“What led you to the poem?”, I asked Marie-Andrée Gill, whose third and final collection, Heat the outside, came out in 2019. “An interest in words, in everything that explodes in my brain,” he replies. Contrary to critics of poetry who judge the genre as too hermetic, this is exactly what appeals to him: it is necessary to divide the work in order to understand its beauty. Interview with the poet and judge of our poetry reward.
Interview with Mylène Gagnon
What are you doing right now?
I was in a writing residency in Chicoutimi. I created a poetic suite called Celine climbed into the woods. I cut out Celine Dion’s biography to make poems with words taken from her biography. Instead of Céline leaving Charlemagne and going to Las Vegas, my Céline left the big city with René and went back to the woods.
Do you have a writing ritual?
I always carry a notebook. I wrote everything I found beautiful, everything I found funny. I wrote the words I saw together that flash. My classmates often tell me that one day they will see one of their quotes somewhere.
What advice would you give to an aspiring poet?
If you’re skeptical, if you think you’re not sure what you’re going to say, it’s embarrassing, too intimate, proving you’re in the right place and that’s about it all. you need to talk.
As a judge, how does a text appear?
There is a mixture of originality of language. But at the same time, this originality can be quite simple. I want to be surprised in the form, in the subject, in the rhythm as well. It’s hard to rely on a poem, because the emotion it evokes is what matters. On first reading, I already knew.
Next month is the In June I Read Native initiative. What reading do you recommend?
I’ve liked it so much lately The valley of flowers by Niviaq Korneliussen, an author of Inuk. It’s so powerful, he really discusses in this book suicide, loss of posture, loss of identity. It is written in a raw and real way.
The exhibition Celine rode into the woods is on display from May 20 to June 10 at the LOBE gallery in Chicoutimi.
A real springboard for Canadian writers, the Prix de la création Radio-Canada is open to anyone writing, whether novice or professional. Each year, they award the best stories (story experiences), short stories and unpublished poems submitted to the competition.
Did you write poems? Send us your unpublished texts before May 31, 2022!
Source: Radio-Canada
