It is my way of seeing and feeling the world. Poetry is a part of me, of who I am.
Inga Pizāne is a Latvian poet born in Krāslava. She writes poetry and prose, is active in the literary field, and in 2020 received the Ojārs Vācietis Literary Prize. Inga is interested in photography, cinema, conversation, silence, travelling and reading.
Inga Pizāne is the author of the poetry collections “You Are Not Snow” (Tu neesi sniegs) (2016), “A Wall to Insulate” (Siena, ko nosiltināt) (2019) and “The Same Despair, Only with Flowers” (Tas pats izmisums, tikai ar puķēm) (2022). “Having Never Met” (A Midsummer Night's Press), a collection of poetry in English translated by Jayde Will, was published in 2018.
What were the stimuli (external and internal) that encouraged you to publish your first book?
Internal – the readiness to face the reader and the critics, the readiness to let the poems into my life, to start a new phase of writing. External – having enough publications, having gone to literary schools and seminars. In my case, the poet and my literary teacher Jānis Rokpelnis helped me to take the first step towards a book by asking the simple but necessary question: “Inga, when will you publish a book?” That's when we started working on it together.
Is the second and third book easier to publish than the first?
Yes, mostly. At least it was for me, because when I published the first one, I experienced a lot of confusion and uncertainty. Both about technical things and finances, and emotionally – there's more uncertainty, more anxiety, more thoughts about how the book will be perceived and received by others. With the second and third, the fears have lessened, both because of the experience and because of the overall feeling that I am on the right track. Or, to be more precise, on my own. I trust myself more.
Do the poems come to you or do you invite them?
I think it's both, because it can only come if there is a place, a priority, a meaning, an openness in a person. In a nutshell, I see and translate all life, the world and events in poems. It is my way of seeing and feeling the world. Poetry is a part of me, of who I am.
Can anyone write poetry?
Everyone can try, whether everyone would want to do it regularly, forever – hardly. It requires a strong commitment, a feeling that this is your life's path, a lot of time for the writing itself and for the activities around it, including reading. But it probably also requires a poetic perception of life, a feeling that what you see or feel is worth capturing. In my case, both in words and in photographs.
What is easier to write about – joy or sadness?
It's easier to write about a strong, current emotion that is bursting out into the open. Sometimes it can be a calm, poetic observation, but it also usually comes as a strong impulse, a feeling of being in the right place at the right time. But I find that joy more often calls for living, and sadness for reflection, for writing things down. Maybe that's why the sad poems dominate.
How many flowers dispel despair? And for how long?
Sometimes it is one redtop. Sometimes a bed of roses won't be enough. I suppose that's true for all of us. It depends on so many things. But overall, flowers do have the power to improve my mood, whether picked/bought or gifted. For how long? As long as they bloom. As long as one has the strength to observe them, to rejoice in them.
Will there be prose or just poetry?
There is prose. I've kept it to myself for now because of various circumstances and feelings, but I sincerely hope that one day my prose will also see the light of day in book form.
What inspires you to write in your everyday life?
Flowers, watching a movie, reading a book, talking to loved ones or friends, walks in the city or by the sea, outings, trips, the passage of time, the seasons. Everything, in fact – even a bottle of wine that accidentally fell out of my hands.
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