Mery Melfi’s latest book of poetry is a very powerful and wonderfully moving work. Melfi is an incredibly prolific writer of non-fiction, fiction, plays, poetry, and children’s fiction. Her work has been translated several times. She has had several critical essays written about her writing and she is the recipient of the Giornata Internazionale Della Donna Award. Take some time to explore her amazing books and enjoy her dark and direct humour.
Where did the idea for this book come from?
Poems capture the experiences of the one who wrote them and I am no exception. Most of the poems (though not all) in my poetry book, Welcome to Hard Times, suggest that we are living in Hard Times – hard on our pocketbooks, and hard on our hearts and souls. So, I suppose, the idea of writing about “hard times” was generated by the fact that I myself experienced them. My experiences provided the impetus to put down on paper all that I had to endure. Poets can’t fight the world’s economic battles, but we can fight our own personal demons. We use words as weapons. We take revenge by calling it like we see it. We hope that our honesty will somehow make others feel less alone in their struggles.
Why did you choose to title most of the poems after films and poems?
Growing up in an Italian immigrant working class neighborhood, I spent my summer holidays as a child in front of the TV and admittedly, I loved it. Films and television dramas made my life bearable. And sometimes, joyful. I developed a voracious appetite for the visual arts. Growing up I was not a bookworm. Nor am I now. Films and plays help me relax. They provide an avenue for escape that books simply don’t do for me. While most poets might hero-worship the great wordsmiths like Shakespeare, I myself am in awe of those who bring written words to life – actors and directors. Titling the poems in my collection after films and plays was an attempt on my part to show my appreciation for their talent and skill.
Why do use play or film language for each of the book’s section titles?
As the famous bard, Shakespeare, suggested, “All the world is a stage and all the men and women merely players.” And he’s right, of course. I believe that everything we do is for show, and not because we are show offs, but because we are in a show, a show we did not ask to be in, but here we are, and we have no choice but to act out the part that has been allotted to us. Some of us fancied we could be the star of the show, but that’s unlikely to happen as an Invisible Entity (God) has taken up the role. In any case, the show we are in is interactive – at times we are on stage, and at time we’re in the audience. Unfortunately, we never know what is expected of us and that causes us, at times, to make fools of ourselves.
There is a wonderful directness to your work. Is this hard to achieve or does it come naturally?
I’m glad my poems come across as being direct. That’s the kind of poetry I myself like to read. I don’t like to spend hours re-reading a poem to figure out what it’s all about. Mind you, I like imagery (that’s important). Admittedly being direct is not hard for me to achieve. I’m direct off the page – in “real time.” I am so direct, I often, if not always, put my foot in my mouth.
While the overall subject matter of the collection does tackle some “hard times”, it is also very funny. Was the use of humour important to you?
I never set out to be funny, but, at times, it happens that I am. Years ago, the critic D.G. Jones noted, “Mary Melfi plays Shakespeare’s wise fool – that is, if Shakespeare had made women and not men such fools. She is the willing wife with a wicked wit.” I suppose I do think of myself as a wise fool and because I do, I don’t take things all that seriously. Despite the fact that a lot of the poems in Welcome to Hard Times are dark (very dark) in tone, what makes them palatable is the occasional (or accidental) humor. I think of life as a comedy-drama. I experienced my share of joy and sorrow over the years. Sometimes joy and sorrow intertwine and it’s hard to distinguish what is what. The end result is bittersweet. Is humor bittersweet? Possibly.
What was your writing practice like for this book? Did you write every day?
The poems in this book were written at different periods in my life. Unlike some of my other poetry books – take Office Politics and A Bride in Three Acts – I did not decide on a theme, and then proceed to write the poems. For A Bride in Three Acts I was awarded a Canada Council grant, and for Office Politics I was awarded a Quebec Arts Grant, so I had to come up with the poems really quick. That was my job. But I did not receive any government grant for this book. I wrote the poems at my leisure. When I was much younger (in my 20s and 30s) I did spend most of my time writing poetry, but not anymore. These days I focus on plays and novels. I generally work on a writing project every day, except on the weekend.
You have writte, poetry, fiction, plays, non-fiction, and children’s books. Which do you find the most challenging?
To date I have published seven poetry books, three novels, one children’s fantasy novel, two drama books and two works of non-fiction, one of which, Italy Revisited, was translated into French and Italian. Which form do I find the most challenging? They are equally challenging and fun. Writing itself does not require much effort. Finding publishers does.
Does your Italian background play any role in what you choose to write about?
My Italian background has played an important role in what I choose to write about. My memoir, Italy Revisited: Conversations with my Mother (Guernica Editions, 2009), focuses exclusively on my Italian background. In Italy Revisited I set out to find out what my mother’s life was like when she was a young girl back Italy in the 1930s so that I could better understand why she and I saw the world so differently. Growing up our differences adversely influenced our relationship – we quarrelled all the time. That’s why I went on a quest for my roots, hoping that if I came to know what her life was like prior to moving to Canada I would be able to bridge the generation gap. This quest for my roots surprisingly took me on a time travel trip to the 12th century. In the old south, I learned, there were no amenities of any kind – no electricity, no telephones, no indoor plumbing and no motorcars. In this part of the world barter was still in use and marriages were as much about property as they were about love. I expected understanding the Old Country and its value system would help my mother and I get along better, and it did. It might not be completely possible for the children and grandchildren of immigrants to fully understand what their parents’ and grandparents’ lives were like prior to moving to Canada, but having access to the information can be beneficial. It was for me. I wrote Italy Revisited when I was in my early 40s. I was mature enough to acknowledge the mistakes I had made in my dealings with my mother. When I wrote my novel, Infertility Rites, I was in my late 20s, and I was not so ready to acknowledge my mistakes, though I was ready to acknowledge my mother’s mistakes. The two books offer a different view of what it means to be Italian-Canadian. In my comedy play, My Italian Wife, I also examine what it means to be Italian-Canadian. The play suggests that despite the complications that come from having a fragmented ethnic identity, it is still possible to thrive. While these three books make plenty of references to my Italian background, none of my poetry books do. For me prose lends itself better to discussing immigration and its pitfalls.
What advice do you have for writers who want to write about life’s challenges?
I am not the right person to give advice. I did everything wrong. Still, what I can say is that those who want to make it in the literary arts should network – they should join writers’ associations (I didn’t), they should become friends with VIPS in the business (I didn’t), they should teach English courses at university (I didn’t) and they should have confidence (I didn’t). You need to have talent to write about life’s challenges, but you need a lot more than talent to get published – you need individuals who will help you achieve your goals.
What are you working on now?
I just finished a new play, a romantic comedy/drama, titled, 7 Ways to Say, Ti Amo. I recently completed a coming-of-age historical novel, a children’s fantasy novel, and a collection of fairy tales. Besides all that, I was recently asked to write a short film script on Artemisa, the 17th century baroque painter, which I did. The short film, Becoming Artemisia, will soon be available on YouTube. It was directed by Antonio D’Alfonso and stars the well-known Canadian actor, Jennifer Dale.
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