Francis H Powell author of Flight of Destiny and other stories
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    • Andrew Tyler >
      • Interview with Seadeta Osmani
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      • interview with Cynthia Vespia
      • Interview with Josiane Vincent
      • Interview with Laura Mucha
      • Interview with Chris White
      • Interview with Carmina Masoliver
      • Interview with Crysse Morrison
      • Interview with Alan Durant
      • Interview with B the Poet
      • Interview with Arti RAI
      • Interview with Neal Zetter
      • Interview with Andrena Zawinski
      • Interview with Trevor Millum
      • Interview with Alison Brackenbury
      • Interview with Toby Campion US
      • Interview with Hadley James Hoyles
      • Interview with Leela Soma
      • Interview with Bernard Young
      • Interview with Coral Rumble
      • Interview with Sue Hardy -Dawson
      • Interview with Dom Conlon
      • Interview with D.L. Lang
      • Interview with AF Harrold
      • Interview with Monique Tell
      • Interview with Stewart Taylor
      • Interview with Cliff Forshaw
      • Interview with Professor Elemental
      • Interview with Marcus Christopherson
      • Interview with Stephanie Davidson
      • Interview with Brook Fischer
      • Interview with Rita Rana
      • Interview with Rhian Edwards
      • Interview with Josh Louis Lingg
      • Interview with Nina Zivancevic
      • Interview with Armand Ruhlman
      • Interview with Christine De Luca
      • Interview with Hélène Argo
      • Interview with Giselle Marks
      • Interview with Thomas Stockley
      • Interview with Giselle Marks
      • Interview with January L'Angelle
      • Interview with Martin Figura
      • Interview with Dennis Copelan
      • Interview with Laura Zuwa
      • Interview with Iam Thandi
      • Interview with Gail Meath
      • Interview with Alun Robert
      • Scottish Poets
      • Jonnie Dalton
      • Welsh writers
      • Okorie Harrison
      • interview with Meo
      • interview with Mark Blickley
      • interview with Christopher T. Dabrowski
  • Francis H Powell interviews with other authors
    • Interview with J. C. Michael
    • interview with Gavin Hill
    • Interview with Morris E Graham
    • Interview with Wally Runnels
    • interview with John Nicholl
    • interview with Rob Same
    • interview with Elizabeth Oberbrunner
    • Interview with Michael Wilkins
    • Interview with Karina Kantas
    • Interview with Justin Bienvenue
    • interview with James Hershey Jr
    • Interview with Brian Parker
    • interview with Roma Gray
    • interview with Rebecca Reid
    • interview with Samual Friedman
    • interview with Cynthia Vespia
    • Mark Anthony Tierno
    • Spotlight >
      • Spotlight Tiffany Appen
      • Spotlight on LaToya Wilson
    • interview with Jean Lowe Carlson
  • download interview questions for authors
  • Book Reviews
  • Tiffany Alpen, Kindred (The Birthrite Series, #2)
  • Together Behind Four Walls


 meet CHRISTINE DE LUCA

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Tell everybody a little about yourself

    My name is Christine De Luca – well it’s my husband’s surname.  (Mine was Pearson.)  I was born and brought up in Shetland but have lived in Edinburgh since student days.  My upbringing was bi-lingual, Shetlandic and English.  I’ve always loved poetry but didn’t really start writing until I was about 30.  Working in education was full time and, combined with family life, didn’t leave a lot of time for writing.  I have found retirement to be a kind of bliss; and lockdown for me has been something of a luxury, time-wise.  I thought I was a social extrovert but have discovered another self; one quite content to cross out all those commitments in a busy diary.  
I’ve had seven collections of poetry published (with poems written in English and often in Shetlandic) plus five bi-linguals (French, Italian, Icelandic, Norwegian and, more recently, an English one).

Was your creativity affected in anyway during the lockdown? Did being lockdown make you feel inspired or deflated?

I had been wanting to write a second novel for about seven years (having done some research on 18th century Shetland) but just never seemed to have time, energy or commitment.  So when lockdown came I realised that, if I did not take advantage of the enforced social isolation, I would never write it.  There were two further personal ‘blocks’ to getting started: I knew that while I could write the narrative in English, much of the dialogue needed to be in authentic Shetlandic, which would be a significant barrier to publication;
and also I just couldn’t face opening up the huge file of research notes and finding my way into the detail.  I decided just to jump in and hope for the best.  
    So yes, I was inspired, but in a different genre.  Poetry sadly went off somewhere and has still not returned.  That happened with my first novel too, so I have learned not to be too concerned.  Something will probably jump-start it again.

Was it therapeutic doing creative work during lockdown?

    It was immensely therapeutic.  My new friends were my characters.  We spent a lot of time together getting to know each other.   It was vicariously pleasurable.  

How did you occupy your time?

    Unlike writing a poem, which I find tends to drift into my consciousness, generally unbidden – and which then develops in fits and starts, jumping off at tangents – I find writing sustained narrative somewhat the opposite, requiring concentration and some unbroken time.  I generally wrote every day, 1000-2000 words, and completed a first draft of c 85,000 words in seven weeks.    
    So that gave a structure to my day with some writing in the morning and editing / more writing in the afternoon.   I generally had a walk every afternoon.  Evenings were cooking and relaxing.  

What was the main thinking behind your poem submitted to Together Behind Four Walls?

As I mentioned, I wrote very few poems during lockdown.  However, as I passed through the huge empty car park (attached to Edinburgh’s main swimming pool) on one of my afternoon walks, I was stopped in my track by the family scene described in the short poem The Daily Ration.  They didn’t know I was observing them.  The older sibling had leant her unicycle against a post and was happily doing her own thing with a football while the young brother was learning the skills of unicycling with his dad.  It was like a tableaux; a silent embodiment of total concentration, mutual tolerance and support.  Eventually they all unicycled away home.  I thought of the benefits for most families of having dad – perhaps in relaxed mode – around a lot more.  For me this little family group was a metaphor for the routine and discipline required to get through lockdown but also the quiet delight in our daily ration of the outside world, socially-distanced.  Perhaps it also hints at the brevity of childhood and the darker possibility that some families would find difficulty maintaining that tricky balance.
But like most poems I write … I just write them and the thinking is largely subconscious.

What inspires most of your poems?

I draw inspiration from a wide range of things: serendipitous moments; the natural world; the interplay of memory; love of place and people; theology and the spiritual life; maps and cartography; art; music … the list could go on.   I particularly enjoy collaborating with artists, musicians and also with translators.

Do you remember the first poem you ever wrote or one of the first?

I prefer not to remember those!  It takes a long time to develop the necessary skill, the eye, the ear; and that learning continues.

Do you ever think of poems before going to sleep or just after waking up?

Sometimes I seem to be writing or reading out long poems in my dreams, but I can never recapture them when I awaken.  They seem impressive at the time, but were most likely drivel.

Do you hand write poems or go directly on to your computer?

Generally now I write directly onscreen.  Occasionally I revert to pen and paper, especially if I have no access to my computer.  Strangely my writing at such times seems to differ markedly from my normal hand-writing.  Normal hand-writing for me is flowing and cursive but when drafting a poem it has always been very untidy and horrible to look at!   I’ve never understood what process is going on there but it’s as if my brain finds the process of poetic thought and the process of normal hand-writing at odds with one another.  

Do you ever give up on poems you have started?

Yes, often, but possibly not often enough.  I call them my ‘so what?’ poems.

Do you do any other creative activities?

Not so many as I used to indulge in.  I still enjoy singing in the church choir and cooking.  I’ve largely given up on baking (sadly, too many calories) and crafts.   One quickly loses the skills.

Do you only focus on poetry or do you also write prose?

I mentioned the two novels (above).  I’ve also been involved over the years in a small cooperative which has published other poets (writing predominantly in Shetlandic) and some children’s stories in Shetlandic which I’ve written.  (Hansel Cooperative Press)

Do your poems ever have strong messages?

I rarely write anything polemical. 

How would you describe the tone of your poems?

Perhaps lyrical, reflective, grounded.

If you had to write a poem about yourself, how would it start?

This much I know…
(It would be a very short poem!)



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  • Home page
  • Anthology for coronavirus
  • Francis H Powell interviewed
  • Images of Flight of Destiny
  • Contact
  • meet the poets of Together Behind Four Walls
    • Andrew Tyler >
      • Interview with Seadeta Osmani
      • Interview with Harry Weiss-Jones.
      • interview with Cynthia Vespia
      • Interview with Josiane Vincent
      • Interview with Laura Mucha
      • Interview with Chris White
      • Interview with Carmina Masoliver
      • Interview with Crysse Morrison
      • Interview with Alan Durant
      • Interview with B the Poet
      • Interview with Arti RAI
      • Interview with Neal Zetter
      • Interview with Andrena Zawinski
      • Interview with Trevor Millum
      • Interview with Alison Brackenbury
      • Interview with Toby Campion US
      • Interview with Hadley James Hoyles
      • Interview with Leela Soma
      • Interview with Bernard Young
      • Interview with Coral Rumble
      • Interview with Sue Hardy -Dawson
      • Interview with Dom Conlon
      • Interview with D.L. Lang
      • Interview with AF Harrold
      • Interview with Monique Tell
      • Interview with Stewart Taylor
      • Interview with Cliff Forshaw
      • Interview with Professor Elemental
      • Interview with Marcus Christopherson
      • Interview with Stephanie Davidson
      • Interview with Brook Fischer
      • Interview with Rita Rana
      • Interview with Rhian Edwards
      • Interview with Josh Louis Lingg
      • Interview with Nina Zivancevic
      • Interview with Armand Ruhlman
      • Interview with Christine De Luca
      • Interview with Hélène Argo
      • Interview with Giselle Marks
      • Interview with Thomas Stockley
      • Interview with Giselle Marks
      • Interview with January L'Angelle
      • Interview with Martin Figura
      • Interview with Dennis Copelan
      • Interview with Laura Zuwa
      • Interview with Iam Thandi
      • Interview with Gail Meath
      • Interview with Alun Robert
      • Scottish Poets
      • Jonnie Dalton
      • Welsh writers
      • Okorie Harrison
      • interview with Meo
      • interview with Mark Blickley
      • interview with Christopher T. Dabrowski
  • Francis H Powell interviews with other authors
    • Interview with J. C. Michael
    • interview with Gavin Hill
    • Interview with Morris E Graham
    • Interview with Wally Runnels
    • interview with John Nicholl
    • interview with Rob Same
    • interview with Elizabeth Oberbrunner
    • Interview with Michael Wilkins
    • Interview with Karina Kantas
    • Interview with Justin Bienvenue
    • interview with James Hershey Jr
    • Interview with Brian Parker
    • interview with Roma Gray
    • interview with Rebecca Reid
    • interview with Samual Friedman
    • interview with Cynthia Vespia
    • Mark Anthony Tierno
    • Spotlight >
      • Spotlight Tiffany Appen
      • Spotlight on LaToya Wilson
    • interview with Jean Lowe Carlson
  • download interview questions for authors
  • Book Reviews
  • Tiffany Alpen, Kindred (The Birthrite Series, #2)
  • Together Behind Four Walls