Interview: Maik Strosahl, poet, encourager...

...trucker?
Interviewed by Moristotle

Maik Strosahl’s exquisite first poem on Moristotle & Co. appeared here a week ago today, and the second was scheduled for today...until I suggested that we have an interview instead, because I just had to get to know more about the poet who wrote “Irises across the Floor.”
    My questions arose from a short bio Maik sent me and from a reading of his first post on a blog he started last month. My questions are in italics.

Maik, thank you for agreeing to be interviewed. First question: Did I pronounce your name correctly – like “Mike”?
    Yes, it is pronounced the same. Maik is a German spelling I started using when I was younger to get my German relatives to stop calling me “Mickey” when they came to visit my mother here in the US. I usually publish under Michael E. — the initial is a way to honor my father who, thankfully, gave me his as my middle name instead of wanting a “Eugene Jr” running around.

Had your mother immigrated to the U.S.? One of my former columnists, Rolf Dumke (he passed away earlier this year), immigrated from Germany with his parents and a brother in the late ’40s. He wrote the column “Growing Up in America.”
    My mother came over in the early sixties. Dad jokes that she is an expensive souvenir from his time stationed with the Army in West Germany. She, one of her brothers, and their mother escaped East Germany, and she did not see the rest of her siblings until after the wall came down in 1989. She still maintains her German citizenship, so, as I understand it, her children all have dual citizenship, although most of my siblings and I myself have never visited Germany. Another joke in our family is that my mother had children with a police man, a mail man, a meter man, and a milk man — referring to my father’s roles in the military and two jobs after he entered the workforce.

Maik, I understand that you participated in your first poetry reading  o n   a   d a r e ? What’s the story behind that?
    In the ’90s, I had put together several chapbooks, but never proceeded to publish them. Instead, when I found another person who dabbled in poetry, they would come out in our exchange, but I really wasn’t confident enough to go any further. One of those friends was with me when we read a notice at the Barnes & Noble about a monthly poetry reading coming up. She dared, I accepted the challenge. That next Saturday, I got up and read, but also learned from listening to the other poets that I had a lot of learning to do about the craft. I didn’t come back for six months, but I came back.

“Irises across the Floor” is so realistic, I have to wonder whether it’s autobiographical – are the mother and father it depicts pretty much  y o u r  parents?
    This is where I feel like a phony. My specialty growing up was creating stories. I created a character, a situation and worked out the solution through my plot line. My approach to poetry many times has been the same. Irises across the Floor started with the painting. I was part of an ekphrastic poetry project we were trying to do with the Indianapolis Museum of Art. We all picked different paintings that we were going to use for inspiration. One of mine was “Towards One” by Lee Krasner. It really did remind me of flowers thrown across the floor, specifically Irises like the ones my mother had in our back yard. I sat on the floor in front of the painting and tried to imagine why the flowers were thrown and came up with the back story of the parents fighting. Didn’t seem interesting enough to continue until I added the third character, watching the explosion, dealing with the pain. I always worry that once a person knows it is not a real situation, will that ruin the magic of the poem. I guess we shall find out.

Well, Maik, it doesn’t ruin the magic for me! It even heightens my admiration for your creative imagination!
    Let’s clarify “ekphrastic.” I first encountered the term only a few months ago, myself, by way of Michael H. Brownstein. So, let me interject an explanation for others who may be unfamiliar with it. From the Poetry Foundation’s “Glossary of Poetic Terms”: “An ekphrastic poem is a vivid description of a scene or, more commonly, a work of art. Through the imaginative act of narrating and reflecting on the ‘action’ of a painting or sculpture, the poet may amplify and expand its meaning.”
    Do you have anything to add – maybe how  y  o  u  first encountered ekphrastic poetry?
    I first came across the form when I was doing poetry contests and challenges. To me, the secret to a good ekphrastic poem is that it should be able to stand up alone, even if you have never experienced the piece of art that it was inspired by. I also like to apply the term to poems inspired by music, movies, photographs, and books.

And a follow-up, Maik: Did you mean that about my question prompting you to feel like a phony?
    Of course. I write a lot of poems that are not fully developed from personal experience. I did a reading once of “And a Caboose,” which portrays children playing train, hands on hips around the room, yard, et cetera. The poem ends with a sad statement about losing the caboose, which for me referred to my younger brother. After the reading, a man came up to me and tearfully grabbed me for a big hug, saying he understood the loss of a brother. I felt honored that he could identify with one of my creations, but at the same time I felt guilty that my brother was very much alive. That’s what I meant by feeling phony. Just like any creative medium, artists take liberties with the journey they take you on with them. I’m not trying to mislead anybody, but I do use fictional elements to make that image work.

Thank you! I completely get you now.
    Why did you start blogging last month? (Disturbing the Pond) Did it have anything to do with time off for that knee-replacement surgery you mention in your first post, “Trying Something New”?
    I want to build to something new. Some of the ideas I have been having lately have not lent themselves well to poetry. One of them keeps growing in scope to the point that I am interviewing a friend about her experiences in dealing with cancer. I think this just may be my first novel — something I thought, in the beginning, I was going to be doing instead of writing poetry. The blog is more to prove to myself that I can still write longer pieces on different themes. I figure it is good practice. I wrote the first piece while laying on my couch keeping my leg up to get the swelling down. The second was mostly done a few days later, but I felt it needed some major editing and put it aside to simmer.

Interesting that you’re interviewing someone who is dealing with cancer. Does your interest in writing a novel on the subject spring from that friendship, Maik, or independently?
    It started as an idea for a poem. The more details I gathered for the poem, the more I realized I was going to have to switch to a short story. As I continued to explore the possibilities, several chapters have developed (outline only, so far). My friend has been battling pancreatic cancer very bravely and has kept her positive spirit. I approached her to get some more insight into her thought processes as the disease has progressed.

I don’t find an “about” section on Disturbing the Pond. If you included a “mission statement” or “vision” for the blog, what would it say?
    Disturbing the Pond is a chance to explore myself a bit. I plan on doing more from the road, so I am not sure that the title will stay the same. I have not read a lot of stories that give the professional driver’s point of view. So I hope to bring some of that viewpoint to light as I continue and get back to work. Up until now, I have only shared the link with my friends. I will be adding more information to the blog as it evolves.

I’m glad you mentioned that you are a professional trucker. I caught that from your first blog post, and I saw that your Blogger profile identifies your industry as “transportation.” You drive trucks! How long have you done that?
    I actually have only been driving two years. I spent many years in newspaper circulation departments. When I decided I was tired of the constant downsizing, having to continually lay off staff to keep on budget, I started working at an Amazon Fulfillment Center. As I was trying to figure out what direction I wanted to go from there, they offered to pay for me to get my CDL [Commercial Driver’s License], so I figured I would get to see the country and let my mind wander. It is not a bad way to make a living if you can get used to being by yourself. I am thankful for my time there at Amazon, working in the warehouse. When I had my license, I asked what the next step was, figuring I was somehow going to transfer to doing trucking for them. They said I was free and clear to go wherever I chose. Even gave me a parting bonus when I made the decision to leave.

Interesting! What do you haul now?
    I haul mostly general merchandise from a distribution center destined for individual stores. Once I get there, I unload their product into their storage rooms and then go to the next store. For me, this account is the perfect balance of driving and physical labor. I personally prefer to be a company driver like this, where I finish one load and a dispatcher assigns me another. Independents have to hustle to keep themselves busy, plus the legal and tax obligations — you really have to be on top of your game. You’re very much locked to a clock for your deadlines. I would rather use my mental energy in creative pursuits.

Right! And I think the thing about your first post that most caught my attention was your expression of relief about being off the road for a few weeks, so that you can think about writing. You don’t think about writing while you’re driving?
    I actually get a lot of ideas while on the road. There have been several times where I start working the language out in my mind while driving and by the time I finally get to a spot where I can take a break so I can write it all down, I end up losing some of it. I have so many partially written pieces, it has been nice getting some of those done and out into the world. I have switched to a newer laptop to help me keep them organized on the truck going forward. But yes, the break has been refreshing.

Have you considered dictating the phrasings that comes to you while driving, or just dictating notes, narratives? Let Siri take care of it, so to speak?
    Yes, I have, but I still haven’t got good at doing that. CDL drivers cannot touch their cell phones or other tech devices while driving — it can lead to a $2,700 fine and disqualification from driving — so everything has to be hands-free. It’s just about getting used to the technology available. I have Siri, and my wife has also put an Alexa device on my truck, so I will make it work.

I’m having to consider dictation seriously now myself. I’m having some vision problems that limits my screen sessions to 20 minutes, followed by a break of at least as long.
    Anything else come to mind about exploiting driving for your writing?
    I like to look up the histories of the places I get sent to. Recently, I have written about a racially charged incident in the early 1900s in Cairo, Illinois. I also created a prose piece exploring the lack of a back story to the name of Broken Bow, Nebraska. A work in progress involves the Pony Express, which cut through many towns in northern Kansas. There never seems to be an end to interesting subjects to let my mind play with.

Are there any questions you hoped I’d ask but didn’t?
    Well, the one thing we haven’t talked about is projects. Besides the novel idea, I am going to finally get my first real book of poems out while I am off. My hope is that it will be available for sale by the new year. Also, at the suggestion of one of my editor friends, I am working on taking a poem I wrote and converting it into a children’s book to help young ones deal with death as they may stumble upon it — like a squirrel found on the side of the road while walking. Lastly, by April I want to bring back sandwich-board advertising in a way that will allow me to promote poetry in all the little towns I get to visit on my truck. There is a lot to do and right now I have a lot of time. Hopefully I can make this recovery time very productive.

Copyright © 2020 by Maik Strosahl & Moristotle