Tuesday 9 November 2010

One Stop Spotlight - Terresa Wellborn & her Poetry

Each time, I visit Terresa at "The Chocolate Chip Waffle", I'm spellbound by the way she weaves words into poetry. I told her that sometimes I picture her as the "Queen of words", wielding a magic wand, the words tumbling across the page, willingly submitting to what flows out of her pen with tremendous ease and obediently falling into their perfect places. She seems to write effortlessly - lightweight - naturally and to read her works often feels like bathing in moonlight to me. I asked her to not only share one of her poems, but also to tell us a bit of the writing process and of what writing means to her.
~ Claudia 


Enjoy what she's written for us...

Ideas reach my shore and I write. I consider the place I draw my inspiration from an ocean, ebbing, flowing, unfathomable, refracting light while containing great depths. I dive for words, draw them out and set them into the landscape of my writing, float them across a page.

In a New York Times essay, Maryanne Wolf, in an attempt to answer the question, “Why read books if we can’t remember what’s in them?” responded, “You are the sum of it all.” I approach writing that way: everything I read, see, doubt, and dream feeds into it. My writing, in a way, is the sum of my experience.

Quoting Thoreau, “I make it my business to extract from Nature whatever nutriment she can furnish me, though at the risk of endless iteration. I milk the sky and the earth.” This is how I write, taking from nature and life, wrenching sky and earth and everything in between. It is exhausting, it is work, it is play.  I also like to make up words when I write, and as Baudelaire said, "If the word doesn't exist, invent it."  And I do.
I appreciate the creativity poetry allows me. I would forfeit everything I have in order to write, to stay constantly in that creative zone, but it's not possible. Instead, I rise with so much to love, to read, to share, and as ideas reach my shore in waves, I write.



The Guests

I drove, a solitary sail into the mouth of the night,
to the Wasatch edge where I saw her, a deer,
head bent to a pool of green,
and you, a flung star.
How we wanted her, like a hooked dream, awash
in our own brine. We poured,
paired cups of disbelief and tremulous now,
gathered guests at a table only she knew how to give.
We took her in, a blur of tan and heaving life,
her heart written out in hoof and tail twitch,
and us, captured on the deck of that dark night,
fish, even,
swallowed.

--Terresa Wellborn

© 2010 by Terresa Wellborn. All rights reserved.


Terresa Wellborn has a BA in English Literature from Brigham Young University, an MLIS from San Jose State University. Her poem, “A Different Leaving,” was recently highlighted on Nic Sebastian's Whale Sound, and her essay, “Seeing” will be published in the journal, Segullah, spring 2011. She blogs at "The Chocolate Chip Waffle"

31 comments:

Marcus Goodyear said...

The mark of a good poem for me is one that makes me immediately want to reread it. I read "The Guests" three times, each time, absent mindedly highlighting different phrases that struck me.

I keep coming back to this bit:
"We poured,
paired cups of disbelief..."

That's my favorite.

budh.aaah said...

Yes it is a beautifully written poem..

Sad that missed the poetry competition.

cosmos cami said...

Teressa is amazing.
Her blog is ever interesting and diverse.
Her poetry pierces straight to my heart with the beauty of the words she chooses.
Great highlight.

* said...

Thanks for the highlight, Claudia and One Shot! I'm honored!! :) What an incredible site to be featured!

Lorenzo — Alchemist's Pillow said...

I agree that Terresa's writing sounds effortless and know that this is only an illusion, that so much heart and mind and soul work, and much talent, go into producing that effect. I have been following Terresa for some time now and been blessed by her friendship as well. The window she opens here to let us see into her writing process is a welcome intimacy. And the poem featured here, The Guests, captures so well the sense of wonderment that I always feel as I come away from my daily visits to her blog, always, unfailingly, richer than when I arrived.

Marshy said...

i couldnt agree more with what marcus said...this poem was filled with such delights that to reread it and then read it again was a morning pleasure for me...a great spotlight..pete

Yvonne Osborne said...

You write vividly with perfect word choices. I see the deer, "a blur of tan and heaving life", and must say, you make the pesky creatures seem bewitching.
If we milk the sky and earth we will never run out of inspiration.

Thank you for this and thanks to Poetry Stop for a tremendous spotlight!

izzy said...

Yes writing and drawing, painting- anything creative comes from a fountain,well, ocean, lake fed by unknowable springs and sources.
If we can keep the 'draw' going it will ebb and flow through our day.We allow it to surface, or forget to watch for it-
Progress in the journey! Thanks.

Caty said...

I always enjoy Terresa and the images her words paint, making it seem to flow effortlessly. wonderful highlight!

annell4 said...

I agree she is a mermaid, a maiden of pure magic. I am always amazed! Thank you for telling us about her, and for her writing.

dustus said...

I find an artful smoothness on the surface of the Terresa's poems. It's a fine polished quality inviting readers to dream through connections of sharp imagery leading to intrepid, inspiring depth.

Thanks also to Claudia for a great spotlight.

Reflections said...

Excellent selection, Terresa's words leave lasting impressions on my mind, guiding me back for additional reads. Each read allows me to take away a different bit to ponder.

Myrna R. said...

Beautiful poem. Thanks Claudia for presenting such talent. Terresa's exudes passion for her art. I'm off to visit her blog.

Beachanny said...

Reading your poetry makes me feel as though I just fell out of a tree knocking the breath out of me. I read it again and again and think, "how does she do that?!" and I read what you said about the "how" of your poems, reading through the poetry of your description...and I still don't know how you do that. What you write what you are, genius!

Claudia said...

think i've read this poem 15 times by now....and still discover new nuances..

thanks terresa for a beautiful poem and for letting us have a look into your world of creating...

Maude Lynn said...

Very cool! Thanks for the intro!

Melissa Campbell said...

Feasting on Terresa's blog evokes the same feeling I had when I was a girl in the candy store, without the pressing need to make a choice as to which delectable treat I would spend my precious pennies on. I so enjoy your writing Terresa.

Thanks for the spotlight.

Anonymous said...

cool collage of words

Tina said...

Nice to "meet" you a bit more, Terressa! I've been by a couple of times, enjoyed your work. It's especially nice to peek into the secrets of your craft. Thanks for sharing!

signed...bkm said...

Absolutely a breath worth breathing over and over again...

I adore Terresa's work ...she is always one of my must reads....Great choice Peter.....Congrat's to Terresa....bkm

Maureen said...

Terresa writes not just poems but poetry. I'm often taken with her striking imagery, the unexpected pairings of words both provocative and evocative, the depth of feeling, a kind of painterly approach that you don't forget.

Great feature.

Mommy Emily said...

you always amaze me, terresa. xo

Adam Common, Poet said...

This is beautiful. Thanks for sharing. Completely agree with the spellbound description. I find myself in the same place right now.

hedgewitch said...

Deep and thoughtful and full of life. Really well done. Thanks for that communication from the spirit, Theresa, and for your blog, which I usually manage to stop by most days to refresh my mind's eye.

hedgewitch said...

And apologies for misspelling your name.(blush)

Annie said...

Thank you for featuring Terresa. She is a wonderful person and poet, sensitive to her emotions and her surroundings. I enjoyed reading her words about her writing process.

Anonymous said...

Reading others work can be very inspiring like a passive brainstorming effect. :O)

Nessa said...

Thanks for spotlighting a wonderful wordsmith.

Lauriann Bradford said...

I love Teressa. She is an incredible woman, as well as, a wonderful wordsmith.

* said...

Lauriann: Thanks, girl!

Hedgewitch: I often misspell my own name, leaving out one of the "r's" on accident. No worries, my parents cursed me with an unspellable name.

Unknown said...

Terresa,
I can't find the words to describe yours sometimes ,
I know how often I clutch them to me,
and I am honoured and grateful.