Ingrid Bruck, a Pennsylvania-based poet, grows wildflowers and makes jam when she's not writing poetry. Four of her poems were Best of the Net nominees, two nominated for Pushcart Prize. Ingrid has a chapbook, Finding Stella Maris (Flutter Press). Some current work appears in Heron’s Nest, Failed Haiku, Verse-Virtual and Poetry Hall.

Ingrid's poem, "darkmorning," was published by MoonLit Getaway in November 2024.

INTERVIEW

MG: What got you into poetry?

IB: I was raised in a big family, the oldest of nine children. Our unconventional family was creative. Our lawless house was full of music, song and poetry. We played outside in the yard, fields and woods. Both my parents read constantly: dad on the bus to and from work, mom while nursing babies and in bed. Dad and mom were writers. 

For dad, it was witty limericks for the office Christmas party, an annual Christmas poem on dittoed card stock that mom illustrated, magazine articles about fly fishing, a column in the local newspaper. Dad was the choir director, we nine kids sang in his choir. Dad organized and directed musical fundraisers for the church. He and my mom sang in community choirs. Dad played cello. For mom, she read us Mother Goose rhymes, wrote poems, rescued robins, grew wildflowers, wrote family stories, published a Mom-oire narrative. Mom and we five writing sisters attended International Women’s Writing Guild summer conferences together for years. Over the past thirty years, IWWG is where I learned most of my writing craft. 

I was a public library director until I retired. Before that, I was a life-long closet writer. I stopped writing in isolation when I retired. ModPo by Al Filreis at the University of Pennsylvania, and HowWriter'sWritePoetry by Chris Merrill of Iowa Writers are free massive online classes where I got my start as a poet. These courses helped me find a global poetry community and introduced me to many of the writers and readers that support me as a poet today. 

MG: Tell us more about darkmorning—what inspired it? What makes it unique?

IB: darkmorning was inspired by The Lorca Variations of Jerome Rothenberg. I applied this technique to the poetry of Alicia Hokanson. Writing Hokanson variations gave me real delight. Every word in my found poem veers off of Hokanson's words to a surprisingly different place and embodies a constellation of my personal cosmology. My word harvest evokes a distinct Alicia Hokanson feeling tone and undercurrent. Her words ground my poem, ring true to her poetic voice and color this piece. There's double magic at work.

MG: Are you currently working on anything else?

IB: I'm currently working on a hybrid memoire that combines poetry and family immigrant stories. As an oldest grandchild, I heard amazing coming to America stories from my maternal grandparents from Finland. They mentored and loved me, their two girls and we twelve grandchildren. Since stories must be written down to live, I'm doing my part to honor my immigrant heritage as an America.  

I enjoy writing haiku. I write haiku every day.  I often write haiku on postcards. 

I like writing postcard poems.  For the past eight years, I’ve written postcard poems  every day in August as a participant of the Cascadia Lab project. For two years during February, I wrote a postcard poem a day with World Peace Poem Postcards.  

MG: What’s your favorite piece you've ever made? Why is it your favorite?

IB: My Stella Maris Poems are where I started, they were published in my first chapbook, Finding Stella Maris (Flutter Press). These nature based poems include many haiku and short forms.  

My signature poem, Howl of Sorrow, was published in a New Jersey anthology with the same title about Hurricane Sandy. (The anthology is named after my poem). My public library and staff served as a community anchor after this sea storm. Stella Maris was a  beloved retreat house in the City of Long Branch that suffered storm damage and finally closed due to Hurricane Sandy. 

MG: Are there any poets that inspire the way you make your pieces?

IB: I follow the Way of Haiku and write a daily haiku. This is how I keep my eyes open to gratitudes that I find in nature. Nature consoles me, makes me feel peace. The haiku I write record come from observations of nature and commonplace life.  

All haiku forms intrigue me. I relish the haiku ancients from China and Japan: TuFu, Issa, Basho. 

I enjoy writing rengay, a form developed by American Garry Gay. I write rengay with a group of haiku friends from six countries. For eleven years, we've written rengay together. 

Brenda Hillman is a post-modern poet, a kind human, an activistfeministwoman, a witch, a keen observer of plants, animals and people. I love how Hillman creatively uses punctuation and tunes into science. Science vocabulary often deepens her poetry.  

Beats: Allen Ginsberg is a growing influence on me, as is Michael McClure, Sam Hamill, Diane DiPrima, Gary Snyder and Joanne Kryger. For the past five years, I've been learning more about the Beats by taking great Cascadia Lab Classes on Projective Verse and Seriality with Paul E Nelson. 

Nature poets, Wendell Berry and Mary Oliver, are two faves.

MG: Do you have any advice for other poets?

IB: Just write. Read lots. And write more. The more you write, the better you'll get. 

MG: Do you have any social media you'd like to share?

IB: www.ingridbruck.com

Read "darkmorning" by Ingrid Bruck