Congratulations to Marjie Giffin, a member success story!
I’m a Midwestern writer who has authored four regional histories and whose poetry has appeared in Snapdragon, Poetry Quarterly, Flying Island, The Kurt Vonnegut Literary Journal, Saint Katherine Review, Northwest Indiana Literary Journal, Blue Heron Review, Tipton Poetry Journal, Agape Review, Synkroniciti, Rust and Glass, and the anthologies The Lives We Have Live(d), What Was and What Will Be, Leave Them Something, and Reflections on Little Eagle Creek. My work was featured online by the Heartland Society of Women Writers, and my first chapbook, Touring, was published in 2021 by Finishing Line Press. Three of my poems were selected in 2023 for the Indiana Poetry Archive, INverse, and a second chapbook, The Late Hour, is forthcoming this spring (2025) from Finishing Line Press.
Order your copy of The Late Hour now!
Q&A with Marjie
Do you have a favorite poem in this chapbook? What do you love about it?
Probably “Touring,” which was the title poem from my first chapbook — due to its inspiration being memories of playing my father’s favorite card game with him and other family members many years ago. The poem also indirectly salutes the sacrifices of the men and women who fought for democracy in World War II.
Which ones were the easiest and the most difficult to write, and why?
The poem that was easiest to write was “Forever Like This,” a poem which pretty much wrote itself due to the emotions that come naturally to me when rocking or cuddling a grandchild — in this case, my grandson Tatum. The poem that was the most difficult to write was probably “Critters,” because it challenged me with some pretty concrete subject matter that really was in no way lyrical.
What’s your favorite thing about the IWC?
My favorite thing about the IWC is the availability of workshops specifically for poets. As much as I love good fiction, drama, and creative nonfiction, my great love as a writer is for poetry and all opportunities for poets to gather and better their craft. I also enjoyed working for several years as one of the Poetry Readers for Flyinig Island, the IWC monthly online journal. My two colleagues, editor Mary Brown and reader Hiromi Yoshida, both contributed a great deal to my own growth in poetry appreciation.
Who are some of your favorite writers on the craft of poetry?
My favorite poet is Rebecca Foust, a California writer whose style and subject matter both really engage me. I like Mary Oliver for her keen forthrightness, and locally I really respect the work of Shari Wagner, whose IWC workshops on Poetry as Memoir motivated me to take my writing more seriously.
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