Katy Giebenhain’s Self Interview for Pretending to be Italian

    Q: What is an ex-expatriate?
A foreigner living permanently in another country who unexpectedly moves back to their country of origin.

    Q: What was it like returning to the US?
It was odd for a number of reasons. For one thing, it felt politically very conservative. One of the most helpful things for me was going to a Ted Kooser poetry reading at Elizabethtown College in 2008. I remember thinking “it’s okay. It’s okay to be an American, because we’ve got Ted Kooser.” Anyone who has heard him read live knows what I mean. It was wonderful.  

     Q: Which writers have influenced you?
Jim Wayne Miller, Dylan Thomas, Kathryn Stripling Byer, Rafael Campo, Ron Koertge, Sylvia Plath, my tutors and cohort at University of Glamorgan, and the songwriter Patty Larkin. There are lots more. These folks come to mind first.  

     Q: Do you want to elaborate on anyone in particular?
Jim Wayne Miller made his living as a German professor, but he is known as a poet, scholar, fiction writer, and advocate for Appalachian literature. He was a fine translator, too. I enjoyed his work before moving to Germany, but later I appreciated his writing in a different way. I greatly admire his solid sense of the regional and the international. That is no easy task. Also, when I find myself backing away from “unfashionable” subject matter I am encouraged by his example and it has helped me to stick with some things. There is a very fine tribute to Miller in the Summer, 2009 issue of Appalachian Heritage.

     Q: Are your poems always true?
Of course not. Poetry isn’t journalism. It is often packed with truthful narratives or descriptions, but these can be strung together in any order. Poems, like pieces of fiction, are separate from their writers. As readers we should never assume too much about writers in their poems. We can assume all we want to about the poems themselves.  

     Q: What about the Midwest?
It has been a lonnnnng time since I’ve lived in the Midwest, but that part of my identity never completely disappears. My father, who now lives on the west coast, painted his pickup truck “Prairie Gold,” the official Minneapolis Moline tractor color. This is completely logical to me. In our family, Prairie Gold is considered to be one of the primary colors. I’m not sure how well this answers the question.

     Q: Why do you write about chronic illness? Isn’t it boring, since there is no healing or fixing or happy end?
It is dead-boring. Sure. The lack of zing and drama are as present as the grim reality of not having a body which works properly without extra intervention. But so many people live with chronic diseases – more than we are aware of. I tend to write about everyday things, and these routines are part of that. I am also thankful for the ability to live with conditions which were even more dangerous in the past. I don’t take it for granted.  

     Q: Do you have an agenda when you write about Type 1 Diabetes?
I don’t think so. Actually, there is a kind of hidden agenda in “James Bond and the Diabetic Bridesmaid.” This poem is an oblique ode to the “Innovo,” a compact insulin injection device once available from Novo Nordisk which included a digital display indicating how long it has been since the last shot. It was the only “pen” with its particular shape made and I found it to be a brilliant piece of industrial design. Über-brilliant. This device made my life easier every day. Unfortunately, Novo Nordisk discontinued it. Their current pens do not even come close. So, for me, it is certainly worthy of a poem. I have more to say about the Innovo than spring or the moon. And it really was rather James Bond-like…