Photo courtesy of Jim Landwehr
Author Jim Landwehr
Jim Landwehr has a love of the outdoors and sports like biking, canoeing and kayaking. He writes from the heart and from life experiences in Written Life. Off the Cuff spoke with Landwehr, the onetime poet laureate of Wales, Wis.
How long have you been writing poetry, and how did you get started?
I’ve only been writing it seriously for the last ten years, or so. I was in a writing workshop focused on writing my memoir and became enamored by some of the poetry that was being read in class. The interesting part about it though, is when I had my first short poem published, it was such a great feeling. It gave me the desire to be published even more.
You have had several books published. Do you have a favorite? Why?
I would have to go with Dirty Shirt, my first book. I think all authors have an affection for their first success.
Tell me a little about your book, Dirty Shirt: A Boundary Waters Memoir.
Originally in my writing workshop, I was just writing stories in hopes of sharing them with my family in some way. My instructor said I should make a book out of it, and I was shocked. It had never occurred to me.
The story is about trips I’ve taken to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in northern Minnesota over the years. The book is broken into three parts: It starts with trips I took with friends as teenagers where we did almost everything wrong. The middle focuses on trips with my brothers where we bonded as a family. The end is centered around taking our kids up there 20+ years later and includes some heart-wrenching sadness.
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Your poetry has been published by several journals, magazines, etc. What is your process for approaching these various avenues?
I’ll be honest, being published is always a rush for me. It’s why I work so hard at the craft. My approach is taking a handful of selected stories that go into a memoir in-progress and submitting them to magazines and journals as stand-alone pieces. If they get accepted, it builds street cred for the entire book when I try and get a publisher. If they see that some of the stories were good enough for a magazine, they’re more likely to take a closer look.
Poetry is much the same thing. I submit often and use a number of the accepted poems as part of a larger collection. On a few occasions, I’ve participated in month-long “Poem a day” exercises. They have been very productive for me, including providing the base material for two of my chapbooks, “Reciting from Memory” and “Genetically Speaking.”
What is your biggest inspiration?
Reading well written books and poems. If you want to write well, you need to read. A lot.
You were poet laureate of Wales, Wis., for a year. What was that like?
It was an honor to be appointed the post. Along with starting out each monthly village board meeting with a couple poems, I conducted a couple of initiatives. One involved soliciting signed poetry books by local and national poets for donation to Kettle Moraine High School. I felt it was important to get poetry in the hands of young people.
The other initiative was getting a poetry scrapbook on the Village website, providing access to the residents and public. I was also in charge of lining up the featured poet for a monthly Poetry Night at Mama D’s coffee shop in Wales. The laureate experience introduced me to a ton of poets I’d never have met otherwise.
If you had to sum up life in a few sentences, what would they be?
Love each day. I lost my brother to cancer in 2011 at the age of 47. Ever since, I have lived life with renewed intentionality and a sense of urgency. Life is short, so make it count by loving, creating and lifting others up.
For more, visit: http://jimlandwehr.com
