Interview with a Poet — Rhonda Marrone

Thinking About Poetry

1. For you, poetry is…

AND/OR… Poetry is not…

For me poetry is the language that comes from the heart, the language that connects the inanimate to the living. Poetry is the words that make the rocks come alive, the trees speak, the flowers’ colors live. Poetry is in all living creatures, it is in all things on Earth, the poet has the ability to reach in and pull it out.

2. When you write poetry, what is the source of your motivation?

When I write poetry, my source of motivation is to connect to the divine, that which is more powerful than myself, that which is more beautiful than words can describe. Sometimes, the motivation is to heal deep rooted pain, peel away the ugliness, and to do some soul searching. Writing poetry can take you to places you didn’t even know existed.

3. What habits or processes do you use when you write poetry?

I have made it a habit to write for the first few hours of the day. That has helped me to get a lot more writing accomplished. My process varies from poem to poem, day to day, inspiration to inspiration. If I am writing a poem for a prompt I usually try to stay organized around the idea from the beginning. If I am feeling a spark of inspiration, I will start…