Mapping the Artist: Mina Kirby

An interview with poet, artist and musician Mina Kirby.

By Kathabela Wilson

A telescope on the poet

How do you see yourself as a poet in the world?

 I used to climb mountains and teach folk dancing. Since 2002, I’ve had a broken back (twice), several ruptured disks, seven back surgeries, two new knees, a damaged nerve leading to balance problems, and a major infection that almost killed me. A poet tries to see things in new ways that broaden the understanding, to speak to the soul, the inner being. This outlook surpasses the mundane facts of everyday life and gives one a new path into how to be.

A compass to the poet, artist, musician and mathematician

How do your many talents in poetry, art, music and mathematics combine to make a powerful potion?

When I play the guitar and sing, notes add a dimension that cannot be experienced in any other way. I speak through art and photography to send a wordless message, and often to illustrate my poems. Of course, as a writer and poet, I speak through words. I like to communicate the caring I feel for others. There is a beauty in mathematics, and a consistency that speaks to me. When I was teaching I sang songs I wrote for my students about mathematics, opening their minds to doing new and unexpected things.

Mapping the Poet

How does the place you live inspire and influence your work?

I live in Altadena, above much of the smog, and among trees and flowers. From my bedroom window I can see trees bending with the wind, crows teaching their babies to fly, and the mountains overseeing the land below. My yard has been host to possums and raccoons and even a cougar. Just down the hill the city of Pasadena provides me with groups of like-minded people to share my poetry and art, and, ultimately, my true self. I learn from all of them and they fill my being with a sense of being valuable in this world.

A microscope of the Poet

What is your inner life as a poet

Details live in my brain and are available to draw on when I start to write something. I get an idea for a story or a poem, and spend several days working it through, thinking of different aspects. It becomes an obsession until I can get it organized and written down. When I am ready, even if it is in the middle of the night or just at the time I am planning to do something else, I have to sit down and write. Details in my surroundings, even news stories draw me in and I imagine the people’s lives, how they feel and what they are doing.

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View Mina’s blog for updates on her soon to be published new book, Threads of My Life.