An Interview With Jan Hutchison

Jan Hutchison was born in Petone and educated at Victoria University and the New Zealand Library School. She has worked in the Justice
Department, spent time overseas, and been a librarian in Wellington,
Dunedin and Nelson.



Jan lives in Christchurch with Hamish and says
that poetry is a significant part of her life. She wrote constantly as a
child and she returned to writing poetry after her own children left
home. David Howard encouraged her and she joined the Poetry Collective
where she appreciated meeting others with similar interests. She belongs
to a poetry group which meets regularly and values its lively exchange
of views.



She writes for Amnesty International and at present is
improving her skills in Maori language.



Her poems are represented in many anthologies and publications and more
recently in Snorkel and Quadrant (Australia). Steele Roberts published
her three collections: The Long Sleep is Over, Days Among Trees, and The Happiness of Rain. Recently, she won first prize in The Takahe
International Poetry Competition, 2011.



Tim adds: The title poem The Happiness of Rain was my Tuesday Poem this week.




Jan, why did you choose "The Happiness
of Rain" as the title of your latest collection of poetry?



I chose the title The Happiness of Rain as I wanted one
which connected with New Zealand landscape and, despite the precarious
environment, would reveal joy in the present moment. I remembered, in
particular, a day I spent at Stewart Island and many visits to bush on the hills of Wellington. 













How is the collection organised? Is there a
unifying theme, or are there unifying themes, which run through it?




Much of the first part of the book is concerned with experiences in
Canterbury, and in particular, visits to Darfield and Banks Peninsula.
The second part of The Happiness of Rain includes poems which show the creativity of the human or animal spirit under adverse circumstances.



I don't write the poems in a systematic order but try to arrange a collection of poems - after I've finally completed them - in a way that allows them to engage with others on the page opposite or near by. Nor do I plan a particular poem.  I stop what I'm thinking and expecting
and stay present for the poem as long as it takes.



My poetry is an
expression of faith in the integrity of the senses and faith in the
imagination.  I want my poems to be connected with the natural world,
with myths and animals, dreams and erotic life. 




Do your three collections represent a
continuum, or will readers familiar with your first two collections notice a
different Jan Hutchison when they come to read The Happiness of
Rain?




I think The Happiness of Rain differs from the earlier books but I’d prefer others made their own comments.




Do you write in forms other than poetry, or
do you concentrate solely on poetry?




I write solely poetry.




This is probably a question you are getting
sick of – so please feel free not to answer! – but what has been the effect of
the last two years of earthquakes and disruption on both your own writing, and
on the poetry community in Canterbury?




The earthquakes have had a major effect on me and everyone I know.



I have three poems on our September and February quakes in the first
part of The Happiness of Rain. As well, I’ve included a found poem on
the telephone book which was written a few years earlier and published
in JAAM in 2007.




Which poets have been a strong influence on
your own poetry?




Nearly all my reading, one way or another, influences my
poetry. I think of stories collected by Grimm, and as well, many myths
and legends. I like poems in translation. I admire Chinese poems from
the T’ang Dynasty. I like work by Rilke, Anna Akhmatova, Mandelstam and
Chekhov. I’m influenced by poets such as Stevens and Elizabeth Bishop. I often read W. S. Merwin.



Others whom I read and reread are John Clare, Hardy, the later Yeats,
Edward Thomas, Charles Causley, Kathleen Jamie, Michael Longley, many
contemporary Irish poets - the list never ends. Poets in New Zealand who
spring to mind are Fiona Farrell, Michael Harlow, Cilla McQueen, Bill
Manhire, Jim Norcliffe, Gregory O’Brien, C.K. Stead and Brian Turner.




Finally, and if you don't mind me asking,
what are you working on at the moment?




I am working on another collection with the working title “Sand and River Time”.




Book
availability details



The Happiness of Rain can be ordered from book shops or from Steele Roberts' web site: www.SteeleRoberts.co.nzYou can buy books by Tim Jones online! Voyagers: SF Poetry from NZ from Amazon.Transported (short story collection) from Fishpond or New Zealand Books Abroad.