Photo courtesy Irène Mathieu
Irène Mathieu is a writer, pediatrician and public health researcher who released her second full-length collection of poetry last month, "Grand Marronage." Her debut book of poetry, "Orogeny," was met with critical acclaim and won the 2016 Bob Kaufman Book Prize. Her latest work is "much more personal, and specific to my family's story," says Mathieu over the phone from her Charlottesville home. The doctor discusses finding time to write, her family inspirations and understanding poetry.
Richmond magazine: You are quite busy. How do you find time and stillness to write your poems?
Irène Mathieu: I write when I can and when I have inspiration. I don't have a process where I sit down for an hour and let the words flow. My subconscious stores things in the back of my mind, so when I sit down to write, things that I've read or seen in the past few weeks come out and connect themselves. I have a pretty flexible schedule right now; sometimes I write late at night, it depends on what is going on that day.
RM: What themes do you explore in "Grand Marronage"?
Mathieu: The book is inspired by my paternal grandmother's life; it's split into several sections. One section is persona poems based [on] … my grandmother, who identifies as Creole and is originally from New Orleans. The final section is a contemporary speaker, me, who is looking at life as a Creole, as a black woman, and as an American. A question I was thinking of while writing this was, how do oppression and privilege intersect in people's lives, and how can we look at these issues with more nuance?
RM: It's been said that all writers write for an audience. In this book, to whom are you speaking?
Mathieu: I think there are a couple different audiences, but the primary one is my fellow Americans. This is a deeply American book, and the themes that come out in this book reflect American history; all the ways we have been divided along race, class and gender lines, and how those divisions influenced our thinking, beliefs and behaviors. … I guess I'm speaking to people who have avoided looking into the past or looking into the mirror because they are afraid of what they might see, and what it might mean for them.
RM: What is the most common misconception about poetry you've encountered?
Mathieu: A huge misconception I think is, in order to do poetry right, you have to "get it," and if you don't "get it," you can't write it. I think maybe it's because of how most of us are taught poetry in high school — with a heavy emphasis on recognizing metaphors in poetry, so that you can “get” what the poet is saying between the lines — but I would encourage us to move away from that mindset. Not every poem is meant to be decoded on a literal or figurative level. Poetry is not just a vehicle for displaying literal content; it's an experience in itself. Poetry can evoke emotion even in the absence of the stimulus. When people tell me they don't get my poems, I say that's OK, because maybe you are just supposed to experience it.
Irène Mathieu reads from her book "Grand Marronage" April 12 at 7 p.m. at Chop Suey Books.
