“The Iowa River was right there before me. Like all rivers it has a history. It was no leap to think about the way we treat performers and natural resources.”
Iowa River, October Wind
Like Dylan Thomas I
am only passing through. Waiting
for the airport taxi,
sun buttering the backs of my hands,
the uni crew rowing past.
The air is not
the same air he breathed.
The water is not the same water.
But the river’s body is.
And like it, Thomas was pressed
to perform.
We are bossy with our rivers
and our rockstars. Flooding
is not bad behaviour. Flooding
is provoked.
What do we expect?
Sculpted banks – once slaked
with sawdust and pesticide
asked the Iowa to yield,
to transport, to clean
and still bloom with fish, to offer
its frozen, silky back to ice skaters.
His voice
this time zone, that time.
Close your eyes.
Taste it thundering the capillaries
and the tributaries
and the oxygen.
There’s a really evocative comparison being drawn in this poem between creativity and nature, and what we expect from both artists/authors and the natural world. What inspired you to draw this comparison?
While attending a conference in Iowa City I kept thinking about the Dylan Thomas Walking Tour of New York (written by Aeronwy Thomas and Peter Thabit Jones). I knew he had read in Iowa City as well. I could not help but think of his voice and presence in that space. I had followed the Tour map around Greenwich Village, attended Sunday Mass at St. Luke in the Fields and had a meal at The White Horse Tavern. This reminded me of an interview from around the time of the Dylan Thomas 100 events. In that conversation with Tony Curtis and Melanie Tait from a Weekend Arts programme on ABC Radio National (Australian Broadcasting Corporation), Thomas’ superstar quality really comes through.
The Iowa River was right there before me. Like all rivers it has a history. It was no leap to think about the way we treat performers and natural resources. People are demanding. Even when we don’t mean to be, we tend to get mesmerized by immediate needs or wants, and not think about consequences, don’t we? Every living entity has its limits. This poem started in empathy and admiration. I also thought about the wonderful title of an Appalachian anthology on mountaintop removal: We all Live Downstream.
There’s a beautiful visual element to this poem in the way that the lines vary in length, which gives the impression of waves rippling down the page. For this style of form, how did you decide where exactly to make those line breaks?
In this case I focused on sounds when making the breaks. I kept the lines fairly short, and reinforced the sense of a river’s shape by keeping it in a single stanza.
It’s clear that the poem draws on your experiences living in Wales and the US, particularly when connecting these two rivers, from Iowa to Wales. When writing, do you have a favourite place to work or somewhere that you find particularly inspiring? Be that in the US or Wales or elsewhere?
One thing I love about poetry is how portable it is. I don’t have favourite places to write. I do always start with a pen and some kind of paper. Often, I’ll recognize familiar experiences in unfamiliar situations and connect them. This may partially come from being an ex-expatriate. When I lived in Germany, I used to attend informal American Stammtisch dinners in Frankfurt. A group of native English speakers from the US, UK and elsewhere would meet at a different restaurant each month. Some of us were on brief assignment for work. Others were permanently settled in Germany, sometimes with German partners and families. We never knew who would show up. On these evenings I felt utterly at home. They were temporary, but, for me, as anchoring as geography is for other people. My time in Wales was mainly for the MPhil residencies. I look forward to future opportunity to be in Wales.
Katy Giebenhain
Katy Giebenhain (she/her) has an MPhil from the University of South Wales (Glamorgan). She’s interested in art and poetry that support public health – especially access to medicines. She co-hosts a coffeehouse poetry series in Pennsylvania.
How I Write a Poem is our bi-monthly interview series digging in to the nitty-gritty of poetry writing. Explore the full series here.