Michelle M. Tokarczyk

Oyster River Pages: How is your art or writing informed by current social and/or political issues?

Michelle M. Tokarczyk: I’ve long been drawn to the idea of the writer as witness. One may bear witness to actual events, or to attitudes or ideologies. Much of my writing has focused on class differences, women’s issues, or the environment. Writing about social and political concerns is, for me, a form of activism. It is also an artistic challenge. When writing about politics, the challenge is to create fresh language and new metaphors; rather than falling into stock phrases.

ORP: We often think of ourselves as writing or making art, but the process often changes or makes us as well? How do you feel like your writing makes you?

MMT: As I often told my students, we don’t only, or even primarily, write to convey what we know—we write to further explore what we know and feel. When I see my feelings, thoughts, or actions represented on the page, I experience them again. Sometimes I’m happy with my thoughts or feelings; sometimes I’m surprised; sometimes I’m disturbed, and I know things must change. I think I’m subtly changed in writing every piece.

ORP: What do you hope readers or viewers of your piece take from it?

MMT: I hope that they reflect on how precarious life is. Many people in developed nations have, until very recently, been fairly confident that if they took good care of themselves they would live to an old age. But many of us have had a few close calls—car accidents, serious illnesses, near drownings and the like. We’re survivors.

ORP: How has the COVID-19 pandemic changed your relationship to art and writing, either in the creation of it or the consumption of it?

MMT: The pandemic has increased a sense of carpe diem that seems ingrained in me. I became more committed to my work, trying to find a way to bear witness. Early poems about the virus depicted its brutality and human cost. Then I moved to a whimsical series of poems about ordinary things missing in the pandemic; Pablo Neruda’s Ode to Common Things was my inspiration. I continue to find new subjects and new forms.

ORP: If you could choose one writer or artist, living or dead, as a best friend or mentor, who would it be? Why?

MMT: I’m lucky to have found a publisher who has been a wonderful mentor to me: truth thomas, founder and managing editor of Cherry Castle Publishing. He is a social justice warrior who loves language. He shows confidence in and admiration for my work, but gently pushes me to craft my poems.

ORP: What do you think is the most essential advice that most writers and artists ignore?

MMT: To write every day. I am certainly not immune from ignoring this advice. It’s so easy to tell ourselves that we are simply not inspired, that we have pressing tasks at hand, and so forth. But I’ve found that even when I am busy if I can devote even thirty minutes to writing, it makes a big difference. Too often I’ve found myself looking at work in progress that I haven’t revisited in days. I spend an inordinate amount of time trying to remember what I was trying to say. I really try to avoid getting to that point.

Michelle M. Tokarczyk has published two books of poetry: The House I'm Running From (West End Press) and Bronx Migrations (Cherry Castle Publishing). Her poems have also appeared in numerous journals and anthologies; including the minnesota review, The Literary Review, Masque & Spectacle, Unearthed, Chelsea Community News, and For a Living: The Poetry of Work. Tokarczyk was born and raised in New York City in a working-class family. She earned a doctorate in English and for many years taught at Goucher College, commuting between Baltimore and New York City. Now retired, she lives and works full-time in New York. Her twitter handle is mmtokarczyk1. For more information on her work, see mmtokarczyk@wixsite.com/mysite. Read her poetry here.