Interview with Jill McGrath
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Jill is a Seattle poet who loves outdoor adventures like biking and hiking, and indoor adventures like dancing. on the dance floor. Memorable escapades have changed her life: a 1-year journey in Asia on a tandem bicycle; a 1-year stint editing tourism magazines in Kathmandu; a spontaneous wedding in a Nepali temple in Boudhanath. Hikes and paddleboarding in our great Pacific Northwest have also been transformative. Current projects include editing a poetry manuscript based on bicycle travels in Asia and circulating a first poetry book for publication.
Jill has also collaborated with jazz composer and performer Nelda Swiggett in two 70-minute multi-media presentations. Her poem “Healing the Divide” was integrated with “Alaska Suite: A story of beauty, loss and hope” in 2022. It was created to inform the audience about the effects of climate change. A current production with Nelda called“ For the Birds” is focused on the fate of birds, and it includes 2 of her poems: “Findingtheir way” and “Creatures of Habit.”
Jill has also published a chapbook, The Rune of Salt Air. It was the winner in the Lyric Poetry Chapbook Competition with Still Waters Press in 1991. She has also had 46 poems published in literary magazines, including Between the Lines, Salish Magazine, the Seattle Review, The MacGuffin, Southern Poetry Review, West Wind Review, and Poet & Critic.​
​How do you see your poems connect to the larger patterns or styles you explore in your poetry and writing?
I am definitely a lyric poet, and I am drawn to write poems about the natural world. I find that just as I go to it for solace and strength, I am impelled to try to communicate that deep connection and peace that I feel when I am outdoors. In the Pacific Northwest, we are blessed with great natural beauty and serene bodies of water to be near and to enjoy. I write and hope that my poetry will move my reader to feel and see what I amexperiencing. I do a lot of editing on my rough draft to weed out the extra words and increase the power of my writing. I am delighted when I have a reading and the audience responds in empathy or that wonderful “aaah” that you sometimes hear when an image or idea connects with the audience. So fun!
Recently I have been inspired by new poets and the daring moves they make in style and content. I am excited to explore different styles in 2026, shake things up a little. This ties in with my goal of completing my 2nd book of poetry (almost there!), which will set me free, I think, to do new things. I look forward to experimenting!
How might your poems respond, overlap, or build on each other?
It’s really interesting because as I look at my work (I’ve been writing since college, off and on), I see how I had a drive to create an integrated collection of poems. My first book project was inspired by a class assignment (getting my Master’s Degree in Poetry) to write a long poem. I had been doing some ancestry research after discovering a mysterious photo in my grandfather’s cupboard, one of his mother I had never seen. And I also happened to learn that an unsigned painting on my parent’s wall was created by her! These discoveries sparked me to investigate her history and life (I could only find a few facts) and imagine how she lived, how she might have tried to pursue her art, and why she ended up in a mental hospital for her last 30 years. Well, that long poem became a book of poems, my first! And it took me on a long journey myself, exploring family and how our society often works against having a creative life.
My second book evolved during a 2-year tandem bicycle trip in Asia, so the reader travels with me as I explore so many fascinating places. My experiences there, which ended up including editing tourism magazines in Nepal, changed my life, and the poems just kept on coming. These poems built on previous poems, and since it was such a trip of discovery and learning, the concepts connect throughout the manuscript as I return to certain themes. I really enjoyed this, and I hope a publisher does as well! I’m almost done editing this book. So I guess I would say that in my life, poetry projects definitely overlap and build on each other. I also think there are themes that are important in each poet’s life and character that nudge them to deeper explorations in their work.
And sometimes this process can be a little scary, as you don’t know where they’ll take you, but I encourage all writers to stay with those topics, read other writers who have similar themes to perhaps evoke new thinking. (BTW, I often start my writing practice by reading other poets. It does not stop me from writing, but rather it stimulates and sparks that creative part of my brain and, if I set aside enough time, fosters the meditative creative flow that I love.
Now I’m working on collecting my other works, looking for themes to help me choose how to group the poems. This is a different approach to a book, a more common one, and I am enjoying the process.
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What's one question about poetry you've been wanting to ask others?
1) How do you create an environment or ritual around writing that helps you to maintain your daily practice?
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What's something you want to write about or on your writing "to-do" list?
I am currently writing poems about birds for a collaboration with a jazz musician. I hope the birds speak to me and continue to inspire new poems, the more the merrier! I am getting close to having enough for a chapbook! I also would like to try new styles of poetry and admire poets who can engage with current events/moods/information. These topics would be a great challenge for me. I also have not written formal poetry very often, just a little haiku. I took a workshop last year and feel more interested in trying sonnets or other forms.
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If you were to create a 2025 Writing Wrapped, inspired by Spotify Wrapped, what is one thing you would definitely see there?
Poetry from so many journals and poets, especially my 20-year poetry group, and poets Rena Priest, Tess Gallagher, Susan Rich, Alice Derry, Tim McNulty, Heather McHugh, Linda Bierds.
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What's something you like to do outside of writing that inspires your writing?
I am always inspired by attending an artistic event, whether a poetry reading or a symphony. If I can sit and immerse myself for an hour or two, I find it’s a wonderful mental space where my creative flow is activated! Thus, I always bring a pen and small notebook with me. The other continual source of inspiration is being out in nature and exploring beaches and forests.