Interview
with Mike Barnes
1) What are your thoughts about reading your poetry
in Cobourg at the POW! Festival?
I'm delighted to be attending the POW! Festival. Of the dozen or so times
I've read my poetry in public, reading in Cobourg last June was, hands-down,
my favourite experience. And this time I'm glad to be able to talk about
my recent memoir, The Lily Pond, as well as read some poems. Especially
since the writing of my last collection of poems, A Thaw Foretold, was
closely related to The Lily Pond, which I began right after it,
in ways that are obvious to me now but which weren't clear at the time.
So to read from the two works together is a rare chance.
2) Please tell
us about your most recently published book and also a little about any
other books you've had that "saw print."
Since the early 1970s I have lived with mental illness, but it is a
story I have not addressed directly (at least at length) in my writing
before my recently-published memoir The Lily Pond. The Lily
Pond: A Memoir of Madness, Memory, Myth and Metamorphosis
is a wide-ranging account of mental illness, its multifaceted impact
on the lives it touches, and the strategies and resilience required
to live with mental health issues as an ongoing reality. Here is part
of the description I wrote for the back cover copy, which I think gives
a good idea of the book: "The Lily Pond chronicles unflinchingly
the destructiveness of an illness that infiltrates thinking, feeling
and acting in ways that change the very fabric of identity, of the life
story one is telling oneself; but it is equally searching in its exploration
of the psyche's resources in healing and rekniffing that story. By turns
harrowing, reflective, speculative and, ultimately hopeful, The Lily
Pond spirals through four decades, relating an ongoing struggle
from changing vantage points: as a patient, in and out of hospital;
as a family member; as a participant in psychotherapy; and as a caregiver
to a loved one during her own mental illness. As the narrative evolves
this ever-widening and deepening perspective, the largest and most important
arc of The Lily Pond is revealed: the journey from the darkness
of unconscious suffering to the daylight of mindful recovery."
A much shorter quote
from the book, also printed on the cover, perhaps captures the matter
more succinctly: "I have been there and come back. Come back partly,
at least. Return is possible; the door swings both ways."
3) At POW!, do
you plan to read pieces from your book (or books)? Do you plan to read
new, unpublished work? Will your reading be a mixture of the two?
I will be presenting twice: first, a talk of about 45 minutes which
will provide an overview of the story and issues I write about in The
Lily Pond combined with illustrative readings from the book, after
which I hope there will be questions and discussion; then, I will be
reading poems from both of my published collections as well as recent,
unpublished poems.
4) The POW! Festival is built on the notion that poetry should not
be relegated to an existence as "a niche art form" that the
average person doesn't care about. How do you respond to that?
I believe that poetry, like any musical instrument-guitar, grand piano,
kazoo-belongs to anyone who plays or listens to it, and is wasted on
those who consider it furniture or a lifestyle accessory.