How do you develop your craft? How does that process take place?
Well, I had studied English which I had taken as a subject at school and then, as we’ve just discussed, I went on to university to study poetry at degree level. That was an immense help but having said that, before I got to university, I’d already written a collection of about 40 poems.
Those poems were in a more traditional rhyming style, but when I went to Queen’s I was exposed to a lot of different forms of poetry and I was also exposed to the great poetry culture that was around Queen’s at that time.
I began learning about Free Verse and that lead to me changing my approach completely and I began writing in a different style altogether and that’s really the poetry that I’m continuing to write.
Does form and structure matter to your work?
I discovered Free Verse, but it’s not completely free of structure otherwise it would just come out as gibberish. Not every poet using Free Verse is going to write in the same way.
In terms of the structure, a lot of my poetry still uses for example, verses of equal lines meaning there’s a concise format and a structure to it. Maybe because I was able to study poetry at school and degree level, my work uses the poetic techniques that separate poetry from prose. Although as Free Verse it doesn’t rhyme and there’s no traditional metre, the other poetic techniques are often actually there on the page but because they’re in a Free Verse style they’re perhaps a little more subtle. I also rely on imagery and symbolism more than being overly verbal.
You also wrote reviews of poetry?
I was writing for the local newspaper, Women’s News, and it was my role to write arts reviews and events as well as doing typesetting. That experience was very beneficial. I’ve started reviewing again, specifically poetry. It all feeds into your own approach to writing – I think it’s very helpful.
To see more of Christine Hammond’s work go to the links below
www.amazon.co.uk/SOJOURN-Moments-Poetry-Christine-Hammond/dp/1036922898
