AmeriCymru: Hi Carole. You won the West Coast Eisteddfod Poetry Competition 2014 with your submission - 'Five Poems'. What can you tell us about your entry?

Carole: Hi Ceri. Yes, of course, I’ll be glad to. I’m very honored to have five of my poems selected this year by Peter Thabit Jones, and look forward to having my poems appear in a special chapbook section of  The Seventh Quarry .

When I first came across the AmeriCymru site I had been doing some genealogical research, and was excited to find a site for people of Welsh ancestry.  Once I joined, I came across the poetry competition page, and began pouring through my poems to find five that might make up a solid submission.  The first four poems are the most recent, and the last poem “Yesterday” was written when I was earning my MFA in Creative Writing.  I write in a range of styles, sometimes using common diction, and at other times, practice pressing into more dense, lyrical, or language based styles.  That said, I simply love the sound of language, and the montage effect of images in poems that sort of paint a tableau, or vignette, representing a moment, memory, place, or philosophical idea. This is a somewhat random grouping, but I chose the first poem “Talk about writing poems.” because it encourages the writing of poems, and it uses the word “eardstapa,” an Old English word meaning “wanderer,” referencing, obliquely, an ancient poem entitled “The Wanderer.” The second poem, “Made in the Shade” came about one day while walking, and thinking about some of the more disturbing things that are happening in the world.  The text is “exploded” to represent the sense of fits and starts, of fragmentation, and the way memories “play” like a recording does sometimes. The poem “Another Day” is a kind of meditation on duration, and it references a legendary person from antiquity, Cadmus, the founder of Thebes.

I like to mix obscure details like this with the commonplace. The next poem “Nothing is Perfect” is another sort of philosophical meditation, set within mundane experience.  Often when writing a poem the process itself, the sound of the language, leads me into a place where images begin to percolate, and the resulting poem is somewhat of a discovery.  This was one of those times.  Sometimes I experiment with different types of formal styles of poetry, so the next poem “Speaking of Rooms” is an example of an ekphrasis poem, meaning a poem that sets out to represent a work of visual art.  I simply love the Dutch painters' renditions of the interiors of homes and daily life from that time.  I kept one particular painting in my mind’s eye while I worked on this more formal poem, written in tetrameter, with five lines per stanza. The last poem “Yesterday” is another free verse poem, which is the way I usually write.  This one simply draws from some personal memories, working with images I have of one of my childhood homes, and the atmosphere there at the time.  

AmeriCymru: When did you first become interested in writing poetry? Where can readers go to find more of your work either online or in print?

Carole: I remember writing my first poem when I was 12 years old or so.  From then on I would occasionally write poems, or song lyrics, but did not become serious about this sort of writing until the early 1990s. I had begun keeping journals on a regular basis and realized that I have an urge to write.  I also read quite a bit, and began to realize how much I love the sounds of words, the musicality, rhythm, etc.  I decided to take a few poetry workshops, and then later having finishing a BA in Liberal Studies, went on to earn an MFA in Creative Writing with a dual concentration in poetry and fiction.

To date I’ve published a few poems with university literary journals, and a few other independent online journals.  Links to those poems, and a piece of flash fiction that has been published, can be found on my personal blog:

https://colourfieldsounding.wordpress.com/writing/

AmeriCymru: You also have an interest in art and fine art photography. Care to tell us more? Where can readers go to view your work online?

Carole: Yes, I have always had a strong interest in both art and photography for as long as I can remember.  Interestingly, I find my love of composition, along with an innate appreciation for “images” and “ideas” connect within my involvement in both writing and visual kinds of things.  Samples of some of my work are on Tumbler:

https://colourfieldsounding.wordpress.com/visual-art/

https://colourfieldsounding.wordpress.com/photography/

AmeriCymru: We note from your AmeriCymru profile that your ".....Welsh ancestral line can be traced back to Walerand de Monmouth, (b. 1165) who is my 25th great-grandfather!" Can you tell us a little more about your Welsh ancestry and genealogical researches?

Carole: A few years ago I became interested in learning more about my family history.  At that point I only knew that I have English ancestry on my father’s side (back to the pilgrim ship captain Myles Standish), and Danish/Welsh on my mother’s side. Now with so much information on the internet, I was able to begin constructing a family tree.  I have not been able to find much of a trail on my mother’s side yet, but on my father’s side, have been able to trace my ancestry way, way back, into the place where history becomes mythology, which is quite amazing!!!  At any rate, I am directly related to Walerand de Monmouth, and to Nest ferch Rhys (24th great-grandmother), and would love to travel to Wales at some point and actually visit Monmouth Castle, an important border castle, and the birthplace of Henry V.  I have discovered that many of my ancestors were from noble families, such as the de Neville’s (among others), and lived in castles that are still standing today.  I’m also directly related to King Alfred, and Charlemagne, among a number of other notable historical figures.  I’m especially interested in finding out more about the women in my geneology, and want to learn more about the people whose lives are not documented in the usual historical records. Within the past few years I’ve been able to travel to England a few times, and feel a very deep connection with that land.  Now that I know more about my ancestry I really look forward to traveling there again at some point before too long, and visiting Wales and Ireland, since I now know that my ancestors lived there as well.  I have much I want to research more deeply, and perhaps write about someday.

AmeriCymru: What's next for Carole Standish Mora?

Carole: I’m currently working on an MA/PhD in Depth Psychology with an emphasis in Jungian and Archetypal Studies, which requires lots of academic research and writing.  I have worked in the web and graphic design field for a number of years, and for a few years taught English Composition.  I loved teaching, am developing a couple of creative writing related workshops, and hope to return to teaching down the road.  In the meantime, I continue to write poetry, and am working on some longer pieces of fiction, two of which might want to become novels.

AmeriCymru: Any final message for the members and readers of AmeriCymru?

Carole: The AmeriCymru site is a wonderful resource for everything Welsh!  I especially appreciate the sense of a welcoming community, the special interest groups, competitions, a bookstore, courses and events.  I really encourage readers to explore the site more deeply and become involved. Since I have been a member I have noticed lots of development on the site, and feel very glad to have become a member.  I enjoy browsing the site from time to time and discovering new content. There is quite a bit of on going interaction on the site, and it feels good to connect more tangibly with my own roots, while also interacting with other people from Wales, or of Welsh ancestry.  While technology sometimes brings about a sense of disconnection and distance, sites like AmyriCymru bring people together in wonderful and immediate ways.  Thanks so much for the work you are doing to make this kind of community possible!