Creative Q&A with Michele Harmeling

WASILLA— While writing isn’t Michele Harmeling’s day job, it’s something that’s stuck with her most of her life. recently participated in a question and answer interview to discuss the craft of writing, what the written word means to her, and the value of finding an outlet for creativity.

How long have you enjoyed writing?

“I’ve had an affinity for writing for as long as I can remember. In fact, one of my 6-year-old son’s favorite ‘books’ is a Christmas story I wrote when I was about 9 years old, all about Alpha, the little star who lit the way for Three Wise Men.”

What sort of writing do you gravitate toward the most?

“Generally, I gravitate toward poetry, and attended Eastern Washington University’s low-residency MFA program, where I earned a Master’s in Fine Arts in Poetry. I have dabbled, albeit with uncertain success, in lyric nonfiction and prose poetry also… I read all the things without restraint. Fiction, non-fiction, poetry, young adult fiction; you name it. I think that in order to be successful writers, we must read whatever we can get our hands on.”

Which poets and other writers influenced you the most growing up?

“Raymond Carver; Margaret Atwood; Anne McCaffrey; Yusef Komunyakaa; Elie Wiesel; Carl Phillips; Adrienne Rich; Buddy Wakefield; John Steinbeck; Agha Shahid Ali; Jhumpa Lahiri; Louise Erdrich; Barbara Kingsolver; Walter Farley; William Makepeace Thackeray; George Eliot (who is, in fact, a woman); L.M. Montgomery; H.D; Marianne Moore; Lucille Clifton; Fernando Pessoa; Ezra Pound; Yehuda Amichai; Jorie Graham; Li Young Lee… I’m not sure there’s room for the list. Suffice to say that I was and am influenced by writers from all across the canon, and find a new one to add to this list every day… More than that, read things over again. Don’t read anything only once, unless it is so bloody awful that the first attempt is all you can handle. Read things you loved as a child, now that you’re an adult. Read those things to your child… Keep your books. Dog-ear them. I heard it said somewhere that books are living things, and I think through reading and re-reading and marking them up lovingly, we make them so.”

Where have you taken your writing over the years?

“Certainly, I’m not opposed to experimenting in writing, particularly with form, structure, and genre; I would say that my writing has remained, and I hope it continues to be, reflective of me as a person… All writers know that our very existence is wholly reliant on connection with the reader, and so I hope, despite being insufferably stubborn about injecting others’ editing into what I’ve written, my work retains a sense of intimacy with my readers, such that they can see or hear or feel what I am, be that just words on a page.”

What value does the written word hold in your life?

“I am a far better writer than a speaker, so beyond the obvious statement that most of my adult life has been about the pursuit of a writing career, I find that in day to day life, I rely on writing to convey even conversational messages to friends and family somewhat more than the spoken. This, though, could be considered the modern standard: we have more tools at our fingertips with which to engage in writing and the written word than we ever have before. It’s a bit challenging to qualify or quantify the value of a discipline that’s so integral to one’s life.”

What goals do you have with your writing, and how do you plan to pursue them?

“I tend to be a little loosey-goosey in terms of having goals as a writer. This is, of course, maybe not a huge surprise to anyone who’s ever dealt extensively with we ‘creative types.’ Some of us are extremely organized and regimented about our craft, and honing it, and putting it out in the world… I am not one of the aforementioned, so my goals have shifted a little… Writing hasn’t taken a backseat so much as it’s become a more organic, less forced part of that life fabric, and I’m okay with that. I do submit things here and there, and I’m happy for any publication given to my work. But I think a big part of being a writer, as well as just about any other ‘creative type’ is the self-awareness to expand or contract our view of our own work, and adjust our goals accordingly.”

What about the act of writing appeals to you the most, and what about it do you like the least?

“It’s one of my favorite sensations, when I can sit down and open up a Word document or notebook and a poem puts itself on the page with very little prompting from me… I am not the most disciplined of writers, and I absolutely despise sitting down in front of that page because I feel like I have to. What results from forced writing isn’t ever anything I can rework, no matter how hard I try, into a poem that I care about. Not like, but care about. We do not have to like the products of our creative efforts to care about them, and I find that that sense of investment in my own work is paramount… I think it’s perfectly acceptable and normal to be the metaphorical equivalent of a cartoonist balling up pieces of sketch paper and hurling them backward over the shoulder into the trash can. I have done this precise thing with more poems than I can count, and I regret nothing.”

What’s your take on local writers across genres?

“Alaska as a whole is home to some of the most accomplished writers in the nation, if not the world. I was fortunate enough to study under, attend workshops and reading by, or know several of them, including John Morgan, Natalie Kusz, Anne Caston, Nancy Lord; Peggy Shumaker, and Sherry Simpson. Cynthia Ritchie and I are trail friends and ultra-runners. This state, and the Valley, is remarkably blessed with an abundance of creative writers in all genres, who are craftspeople and very dedicated to literature and its pursuit. I feel honored to be a part of a rich culture of writing and craft and literary study that has largely taken place here at home.”

Living or dead, which poet or author would you like to talk to the most?

“Many years ago, as an undergraduate who fancied herself a spoken-word poet, but hadn’t the faintest how to craft a poem, I left a sheaf of very raw poetry in the mail tray of poet, painter and professor Derick Burleson, whose tiny office in the UAF English Department would become my second home… At the time, I was an Elementary Education major. Derick’s stalwart belief in my abilities as a writer changed all that, and changed the course of my life. I went on to graduate not with an Education degree, but an English degree, published my first poems… that emerged from Derick’s classes, his mentorship. Derick made me a writer, and more than that, he was my friend. We had been messaging back and forth about his next visit to Los Anchorage, how we would once again meet to talk about poetry, eat some tacos and maybe have a beer. That was in the fall of 2016, and we hadn’t seen each other for a while. He never did make it down for those tacos. He passed away suddenly in December of 2016, though he had been battling an unidentified illness for months. I’d give anything to talk to Derick again.”

What are some of the benefits of taking up poetry and other types of writing, even if it’s just a hobby?

“In short, the benefit is that we become better equipped to interpret and explain the world around us.”

How did you get that initial spark to write your own poetry?

“I can remember trying to write poems that I thought were ‘good poems’ regularly as a child. Or songs. Or, you know-stories, or whole books. I thought then, and have always thought, that having the power to truly touch someone without physically being near them, without showing them a single image, or playing any music, is a superpower. I have wanted to someday be a skilled enough writer to harness that superpower for as long as I can remember. It wasn’t until I began my friendship with Derick, though, that I realized that anyone else on the planet believed that I could do so, and I’ve been trying to make him proud ever since.”

How important is it for people to be able to write, sing, paint, weld, or whatever it takes to find a channel to express themselves creatively?

“Discovering one’s creative outlet I think, is absolutely essential. Find a medium that both causes you to question your place in the world, and gives you cause to depict your world for others. We ask and are asked time and again whether or not various presentations-whether paintings or music or novels, are “art”, and I think the answer lies in whether or not something simultaneously assures you of your place in the order of things, and makes you question what you know. I think it’s imperative that we all create that kind of familiar human dissonance for ourselves and each other, and that we view it, especially in unlikely settings.”

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman reporter Jacob Mann at jacob.mann@frontiersman.com