(photo by kari edwards) kari edwards sent this interview on 10/03/2005. Neither kari nor I had thought of this as being a memorial to her but given her recent death it has become one. She was a very generous person and will be sorely missed. kari edwards: I was born...moved somewhere, then was somewhere else, now I am keyless and countryless, intending to take up residence in India. kari edwards author of one imagines something supposedly, Pie Publication, (2004) iduna, O Books (2003), a day in the life of p., subpress collective (2002), and a diary of lies - Belladonna #27 by Belladonna Books (2002). edwards' work can be found in the following anthologies: Civil Disobedience: Poetics and Politics in Action, Coffee House Press, (2004), The Best American Poetry, Scribner, (2004), and Narrativity: Investigations by Writers, Coach House Press, (2004) . Buy kari edwards' books here. Read another interview here. Read some work here, here, here and here. 1. What is the first poem you ever loved? Why? Stanzas for Meditation by Gerturde Stein. A third of the way into the book I was in tears; it was as if I had discovered home. 2. What is something/someone non-"literary" you read which may surprise your peers/colleagues? Why do you read it/them? what is not literary? where is that demarcation, maybe the telephone book? the back of a can of beans? Is not most of what is written literary? and is it not our definition that is limited? Is Heisenberg literary? Are the Upanishads literary? Is not Hume poetic in an exploration of cause? Does not Jean-Luc Nancy take the finite to an epiphany? 3. How important is philosophy to your writing? Why? Very, because I look for anything that can deconstruct this corporal reality. I see little distiniction in the basic intention of poets and philophers, all seem to want to find a way to break that which binds us to this illusion and experience the divine. 4. Who are some of your favorite non-Anglo-American writers? Why? Between my dyslexia and the elimination of my library I find that the names escape me. Of late I have been interested in the pulse one finds in the highly devotional poetry of Asia. 5. Do you read a lot of poetry? If so, how important is it to your writing? I do read a fair amount, it is very important, to both read and hear. In the last year, I took a hiatus from just about everything in preparation tof moving to India. One of the things I missed the most was hearing other poets read because after hearing a poet and then reading their work, I could hear their voice in the work. 6. What is something which your peers/colleagues may assume you've read but haven't? Why haven't you? I am sure there are huge gaps in my reading list, where would I begin? 7. How would you explain what a poem is to my seven year old? a poem is a way to take words and make new meaning out of the old. a poem is a way to create a song. a poem is a way to make a drawing with words. a poem is a way create sounds that feel good to the tongue, a very special gift that if one practices enough can take both the reader and the listener to a new place. 8. Do you believe in a Role for the Poet? If so, how does it differ from the Role of the Citizen? citizen, poet, carpenter, crack pipe maker. we are all citizens of this tiny speck in the middle of somewhere, awash in who knows what, with limited resources. as a member of this planet it is everyone's responsibility to evolve, so we are no longer doing the kind of harm that is being done today. The role of anyone in whatever they do is to take what they do and make it an offering to the universe, without ego investment. 9. Word associations (the first word which comes to mind; be honest): Lemon**kind Chiseled**bank I**two Of**then Form**from 10. What is the relationship between the text and the body in your writing? all I have on this earth is this body, everything else is just things and other bodies doing things. if I do not place myself in the core of my body I can not even attempt to connect to reality and end up in the grand illusion. My body is what allows me to feel others and the universe. if I want to speak of the possible I have to be in touch with the present present in the body that is in my body.