Marsh Hawk Press offers a “Three Questions”
Series for its authors to discuss individual titles—an index to the Series is
available HERE. We are pleased to
present this Q&A with Martha King and her 2004 book:
1)
What is something not known or obvious about your book Imperfect Fit?
The underlying theme of war, the
cost of war, the persistence of war’s after-effects. Even I didn’t recognize
how strong a current it is until I assembled the poems, which were written over
a period of perhaps 15-20 years.
2)
Please share some responses to your book that’s surprised you, or made you
happy or disappointed. If your book is relatively new, share some of your
hopes for how readers might respond or how the book finds its way in the world.
What’s sad is that the two most
cherished comments came from people who are no longer on earth: Bob Creeley (noting
my work has “ascerbic wit and deft humor”) and
Paul Metcalf’s southernism:
“Lambert Davis’ lil’ daughter Martha sure can be funny about
death.” Otherwise I can’t think of any
comments. The book description on Google Books I
wrote myself, which I thought I was giving away with those free-range chickens.
It was probably way too indirect. It’s not bad though:
History as content
has a sharper feel to more Americans post 9/11. Martha King's work shivers with
awareness of mortality and the echoes of history's violence. Wars—even those
removed in time by generations—dislocate the present in many of these poems. In
others, war is the long loving/hating war of parents and children, or the
imperfect fit between human activity and what is called the natural world.
These poems, written over the past 20 years, celebrate the ability of humor to
squelch sentimental responses and the requirement of wit for free-range
chickens.
3)
If you had to choose a favorite poem or a poem to highlight from the book,
which one would you choose and why?
It’s very hard to do this despite
the obvious fact that not all the poems are equally “good.” I put it the other way and asked myself if
there were any poems in this book I wished I had not included. Somehow the answer is no. There are reasons for all of them. As for reprint, alas sheer laziness
intervenes. I don’t have electronic copies of these works. They were all on an
older computer. So I’m picking a shorter
one, to minimize retyping.
Raleigh Road
Raleigh, we’ve
not been beyond
earshot of
builders for ten generations
in a cloud
of noise and dust
huge yellow
cats
clamber the
red hill
rupturing
oak roots
the wheel
is visceral, rolling in blood
the grit is
orange
black spots of august
tannic and diesel fuel
hot in my face
your road
in America
always the
personal—
please
bring me health!
I read of
an old friend’s death as if
this
road had never been
paved
great trees
at the verge won’t survive
already
their green leaves whiten
oh
shoulders
of innocent skin
they build
my America, Raleigh
Stop for a
pipe and discuss it, my red hungry friend
*****
We thank Martha King for
participating in this Q&A. You can
visit her at her website with Basil King: KING INK!
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