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***Candice Kelsey’s “Toward an Arctic Circle” is #269 in the never-ending series called BACKSTORY OF THE POEM where the Chris Rice Cooper Blog (CRC) focuses on one specific poem and how the poet wrote that specific poem. All BACKSTORY OF THE POEM links are at the end of this piece.
Can you go through the step-by-step process of writing this poem from the moment the idea was first conceived in your brain until final form? I often collect phrases that I find unique in sound or ambiguity and see just how fecund they can be. Should they sprout in my imagination over time, I watch the process until it's time to sit down and play with them. That's what happened with the descriptions of the Arctic Circle I was reading about in a National Geographic magazine. Something about "club moss" and "naked chive" took root for me.
Soon I widened my focus and came to see the geography of Northern America somewhat paralleled my complex relationship with my mother, especially the recent text messages she had been sending me. It's one of life's inscrutable pursuits -- making sense of family -- so once I made the connection, the poem wrote itself. (Below Right: Candice with her mom. Copyright by Candice Kelsey)
What month and year did you start writing this poem? I believe this poem was written in the spring because I was trying to get to LMU on time to teach my freshman writing class. Although, in Los Angeles one never really notices distinct times of year.
How many drafts of this poem did you write before going to the final? (And can you share a photograph of your rough drafts with pen markings on it?) This poem had three distinct drafts, the final of which was sent to members of my writing group. Their notes are attached. (Right: Candice Kelsey's rough draft of her poem "Toward an Arctic Circle" Credit and Copyright by Candice Kelsey)
Were there any lines in any of your rough drafts of this poem that were not in the final version? And can you share them with us? I definitely changed the title of the poem from "My Mother Watches Dr. Phil" to 'Toward an Arctic Circle." Also, I added a bit more about why the text message about Dr. Phil upset me while also exploring a more contemplative tone as opposed to an indignant one by adding these lines:
"and succumb
to my marrowed guilt
for hesitating
to accept this apology"
What do you want readers of this poem to take from this poem? I hope there's at least one reader (daughter or mother, or both) who can identify with the all-encompassing yet often elusive quest to connect with one's own flesh and blood.
Which part of the poem was the most emotional of you to write and why? Definitely, I felt deep sadness in the final two stanzas:
I know now
we’ve gone too far –
these dunes
a desert mirage warmth
mere Ice Age relic –
so I tell it
thirty-five miles north
of us:
this place
I call
our Arctic Circle.
Has this poem been published before? And if so where? It was first published by Tiny Seed Press https://tinyseedjournal.com/2019/06/23/toward-an-arctic-circle/
and featured in my collection Still I am pushing
https://www.amazon.com/Still-am-Pushing-Candice-Kelsey/dp/1646621603/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=Still+I+am+pushing&qid=1616605841&s=books&sr=1-1
Toward an Arctic Circle
There are lines
my mother and I
cross borders
we step past
where flesh and bone
meet cranberry
and clubmoss
outside the truth
I like to call
our lower forty-eight.
We paddle
sometimes motor
up the Wild
Salmon River
toward the Boreal
Forest I know
as the northern limits
of mother and
daughter.
Like today
when she texted
I’m watching Dr. Phil
between caribou
and birch
and now I realize
I involved you
in adult issues when
you were just
a teen forgive me
Candice.
I mark time
to the rhythm of
the Great Kobuk dunes
while she inhales
the onion portage its
naked chive
growth glowing like
the screen
of my phone.
I’m watching
the white ruffs
chalk caribou
bulls' noble antlers
I read their
autumn pelage verse
and succumb to
my marrowed guilt
for hesitating
to accept this apology
not because
she’s thirty years late
to this continual night of
dwarf shrub
silence –
but simply
because her epiphany
came from
an unlicensed tabloid
psychologist
who peddles failed
weight loss
potions.
I know now
we’ve gone too far.
These dunes
a desert mirage
warmth
mere Ice Age relic
so I tell it
thirty-five miles north
of us:
this place
I call
our Arctic Circle.
CANDICE KELSEY's debut book of poetry, Still I am Pushing, just released with Finishing Line Press. Her poetry has appeared in Poets Reading the News, Poet Lore, and others while her micro-chapbook The Pier House is available from the Origami Poetry Project. She won the 2019 Two Sisters Writing's Steve Carr Contest, received Honorable Mention for Common Ground's 2019 Poetry Contest, and was nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Currently, she is working with the O, Miami Poetry Festival on an exciting project. An educator in Los Angeles for 21 years, she is devoted to working with young writers. (Right: Candice Kelsey giving a public reading. Copyright by Candice Kelsey)Visit Candice at https://www.candicemkelseypoet.com
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