Nancy Dembowski was born in Cleveland, Ohio, where she grew up. She has published two books of poetry that take us into a sphere that is simultaneously personal and universal. One of the poems enchanted T. Seatton, whose first album you will discover on the musicOvations label in the spring of 2009 and who made one, then another, and yet a third musical adaptation...
I don’t believe I have an itinerary for my poetry; it was just something that came to be. In other words, poetry chose me and not the other way around. I grew up in the city of Cleveland, which is surrounded by a thick forest. When I was a child I used to wander deep into these woods and sit on a hill we called Camel’s Hump. In this place, alone and surrounded by the beauty of nature, I would write my free verse poetry. I was often reprimanded for this by my parents who were afraid for my safety of course. Even as a girl my teachers would point my work out in class and I suppose I had the expected heart of a poet, feeling deeply and often morose.Lyricism comes naturally to me and perhaps this is why I am most inspired by the poetry of others, either written or recited. Being alone in nature still motivates me to create, although the opportunity for this is nearly non-existent in my current life. It was a friend of mine, Beth Learn, www.learnyeats.com a talented writer and visual artist, who helped me to explore what to do when inspiration is not forth coming.
Beth introduced me to language poetry; an art form influenced by Dadaism, informed by deconstructionism and inspired by French philosophers such as Michel Foucault and Jacques Derrida. In terms of writing, it means approaching words the same way a visual artist approaches paint and brush or tin can and toothbrush as the case may be. Language is yours to use as you like, put together in any way one may choose, with no regard for the rules of language or even meaning. Meaning is, in fact, viewed as something to escape from.
Poetry’s form is not handed down through the generations – ode/sonnet/epic – but is instead created by the writer before the poem is written. Instead of choosing an abab rhyme scheme the writer may choose to use only the letters on the left side of the keypad. This was very exciting to me as an artist as language belonged to me and not to history with its various oppressions.
Some forms of language poetry are sound, concrete and found. I use a type of found poetry which is the verbal equivalent of collage, called bricollague. I write within another’s language or form. Meaning is mysterious in these poems because it presents itself while I am attempting to express something else within the confines of someone else’s vocabulary.
I have never been able to whole heartedly subscribe to either free verse or language writing and I continue to be trapped between the two which are very much at odds in the writing community, at least here in Toronto. Of my two books, only the ghost has lasted www.insomniacpress.com is mostly free verse and Ninety-seven Posts with the Heads of Dead Men www.chbooks.com mostly bricollague, hence the title, as the poems are cut from the writings of dead men.
Do I feel that my poetry expresses something deep in me or just touches the surface? I would have to say both. Poetry, like music, expresses universal feelings and ideas yet I would also say that this is not what makes poetry special, like music, it is not the meaning but the form of expression that makes it so appealing.
