An E-mail Interview with Sarah Klassen
 (October 2004)

Have you ever felt that as a Mennonite there have been barriers in your life as a poet/artist?  
Were there ever cultural expectations, or perhaps even "rules" that affected or limited your writing?  
If so, how did you overcome these barriers?

I haven't really felt up against barriers, other than the limits of my own imagination and of my willingness to explore and work out ideas that lead to poems. You may be referring to boundaries experienced by some writers whose work told truths about the Mennonites that were deemed unacceptable by the community. I think that in my case, the ground had been opened up... by writers who came before me -- Rudy Wiebe, Patrick Friesen, Di Brandt. By the time I started to write, the Mennonite community I'm familiar with was more curious and less frightened by writers coming from within the group. As for 'rules'-- no, I have not felt circumscribed in this way. Every writer occupies a certain territory, I suppose, and follows certain topics that interest her. In writing the poems I've written, I have not felt that there were things I couldn't say. For me, stories and poems are triggered by what's around me, and by the things around me that grab my attention. Since I write from a position of faith in God, that will inevitably colour my work. I don't, for instance, tell myself that now I will write a poem about God or faith, because the result could well be either sentimental or preachy. But as a human being and writer I give witness to what I experience or observe or read about.


Where do you see yourself fitting into the "broad canvas" of the Mennonite poetry scene in North America?

I am part of the stream, just as I'm part of the stream of Canadian writing, doing my best to write faithfully. Maybe you're referring to whether I consider myself an 'insider' or an 'outsider' as far as connection to the Mennonite community or a Mennonite church are concerned. Here I think an individual's poems/writing speak to the question and I have always believed it's necessary to listen to the whole range of voices. Each one has the potential to enrich or delight or challenge us. 

Nicole Bauman



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