How did you first come
to visual poetry? What is it about the form that resonates?
Possibly via a conversation with a concrete poet who’s also
a notorious sleazebag (as proved during our encounter), so I didn’t really appreciate
the introduction. But as someone who’s been exposed to and sought out visual
art from childhood, I reckon I would have come across visual poetry sooner,
even if I was unaware of it as ‘visual poetry’. Without being guided by any
example I can remember, I started off making ‘photo prose poems’ on Powerpoint and
have used the same technique for online and print poetry, academic conference
presentations and public performances, refining and adding elements as my conscious
exploration of visual poetry has continued. Coming to visual poetry as a writer
of traditional text poetry and prose, I feel there’s a great flexibility and
fluidity to visual poetry: it affords another layer of expression without extra
clutter. Language and the linear arrangement of text can sometimes seem limited
in themselves, as well as media through which to express particular concepts. Visual
poetry can take the sole emphasis off words and balance it with other elements,
opening up a whole new creative expanse—like pushing aside one of those bi-fold
doors and stepping into an enormous garden. I’m in awe of visual poets whose
work is so simple, so compact, yet of such high impact and meaning.
How did publishing your
first book change the way you thought about your work?
Well, if you consider all my books, there’s a definite trajectory
of boundary-pushing—as though I’ve intentionally written each in reaction to
its predecessor. But more than that, I can trace how my thoughts about my
poetry has changed—that is, I’m all for resisting being static and
predictable—and what I’ve been reading and discovering. I gave a talk a while
back to this effect:
Have you a daily
schedule by which you work, or are you working to fit this in between other
activities?
Like most writers, I’m a creative opportunist, though I can work to a
fixed schedule when necessary (academic training, you see). At the moment I’m
taking a breather from writing and enjoying painting and making paper collages.
Truthfully, I feel a bit burnt out and figure, with three poetry books and a residency (with Finland’s Nokturno) in the wings, I can take a
more relaxed approach and fit writing around my day-to-day routine, rather than
churning out uninspired words or hasty submissions and pitches. I’m also taken
up with Australian creative arts journal Verity La, where I’m learning more ropes as
a tentative Associate Editor, as well as continuing to edit travel writing and
non-fiction.
What are your favourite
print or online literary journals?
I always enjoy reading the Australian journals Overland and Cordite for a fix of politics, theory and creativity. Then there’s
the inventive OF ZOOS, based in
Singapore; Hotel; The Letters Page; Rattle; perverse (recently
started by Chrissy Williams; delightfully put together and distributed); Another Gaze, Everyday Feminism and Asymptote. All in all, a healthy mix of
traditional and experimental poetry, fiction, non-fiction and criticism.
Who are some of the
writers you are reading lately that most excite you?
I’ve always enjoyed Zadie Smith’s novels but am loving her
non-fiction collections—they’ve reinforced my impression of her blazing
intelligence. I’ve also been dipping into the work of Samuel Wagan Watson,
Barnaby Smith, Rico Craig and Michael Louis Kennedy. I often revisit Anne
Thériault’s Queens of Infamy series
and Uyen Hua’s a/s/l for the sheer joy.
Right now I’m reading the short story ‘A Woman Like Me’ by Xi Xi, translated by
Howard Goldblatt.
Kathryn Hummel is a
writer, mixed-media artist and multidisciplinary researcher. Her fifth book of
poems, Lamentville, is forthcoming
with Math Paper Press and her sixth and seventh, A Few Franks for Dearest Dominic and splashback (2nd/print edition), with Prote(s)xt Books.
Uncollected, Kathryn’s digital media/poetry, non-fiction, scholarly research
and fiction has been published/presented/translated/anthologised worldwide.
Credits include: Six Seasons Review
(Bangladesh); talking about strawberries
all of the time (Canada); Tuli &
Savu and Nokturno (Finland); How Does One Dress to Buy Dragonfruit?
(Hong Kong); Muse India, Newslaundry and RIC Journal (India); Utsanga
(Italy); La.Lit (Nepal); Geometry and Blackmail Press (New Zealand); Paper
Monster Press (Philippines); Gulf
Times (Qatar); Softblow Journal
(Singapore); The Letters Page, Burning House Press and Waymaking (UK), and E·ratio, Okay Donkey, Prelude, PopMatters, Queen Mob’s Tea House
and Empty Mirror (USA). Within Australia,
her country of origin, Kathryn’s writing has appeared in publications like Cordite, Westerly, foam:e, Plumwood Mountain, Overland, Meanjin, Tincture Journal, un. Magazine and Rabbit.
Recipient of the NEC/Meanjin Essay
Writing Competition prize and the Melbourne Lord Mayor’s Dorothy Porter Award,
Kathryn’s writing has also been nominated for the Pushcart Prize, among others.
A widely-travelled performance poet and artist-in-residence, Kathryn holds a
PhD in Social Sciences and edits non-fiction and travel writing for Australian
creative arts journal Verity La.