On Personal Experience and Family in Art, with Maddy Ipema
Interview by Katie Lynn Johnston
In our next installment of craft interviews, the Mulberry Team caught up with genre-bending writer, Maddy Ipema (“Not All Love Letters Are Real, Not All Love is True“), to talk about her inspirations, recurring themes in her work, and the importance of family and place.
When did you first call yourself a writer? Was there something in particular that first drew you to writing?
It took me until the last two years of my college career for me to finally be able to call myself a writer. I remember being in my writing workshops as a freshman and watching others proudly declare themselves as writers with so much confidence and ease. At first it almost blew my mind. I always thought that someone else had to grant me the title, or I had to have a certain amount of accomplishments or publications under my belt for anyone to take me seriously. What I came to realize is that if you don’t take yourself seriously, no one else will. I was waiting for someone outside of myself, or exterior success, to determine my own identity. There was a turning point for me when I allowed myself the freedom to call myself a writer. In return, I started to take my own art and craft much more seriously. It forced me to invest in myself and awakened me to the power labels possess. Labels can be either restricting and forced upon you by others—or they can be used as a means of liberation and personal power. Once I internally started to see myself as a writer and declared it to others, my exterior world started to reflect that back to me as well.
School is what really drew me or introduced me to writing. I have this vivid memory of an assignment that my elementary school teacher had given us. I must have been around nine or ten years old. It was around the holiday season and my teacher at the time laid out all of these beautiful Christmas postcards that she had collected over the years. I picked out one of an old wagon that was being dragged through white snow. Our assignment was to write a fictional story based on the image of the postcard. I wrote some story about a young boy who was riding in the wagon with his parents on the way to the gift shop. I remember her pulling me aside and praising me for it. Once my teacher read it, she contacted my parents about it and told them this was something that they should nurture. That feeling that I got from creating something and then having my teacher’s support and push was what stuck with me. I wasn’t a very good student in school growing up. It wasn’t that I didn’t try, but I was just a slow learner. Writing really seemed to be the only thing or subject that came organically to me. I didn’t have to try as hard, and I loved doing it—writing just felt like me. It took me a lot longer to pick up and absorb all of the material that my peers were—lots of at home and after-school tutoring. So I honestly saw it as the only thing I could maybe be some-what good at. It was one of the only things that gave me some form of confidence within myself. I knew I was never going to excel in traditional academic subjects or ever being really interested in them. I was a very sensitive, emotional kid and I needed some form of art to channel that into—writing became mine.
As both a writer of lyrical prose and poetry, how does your own life experience play into your writing? Are there topics you often find yourself coming back to?
When I first began writing I actually was strictly doing fiction. I quickly learned that my mind and thought process operated in the same way as poetry or prose would—less plot, less dialogue, more jumbled, more descriptive and metaphorical. In fiction, I was still trying to put some aspects of myself and my life experiences into the characters I was creating. At some point though I was hiding behind the characters and I was trying to tackle themes that were very specific and individual to my life experience. I wanted to write about all of the parts of me that I never saw reflected back to me, specifically when it came to the arts. I am a mixed-race, first generation, lesbian woman. Naturally, my themes became centered around ancestral/generational trauma, sexuality, and race. These were the themes that I had been contemplating, exploring, and confused about in my personal life. As these themes started to consume my mind and thoughts, it made its way to the page. The page became a means of healing.
Writing and art is often viewed by people as a pipe dream. What would you say to those that would discourage young writers from chasing their dreams?
To those who discourage young writers from chasing their dreams I would say that the sky is not as high up or far-away as it may seem. Social media, art communities and being able to market yourself are much more accessible now than they have ever been. I truly think that writers are also more needed now than ever with social media being one of our main forms of communication. The ability to articulate and express, to speak your mind in a way that others will want to listen to you is something I feel like we are losing in society. Also there are so many avenues and different modes of writing to explore that you can profit off of in terms of Freelance. Writing to me is quite universal and there are so many different types, forms, and modes of it. I think that finding a job where you can write about something you like and make money isn’t that inconceivable. I’ve made peace with the fact that I might not be able to make a living for myself just strictly through my creative poems or prose. However, that doesn’t mean that you can’t incorporate your creative writing and merge it with freelance writing. As long as you keep putting yourself out there, and you are diligent about making your dreams a reality—you can make it happen. Passion and love is so palpable that it energetically attracts others to your art, it’s something people can intuitively sense. The only guarantee that your dreams will not be a possibility is if you never try or give up.
Is there a particular place in the world, whether you have traveled there or not, that inspires your writing and art?
My mother and grandmother are both originally from Trinidad. I had only been there once when I was very little and didn’t really remember much of the trip. A year ago, my immediate family and I all went back to the island. I was raised with a lot of my Indian culture being hidden from me, and I had never met the majority of my Indian-side of the family. Just being by the ocean and seeing my mother’s childhood home, surrounded by nature as opposed to city lights, was incredibly inspiring. I felt so much closer to my ancestors and felt their energy pour into me when I was there. The fact that ancestral trauma and family in general are one of the main themes that sneaks it’s way into my writing made it almost impossible to not be inspired. I also would have to say that when I visited Paris, a lot of some of my favorite prose pieces came from my experience being there. I would sit at the cafe surrounded by cobblestone path-ways and rich history, scribbling everything down in my journal as quickly as possible so that I wouldn’t forget a thing. At the time, I was just eighteen and it was my first time being outside of America ever. It opened up my perspective of the world completely as people-watching became a form of inspiration on its own. I began to study the French women and how they embodied their womanhood with such grace, ease, and comfortability. In relation to my fear and un-comfortability with my own sexuality and sense of self, prose allowed me to juxtapose the two.
What do you find yourself doing when you're not writing?
When I’m not writing, I try to spend as much time outside as possible if the Chicago weather permits it. I love going for long walks in the park and just exploring the city on my lonesome with my headphones all the way on blast. I think being out in nature allows me the solitude I need to write and to contemplate. Music as a whole is one of my main inspirations when it comes to my writing. I try to also read as much as possible, just to study and pull from other writers’ styles. Another thing I find myself doing in my free time is watching interviews of my favorite music artists and actors. Listening to the way my favorite artists approach their craft and just hearing them talk about their creations that I adore makes me so motivated and excited to write. I think just remembering the sensation I get when a piece of art truly moves me or that makes my being feel seen and valid is what makes me want to keep creating. I want to be able to give others that feeling of peace that it grants me.
Do you have any exciting projects in the works that you would like to share?
I have a new writing blog in the works that I will be launching very soon. It’s called The Brwn Butterfly and will feature my prose, poetry, editorials, and playlists that I have made. I’m really excited to share the website with everyone once it's up and ready! I also have a poetry showcase that I am headlining on June 12th at The Dragonfly Gallery from 5-9 PM. I’m also going to be debuting a new poem at the reading as well, which I’m looking forward to. I’m very grateful to just be able to be surrounded once again by fellow artists in the community. I just landed a new freelance job with GameRant.com—where I will be writing Movies/TV news articles, so check periodically for those! Other than, of course more poems and prose pieces yet to come so stay tuned!
Maddy Ipema is a poet, non fiction essayist, and music freelance writer who is currently based in Chicago. She is a graduate from Columbia College Chicago, where she earned her BA in Creative Writing. She is currently a music blog writer for Red Roll Magazine as well as a TV/Movie News Writer for Game Rant. She is a writer who utilizes her craft as a means to articulate her search for clarity, truth, and healing. Her work is often centered around exploring themes of ancestral trauma, woman-hood, and a profound search for identity. A writer who maneuvers from one genre and form to the next—whatever shape her writing takes is one that is meant to convey a search for meaning, self autonomy, and liberation. Her published work can be found in Hair Trigger 40 and Mulberry Literary.
You can find her on Instagram @thebrwnbutterfly_ and on Twitter @BrwnButterfly_ .