Joanne Arnott

b. 1960
Photo credit
Eszther Szekely

Biography

Joanne Arnott is a writer, editor, and arts activist, originally from Manitoba, at home on the west coast. She received the Vancouver Mayor’s Arts Award (Literary Arts) for 2017. Her first book, Wiles of Girlhood, won the Gerald Lampert Award (LCP, 1992). As author she has published eight books, most recently A Night for the Lady (Ronsdale, 2013) and pandemic friendship (chapbook, above/ground 2022). As editor or co-editor, she has assisted a further twelve books into being. She received lifetime membership from The Leagues of Canadian Poets in 2022. A grand multipara (mother of six), Joanne is currently on hiatus.

Micro-interview

Did you read poetry when you were in high school? Is there a particular poem that you loved when you were a teenager?

I started writing poetry and songs in junior high. I loved poetry in high school. One poem I memorized, by Leonard Cohen, “As the mist leaves no scar on the dark green hill, so my body leaves no scar on you, nor ever will. As wind and hawk encounter, what remains to keep?...” Cohen returned to this text and adapted it as a song, “True Love Leaves No Traces” on Death of a Ladies Man.

When did you first start writing poetry? And then when did you start thinking of yourself as a poet?

I started writing in junior high, and when I was invited overseas to present at a writing festival —many years later — I accepted the mantle of poet without uneasiness or embarassment. I had two books of poetry published, and a children’s illustrated book, at that time.

What do you think a poet’s “job” is?

My job as a poet is to observe and absorb the world, and to give back to the world the songs that express that living experience. My poetry is quite intimate, and this has drawn readers in to intimate conversations with me. I remember meeting a young poet, who at the time was homeless. I gave her a copy of my first book, and she memorized it, and in some way it gave her strength as she built a new life for herself. Years later, a newly arrived and very lonesome poet reached out to me, after reading some of my books at the public library. We didn’t live in the same region, so I couldn’t meet him for coffee, but we corresponded for some years as he found his feet in his new land.

On one level, a poet’s job is simply to put words to the world, to life. On another level, a poet is in a leadership position, helping the world to make sense of itself. 

If you have a poem in our anthology what inspired you to write it?

My poem “world shapers” is based on an observation. I found that, when I was feeling anxious, I would turn to the internet and research creation stories. The poem is an answer to the question, “Why would I do that?”

As with much of my writing, there is a philosophy expressed through the work.

If you had to choose one poem to memorize from our anthology, which one would it be?

Connie Fife’s poem, “the knowing,” is exquisitely beautiful.

Publications

Title
Cascadian Zen
Publisher
Watershed Press USA
Editors
Paul Nelson et al.
Date
2024
Publication type
Anthology
Title
A Night for the Lady
Publisher
Ronsdale Press
Date
2013
Publication type
Book
Title
Mother Time: Poems New & Selected
Publisher
Ronsdale Press
Date
2007
Publication type
Book
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