Seven Questions with Author and Poet Jackie Young

When I first read the work of Jackie Young there was a fluid cadence to the way she made poetry come alive. It danced, it twirled and begged to be set to music. It took you by the hand and said, "Let me teach you why I live and breathe poetry and how no experience I encounter is exempt from being immortalized in verse." As I'd sit back and follow along with the words of her latest offering I felt like the layers were being pulled back on the situation she was describing and I was carefully pulled along like a voyeur for the ride. From the first poem (which may have been back in 1999 or 2000) I knew there was a collection of poetry somewhere on the foreseeable horizon for Miss Young and, so, when she blessed the world with her first poetic offering Love's Reparations: The Learning Curve between Heartache and Healing (1st Stream Publishing/$12.95) in late 2006, I was among the very first to cheer her on and offer my undying support.

Young reminds me a lot of myself and as I made the request for this interview I knew that she wasn't the showy kind of person who would jump at the chance to be featured. People who write for the love of it are often content to mill around behind the scenes. That made it all the more necessary for me to craft the following questions "just so" in an effort to allow the readers will see what I see when she raises her pen from the paper and offers it for public consumption.

1. When faced with the idea of formulating your stacks of poetry into a book for the masses, did you initially go willingly with that notion?

Yes. Since it was my first collection, my "baby", I wanted to have a clear focus or theme for the collection. Oddly enough, once I truly committed to birthing this collection, "sorting" poetry was the easy part. Every piece I write has a distinct voice, a specific message and so, I sat back and let it tell me where it belonged and I tried not to second guess the choice. I keep a running list of potential titles for poems and books (poetry, fiction, non-fiction). As I'm writing a piece, I generally get a feel for which book it will fit into. That could change by the time the piece is fully formed but I do get an initial inkling.