Jane Rohrer

An Interview with Jane Rohrer

What influence did attending a Mennonite high school and college have on your work as a poet?

Who can say.  I never attended a public high school.  I know that an English teacher, Mrs. M. T. Brackbill, was an aesthetic person of real quality.  We studied a bit of Shakespeare.  Also, I worked on the Weather Vane as some kind of contributing editor now and then and that made me happy.  It was sort of idyllic and that was good.  Of course, it was so long ago.  I'm sure a lot more is offered now.

Did you drift away from the Mennonite world as your life became centered in the art world?

That was related, of course.  We were looking for a larger world beyond the parentheses and I've often said Warren and I ganged up and ran away.  It wasn't so much that the Mennonite world was unwelcoming to the arts, it just wasn't on the radar screen.  They weren't there yet.  Once again, it was so long ago.  I'm sure there has been great development since.

What is your history with poetry?

I wrote the usual adolescent poetry.  Around the age of forty I began to read a lot of poetry and then in the 70's I began to study and write more but I have never been steady or prolific.  I was so shocked and pleased when the American Poetry Review began to publish my stuff in the 70's and then Sheep Meadow Press published a book two years ago.  That was an amazing experience.
 

Kelli Yoder