Mapping the Artist: Maja Trochimczyk

An interview with Maja Trochimczyk, the multi-dimensional poet, artist, writer, host, publisher, and music historian.

By Kathabela Wilson

A telescope on the artist

As a poet, artist, writer, host, publisher, music historian, I see you as having an unusual scope and vision, how do you see yourself as a poet/artist in the world?

Poetry is a window into the soul; an opening into the rift between the earthly and the divine; a unique way of communicating the beauty, and the richness, and the love, and the sorrow of the world. With poetry, first we prove our own existence, then we document the “real” world inside and around us – that has nothing to do with the “reality” created and perpetuated in the media – and then we share the joy of words creating worlds with other poets, listeners and readers.

A compass to the Poet

Your Polish roots are strong, how have they been set into your local poetic world?

I first read poetry in Polish and my Mom had a huge poetry collection at home in Warsaw, including Rilke, Milosz, Szymborska, and bilingual editions of Guillaume Apollinaire and Arthur Rimbaud in Polish and French. I inherited her love of poetry. When I learned English, I started to read poetry in the original: I had three favorite poets, T.S. Eliot, E.E. Cummings and Emily Dickinson. Once I got an amazing gift: a copy of Eliot’s Four Quartets from the composer Louis Andriessen, my artistic mentor, I copied its lines into notes and gave them as hand-made cards to people. These were so amazing: “the dove descending breaks the air,” “the end is where we start from” and “the fire and the rose are one.”

A Metronome to the Poet

How are poetry and music connected in your life?

Poetry is written to be read and to be heard, it is best when performed with music. My first, and most favorite musical accompanist is Rick Wilson, flautist extraordinaire, who can set the mood for each poem and describe its trajectory with his music played on a variety of flutes. My own “Moonrise Press” published an anthology of 92 poets dedicated to the music of Chopin (1810-1849) “Chopin with Cherries: A Tribute in Verse.” I hosted many readings and concerts. The deeply personal, intimate voice of Chopin’s music speaks to each of us, “expressing the inexpressible” – I could say that my poetry tries to do the same.

A microscope on the Poet

Your work is so rich, varied and beautiful, how can we see this stream of inner life that comes from your youth?

The memory of my Polish childhood and its loss (both my parents died of injuries from a home attack) went deeply into my poetic experience. Then there is the pain of homelessness that every immigrant feels – these are the basic themes of my poetry. I recently completed my third book of poems based on childhood memories of my parents and my own, lived in the long shadow of the war. It is called “Slicing the Bread: A Children’s Survival Manual in 25 Poems” and can be found on Finishing Line Press website. I participate in many writing groups and readings. I’m a founding member of Kathabela’s local and international group, Poets on Site, and have participated in each of our many performances. I became Poet Laureate of Sunland Tujunga 2010 to 2012. We established the Village Poets Monthly Reading series  at Tujunga’s Bolton Hall Museum, built in 1913 of river rocks.

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! You can read more about Maja’s writings here.