Interview with Peg Cherrin-Myers

Peg Cherrin-Myers was one of the finalists with the following haiku. Here are some questions she answered about her poem and process:


30th of June
my unidentified flag
furls into itself

• What inspired the poem? 

My haiku was inspired by a prose poem I wrote. It's about the chaos and fear of questioning orientation. 

• What was your process for writing it?

To be honest, I'm new at haiku and really wish I had an intellectual answer about my process. My approach is feeling and knowing when it feels right and when it doesn't. If I had to put words to my process, it would be that I have lines/fragments that come from my head, and I have lines/fragments that come from my heart. When the perfect line from my head intersects with the perfect line from my heart is where my haikus live.

• What other forms, formats, or iterations did you consider, and why do you think the poem had to be written this way? 

I finished an 'Intro to Haiku' class taught by Alan Summers at the end of June. This haiku was the first poem I wrote after his course. I wrote it the only way I knew how. I never considered other forms, formats, or iterations because I honestly didn't know how to write anything but a tercet haiku. After reading the finalist's poems, I'm so excited to experiment with alternative ways of writing ku :)

• How do you think the poem helps to push the boundaries of, or contributes to the genre?

When I read Julie's comment about my poem bringing to light a segment of society that hasn't yet been represented in haiku, it made me smile with hope in tow that more poets will write about voiceless societies in haiku. That more journals will give a home to these words/experiences that shouldn't be 'trailblazing.' But maybe, because of Trailblazer, our voices will begin to travel, our voices will start to echo, our voices will land inside the pages of journals where they once weren't. And maybe, even inside the hearts of an editor or two.
  

• Is there anything else you want to share about the poem or writing practice? 

When my daughter was young, I would get these little sharp pains at my C-section scar whenever she would fall or get hurt. She's in college now, and those sensations have ceased. Or at least I thought they had. Sometimes when I watch a movie for the third time like it's the first, sometimes when I hear songs that summon buried tears, sometimes when I read poetry that fills me as the full moon does, sometimes when I close my eyes and feel my way through a forest, do I get those same little sharp pains. That's where I love to write haiku from.