefly, but, is one of
the most prolific pollinators
there is. They are very easy to
keep, simply drill holes in a
block of wood and hang it up in
your garden.
Are you conscious
of gender or climate
influencing your
writing? Would you
write differently if
you moved
elsewhere?
I would have say
that being a woman
influences my
writing. I am
strongly effected by
my monthly cycles
and, the fact that
six children have
moved through me. I
think if I lived
somewhere else I
would still write
the same
stylistically, but
of course, I would
write what was
around me.
Where is home, however you
define it?
Home is up on the mountainside
of Nelson, B.C. I was born &
raised here and have the
distinction of being a third
generation born and 5th
generation Nelsonite. My great
great grandmother came from
England to Nelson in 1907 with
her two daughters; my great
grandmother and her sister. For
one hundred years the women of
my family have been watching
these mountains, moving with the
seasons.
Do you find yourself more
influenced by ideas and
writers online or in print
"out there" than local
writers?
I would have to say I am
influenced by both. The
wonderful thing about the
internet, is it’s capacity to
connect people. So I would have
to say, my writing has been
influenced a great deal by
people I have met and read on
and through the ‘net.
In the published world of poets,
I find quite often, I am
influenced by poet’s lives,
rather than their writing,
especially when they have faced
great adversity in their lives.
How did you
arrive at the MiPoesias community?
I met Didi on-line through Jenni Russell.
What are the essential tips you
would give to a writer to improve?
Understand your craft, never stop
learning and never stop reading.
What was the last poem you read
that gave you goosebumps?
Well, several actually. I just
received OCHO #12 in the mail and I would have
to say the poetry of Judith Farr really makes me
pause and reflect and just give really big
sighs. I’m more of a sigh person than a goose
bump person. Another person who blows me away is
my friend James Lineberger. We post in a few
hidden forums together and his work never fails
to wow me.
One last question, is there any
chance of Horsefly Magazine being
resurrected? Is there a new shape of collection
or project buzzing around in the back of your
mind?
Yes, Horsefly is always being
resurrected. There is currently one in the
works. It’s in the long process of layout right
now (Kootenay Time). I passed off the editorial
portion of the magazine last year and am now
acting as advisor. Our biggest hurtle has always
been funding. So, look forward to a limited
print of the magazine in the spring of 2008.
Jenn Bredl
lives
in Nelson, B.C. with her six
children ages 6 – 15, and her rock
& roll touring husband. She's written a
three act play The Break Point of Grace.
She also edit a local journal Horsefly
Literary Magazine. Her work appears in
several local chapbooks & anthologies. In 2002
she placed first for prose in a contest hosted
by the London Abused Womens Centre and the
Canadian Poetry Association. They forgot to tell
her. Confessed open stage junkie, she can be
found on stage at least once a week performing
her work.
Pearl Pirie is an
itinerant blogger. She has recently put
out "Better Ways to Go than by
Aspartame", is a reader for Bywords
Quarterly Journal, has been published in
Womb, 1cent, The Times Online, and Best
of Cafe Cafe Summer 2007, Listenlight,
broadsheets of Pooka Press, the
Collected Iron Works chapbook, issues of
The Gristmill, issues of Bywords, and in
the chapbook Moments Not Monuments. She
is working on a few manuscripts.
