CONTRIBUTOR SPOTLIGHT:
Interview with Katherine Gekker

Rappahannock Review Poetry Editors: The combined nature of the speaker’s voice and the poem’s earthy imagery emit a mystical and storyteller-esque atmosphere. How did you craft this ambiance? 

Katherine Gekker: Snakes (serpents) are mysteries. We still know so little about them. They remain largely unseen. And yet they have infiltrated and become part of our ancient and contemporary legends. Perhaps because I’m fascinated with snakes, I was able to harness some of that mythic energy that surrounds them.

RR: The depictions of snakes within this poem carries an intriguing weight. Lines like “Where can your power reside if you rid your land, your own self, of all snakes?” leave a lot of room for analysis. How would you describe the role of snakes in this poem?

KG: The snakes cast a spell on me, as they often do. The poem began after I discovered the referenced snakeskin near the woodpile. The poem took off after that. When I was in Ireland, I learned that some have speculated that Ireland gave away some of its power when it rid itself of snakes.

RR: This piece has an elaborate format. Left and right aligned stanzas, elaborate spacing and italics. How does formatting operate within this poem?

KG: I felt the poem’s subject needed space and breathing room and felt that would happen best with freeing the poem from a flush-left format. The italics are designed to mimic what I imagined ageless and wise voices would say. I wanted to separate them from the poem, so that they would act almost like an ancient chorus.

RR: You’ve had composers set your poems to music before. When you write poems, such as “Woodpile Reliquary” or others, do you often think about them alongside a musical composition?

KG: It feels like a gift to have had two composers set some of my poems to music, but I’ve never written with that in mind, and still don’t. I do pay special attention to sounds. The hard consonants of Anglo-Saxon and Old English appeal to me, perhaps in part because of the preponderance of those consonants in my own name.

RR: Your last poem that we published, “Oh, My Charmer, Spare Me” also features snakes. Do you often find inspiration in the animal kingdom? 

KG: Yes. I write frequently about non-human beings. Who among us doesn’t know, at least sometimes, what it is to be feared? Unloved? Snakes regularly slither in and out of my poems. In the past few years, I’ve written about the platypus, Amur (Siberian) tigers, owls, turkey vultures, and oysters. But snakes remain a perennial favorite. In fact, “Oh, My Charmer, Spare Me,” is included in my latest book, published this March. The book’s title? O My Charmer.