KRYSTYNA GRYS

OUR POETRY ARCHIVE FEATURED

POET OF THE MONTH

KRYSTYNA GRYS

SEPTEMBER 2018

ALICJA KUBERSKA: What does poetry mean to you?

KRYSTYNA GRYS:For me poetry is giving sincere thoughts and feelings.

ALICJA KUBERSKA: What’s according to you the meaning of poetry in the contemporary world?

KRYSTYNA GRYS: In my opinion, poets, through their work have an impact on other people’s lives.

ALICJA KUBERSKA:  Can you describe your creative process while writing a new poem?

KRYSTYNA GRYS: There are poems which take a really long time to write and there are also moments when you can write like three poems one after another.

ALICJA KUBERSKA:  Did it happen to you that a poem was just your dream ?

KRYSTYNA GRYS:  No, I didn’t have such situation.

ALICJA KUBERSKA: Tell us about your inspiration. What’re the most important subjects to you?

KRYSTYNA GRYS: Everyday life inspires me, my personal experiences, or when something delights me. The most important subject I write about a lot, are love and God. Yet, not only love to God, but in general, since for me, it is a prime mover.

MARIA MIRAGLIA:  Which were the emotions that inspired your first verses?

KRYSTYNA GRYS: A great resentment. After that sad experience I wrote my first poem.

MARIA MIRAGLIA:  Was your aspiration to become a poet or did all happen by chance?

KRYSTYNA GRYS: It just happened. I have never thought about becoming a poet, even though I have always liked to rhyme.

MARIA MIRAGLIA:  Who is the first person you read your poems to and why?

KRYSTYNA GRYS: When my husband was alive, he was the first one to hear my poems. Now that he is gone, I read them to my grandkids.

MARIA MIRAGLIA:  Have you published any poetic anthology, if so what did you feel the first time you got it in your hands?

KRYSTYNA GRYS: I have published twenty-five books, eight of them were for kids. The first book was published after I poetic workshops which took place in my local library. Mr. Nikos Chadzinikolau- a headmaster of Polish Writers’ Union, read my poems and asked me if I would let him publish them in his volume called “White Poetic Series”. Of course, I agreed. It was an honor for me to have my poems published in those series.

MARIA MIRAGLIA:  Who are the poets you prefer reading? Do you get inspiration from them?

KRYSTYNA GRYS: Yes, I get inspiration from many great poets- Polish and international ones. Yet, it would take too much time to list all of them.

APRILIA ZANK:  How important is accessibility of meaning to you? Do you challenge the readers to work hard to decipher your poems, or do you prefer transparency of meaning?

KRYSTYNA GRYS: It depends from a poem. Some of them don’t seem to be transparent, yet one can find the meaning of them. However, I do not like to write very obvious ones. In the past I would write more poems with hidden meaning and I hope to do that again one day.

APRILIA ZANK:  What kind of poems do you write mostly? Do you have recurring themes, or are all your poems unique?

KRYSTYNA GRYS: Maybe not a theme, but I did write a couple of series of poems. For example, I wrote a series of poems for my husband who suffered from Alzheimer’s disease and it was a kind of therapy for me. There were also a series of love poems dedicated to my husband and later to one more person. Another series I write are religious poems and poems for children.

APRILIA ZANK:  Do you think your poetry is typically feminine / masculine? If yes, in what way?

KRYSTYNA GRYS: I think that if a woman writes it cannot be masculine.

APRILIA ZANK:  Do you write mostly about yourself, or do you also have an open eye /ear for the issues of the world?

KRYSTYNA GRYS: Of course I write about world’s problems. For example, when I heard that a mother abandoned her child in a dumpster, or  that some boys murdered a girl just because they wanted to see how a human dies, or when I saw horses die in stable. I write about all of that and more.

APRILIA ZANK:  In what way is your poetry different from that of other poets?

KRYSTYNA GRYS: It is hard to say. I think that the best way to find the answer to that question is to ask the readers.

LEYLA IŞIK:  What are the main factors to make poetry real poetry?

KRYSTYNA GRYS: The poetry is real when you write from your heart.

LEYLA IŞIK:  Do you think imagery is important in poetry? Where does the importance of imagery begin in a poem, where does it end?

KRYSTYNA GRYS: Yes, it is important for me and the whole poem should be an image of something. Therefore, I think that there is no beginning of it and no end. It should make a whole.

LEYLA IŞIK:  What’s important to be a good poet? To write good poems!

KRYSTYNA GRYS: Only the readers can say if a poet is good. Critics as well, however they can have a different taste. Some poets write only to satisfy critics. I write for people, in general. I want people to understand and enjoy my poets.

DEBORAH  BROOKS  LANGFORD:  Understanding poetry begins with visualizing the central images in the poem. What do you see, taste, smell, hear, and feel? What is the imagery of your poetry?

KRYSTYNA GRYS: Well, I can say that my poetry is very imagery. I often hear that my poems work on imagination.

DEBORAH  BROOKS  LANGFORD:  What is the mood of your poetry? (Or How does it make you feel?)

KRYSTYNA GRYS: The mood of a poem depends of a mood I have at the moment of writing.

DEBORAH  BROOKS  LANGFORD:  In your poetry who is the speaker of the poem? Are you speaking to yourself or to others?

KRYSTYNA GRYS: In the majority of my poems it is me who is speaking. Yet, there are some poems which are more like descriptions, with no specific speaker.

DEBORAH  BROOKS  LANGFORD:   Does the internet and social media contribute to the success of your poetry? Is this the reason you write for?

KRYSTYNA GRYS: I do not consider publishing poems on social media as success. There are very nice comments about them, yet like I said I do not consider that as success.

NILAVRONILL SHOOVRO:  Thank you so much dear poet for the interview. We would like to know your personal experience with OPA as a literary web journal. Would you like to share anything more with our readers?

KRYSTYNA GRYS: I am honoured that I belong OPA and I really like your literary web journal. I think that our cooperation will be very successful.

KRYSTYNA GRYS: She was born and still living in Leszno. She attended the Jan Amos Komenski Pedagogical High School in Leszno. Krystyna Grys published 11 volumes of lyric poetry, 3 volumes of epigrams, 1 volume of limericks and 7 volumes of poems for children. Her poems were published in various almanacs and translated to a few foreign languages. Krystyna Grys received two awards of the Mayor of Leszno, the Maria Konopnicka Literary Award, the Klemens Janicki Literary Award and the Tadeusz Micinski “Phoenix” Award. She is a member of the Polish Writers Association in Poznan and the Culture Creators Society of Leszno. She has meetings in kindergartens, schools, the Senior Clubs, libraries as well as in the Remand Prison in Leszno.

KRYSTYNA GRYS: Urodziła się i mieszka w Lesznie. Uczęszczała do Liceum Pedagogicznego im. Jana Amosa Komeńskiego w Lesznie. Wydała 11 tomików lirycznych, 3 tomiki fraszek, 1 tomik limeryków i 7 tomików wierszy dla dzieci. Wiersze publikowane były w różnych almanachach. Tłumaczone na kilka języków obcych. Zdobyła dwie nagrody Prezydenta miasta Leszna oraz nagrody literackie im. Marii Konopnickiej, Klemensa Janickiego oraz „Feniksa” im. Tadeusza Micińskiego. Należy do Związku Literatów Polskich w Poznaniu. Leszczyńskiego Stowarzyszenia Twórców Kultury. Miewa spotkania w przedszkolach, szkołach, liceach w Klubach Seniorów,Bibliotekach , a także w Areszcie Śledczym w Lesznie.