Kim Goldberg’s latest book is RED ZONE – an illustrated poem diary of homelessness in Nanaimo, BC. Her previous book, Ride Backwards on Dragon, was a finalist for Canada’s Lampert Memorial Award. She is the 2008 Winner of the Rannu Fund Poetry Prize for Speculative Literature. Read her story “And there we are” in Zahir Tales.
1) Where are you from? Why?
Born in Eugene, Oregon. Grew up in Seattle, Santa Monica & Coos Bay. Have spent my entire adult life in Nanaimo on Vancouver Island. We can thank the Vietnam War for my relocation to Canada (along with my entire family and hundreds of other families).
2) Generate a relevant formula.
engagement with mundane realm α 1/freedom
where “engagement with mundane realm” = possessions + knowledge + relationships + commitments + plans
Okay, this is my feeble attempt to say that personal freedom (and with it, unlimited creative potential) is inversely proportional to our engagement with the mundane realm. It is very easy in our fast-paced materialistic world, and the fear-based scarcity mentality that underlies it, to become “Wild horse chasing wind” as they say in Liuhebafa.
3) On your website, it says you got lost in Taoist metaphysics and began practicing an ancient form of Tai Chi known as “Liuhebafa.” In your own vision of the mechanics of our (or any) universe, interpret the following phrase from the Tao-te-ching: “Form is emptiness.”
For me this phrase is a reminder of the inherent paradox of reality. The emptiness referred to is the nothingness that holds the “ten thousand things” – i.e., the nothingness that in fact contains everything: every form, every object, every thought, every relationship, every narrative… Emptiness is simply that which has yet to be differentiated. So emptiness is really supreme fullness.
4) What is fiction’s role in creating social justice?
Berthold Brecht said “Art is not a mirror held up to reality but a hammer with which to shape it.” In my own work, I tend to not be this programmatic or deliberate. I am just following the creative energy, following the words coming out of me – what is called “Pushing boat with flow of water” in Liuhebafa. In my best stories and poems, I have no idea where I am going until I get there. Yet paradoxically, by ceding control to my inner creative energies instead of bossing them to fit an agenda, the result is often a coherent social/political statement. Fiction and all the arts are our primary bulwark against agents of repression and injustice – political, social, ecological.
5) Is there really a difference between “genre” fiction and “literary” fiction? If so, should there be?
This distinction is an artificial construct that exists primarily in the garrisoned heads of those pursuing/clinging to tenure, and by extension the attendant flock seeking a shepherd to lead them. Reality in all its messy sweeping nakedness and uncertainty can be too bruising for tender unexercised minds, hence the yearning for tidy little holding pens. Categories (however false they may be) also aid in the construction of hierarchy – a paradigm that seems to appeal to many, although few actually benefit.
6) What is there, and what should we do about it?
Uncertainty, infinite potentiality, fuzzy logic. Connect random points of light until we can see constellations in the night sky, then invent stories for the constellations and let these narratives guide us in our lives. But never forget that whatever narrative we pick is a construct of our own mind.
7) Describe your favorite happening of colors. (You’re encouraged to break the rules of syntax in this answer.)
my tie dye
inside-out universe of
polychrome
pinwheels donkeytales
winged wildebeests with hockeypuck
eyes
kissmequickbeforetheysee
my meltdown brainpeel WHEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeee
