Mary Bone responds

Mary Bone: I have had two books of poetry and several short stories published. I graduated from Southeastern Oklahoma State University in Durant, Oklahoma with a Bachelor's degree in general studies. My work has appeared in over two hundred publications including magazines, journals, and online blogs. I started writing at the age of twelve. I am currently working on a third book of poetry and I enjoy drawing and painting in my spare time.

DV: When you were 12, were you writing poetry? What was it that got you started?

MB: My father had passed away in 1968. He was a WWII hero. I wrote my first poem entitled, ”Leaves.” I sent the poem to McCall’s magazine and they sent me a certificate showing I was accepted as a member of the Junior McCall’s Club. It was great to be able to put my thoughts down on paper and to have someone encourage me with my writing. I also have had great teachers including my mother who enjoyed creative writing.

DV: Was "Leaves" about your father? Do you still have it?

MB: “Leaves” is the very first poem I’ve written about the many colors of leaves in the fall. I think with the last line of the poem, it may have something to do with my father, in a way. The poem went, “Leaves of all colors, auburn and brown, dancing and fluttering around. Some are orange and some are green. The prettiest sight I’ve ever seen. But, the saddest thing, when they fall, we rake and burn them all."  My dad had a military funeral and they played taps. He wasn’t cremated. I think that the word “leaves” is fitting because he was in and out of Veteran’s hospitals and he hitchhiked home many times.

DV: It's probably necessary to point out that "leave" is military jargon for "vacation" -- a temporary suspension of some military obligation. Is fall colors a common subject of your poetry? Can you share your best poem on that subject?

MB: I looked through many of my poems and they reflect many of the seasons. Here are two of them:

Nature Walk

A babbling brook winds

Down its own path.

Birds get their daily bath

In the quietness of the forest.

A light mist covers the trees' canopy,

Sheltering my thoughts from

The world outside.

Vibrant Spring

Clouds dispersed

Raindrops splattered.

Little seed drank

and sprouted out.

Spring welcomed

this new arrival.

Flowers held promise

of a vibrant spring.

DV: In attitude (if not in style) these poems are very haiku-like.  The same kind of immediate experience of nature combined with a kind of supranatural transcendence.  Would you say this worldview typifies your poetry as a whole, or would you say that the body of your work is more varied than this?

MB: Most of my poems are varied. I like to write poems with a western theme and about country life. I do enjoy writing haiku poems as well. Both of my published poetry books are about praising the Lord. The first book is entitled, ”Singing God’s Praises.” The second book is entitled, “Passages and Praises.” I have written a couple of songs. Most of my poems are praise poems.

DV: Who do you enjoy reading?

MB: My favorite poet is Robert Frost. I also enjoy William Shakespeare and Emily Dickinson.

DV: Undoubtedly three terrific poets, but they seem so unlike one another. Paul Simon wrote a song, "The Dangling Conversation," about failed communication between two lovers who were as different as their favorite poets: "And you read your Emily Dickinson, / And I my Robert Frost, / And we note our place with bookmarkers / That measure what we've lost." What is it that attracts you to Frost and the others so much?

MB: I think the main reason I like these poets so much, we had to recite some of their poems in class with dramatic feelings in high school. Our teacher would have you start over if you didn’t put some life into the poems.

DV: Do you have a typical writing schedule?

MB: I mainly write when an idea comes to mind. All of my poems used to rhyme, but not anymore. Most of the time I write on the weekends.

DV: What do you do when you aren't writing?

MB: I enjoy babysitting my grandchildren and spending time with my kids. I like to paint and draw pictures for our local nursing home and pass the pictures out on Sunday mornings. Sometimes I help my husband, Merl on our farm.

DV: Mary, you are a paradox! Most people (I suppose) want to  imagine that poets are some species of dreamy, impractical, ethereal being who spends much of the time in some alternative dimension of the imagination. Or that they live messy, exotic lives. And yet, here you are.  Seemingly as nonunusual and straightforward as any non-poet can be. Is there anything about your life or background that might restore your readers' faith in the "specialness " of Poets?

MB: I do remember daydreaming in one of my teacher's classes, especially if it was spring and the window was open. She was a great teacher. I was blessed to have many great teachers when I was younger that encouraged my imagination and wanted me to express myself on paper. One of my eighth grade teachers wanted us to write a short story. She really liked my story about a huge fish that was living in a tall water tower in the small town I lived in. She just loved it. The more farfetched for her, the better.

DV: I have read a good deal of science fiction, and there are some writers, like Ray Bradbury, whom I admire for their far-fetched imaginations. But there are others whose strength lies in their clear-minded sense of reality; Alexander Solzhenitsyn and George Orwell come to mind. Where do you think you fit on this spectrum?

MB: I have been trying to figure out where I belong in this spectrum. I feel like I lean more toward the clear minded sense of reality and there are times when the far-fetched imagination can take you away from some of the reality that goes on around me.

DV: Do you ever do any public readings of your poetry?

MB: I gave a poetry reading at a coffee shop named Kimberlee’s By the Cup in Ardmore, Oklahoma, they have gone out of business. I read some poetry at The Washington Theatre in Ardmore and got a free T-Shirt and I was asked to read some of my poems at my church and a former neighbor’s funeral.

DV: How would you describe the experience? Did the poems seem somehow different to you when given orally? What was the audience reaction?

MB: The audience enjoyed the poems and clapped. The coffee shop was in the mall and some people stopped to listen as they were walking by. I had sold 100 books locally, of my book “Passages and Praises,” and part of the proceeds from the sale of these books went to the local ministerial alliance fund here in Wilson. These funds help homeless people or people passing through that might need help with gas or food. There was a very good crowd.

DV: So, what do you see as being next in your life as a poet?

NB: I would like to get a third book published someday and write some more short stories.

DV: OF course I wish you every success, and I hope #3 will come out soon. Thanks for bearing with me for this interview. Stay in touch!