Artist Profile: Rose Menyon Heflin
(Photo credit: John Urban and Big Dreamers United)
Rose Menyon Heflin is an award-winning poet. She received a Creative Power Award from Arts for All Wisconsin in 2022 and 2024, as well as a Merit Award from the org in 2021.
What inspires you at the moment?
I find unexpected inspiration in myriad things: from nature to Chicago graffiti; from a couple words muttered by an elderly, disabled artist friend to a piece of art itself; from a ride on a bus to the pulse of water in the shower; from dust motes to elephants. For me, inspiration has always been (and, hopefully, always will be) pleasantly random and wholly surprising. These unpredicted moments of both clarity and confusion always feel like gifts, and I am now a greedy recipient. Although the frequency of inspiration ebbs and flows, my ability to find it — or its ability to find me — anywhere at any time is a true pleasure.
Share three words that describe you as a poet.
Defiant. Much of my poetry involves critiquing injustices in our society, be it subtly or roaringly.
Observant. I write a great deal of poetry based on observations of everyday objects, experiences and phenomenons. My poem which will be featured in POWER, “Sound Barrier Self-Help: A Sijo Sequence,” is a prime example.
Introspective. My poetry also frequently has a nostalgic bent or recalls my past — sometimes defiantly — growing up in rural, southern Kentucky.
What have you gained or learned from participating in programming offered by Arts for All Wisconsin?
I took a printmaking class virtually during the pandemic and it helped me learn to see the possibility of using all manner of things for printing. Consequently, I became more open-minded about materials for all my art. In turn, I believe this translated to seeing the world as an endless source of possibility for both my visual art and writing. This likely contributed to how I find inspiration so excitedly; so randomly; so refreshingly; and so frequently.
Do you have any early memories about discovering how important writing was to you as a form of artistic expression?
I don’t have a precise memory of when I first came to this realization. In about third grade, I decided that I wanted to be a journalist. (I have had a couple of newspaper articles published.) I was incredibly ill at the time with a drug-resistant infection that caused chronic bronchitis, severe asthma and pneumonia multiple times a year from second through fifth grade. Additionally thanks to my maternal grandmother (with whom I would watch Murder She Wrote, Masterpiece Mystery, etc), I fell in love with mysteries. Being a journalist seemed like a way to solve mysteries or crimes without having to pass a physical and run a mile.
In fourth grade, I remember writing my first haiku in class for an honors English assignment. Another followed. Then another. And several others. And so I found myself in love with writing poetry, although nothing would truly become of it until I was in my thirties. Although I do not recall the exact words, I remember that very first haiku was about a train running over strawberries.
How has community shaped your work?
Community has shaped my work extensively and intensively. The positive aspects the diversity, the tenacity, the resiliency — comes through in some of my poems. So, too, do the negative aspects — the marginalization, the poverty, the misogyny. These two often intermingle in my poetry — with the poems usually ending, admittedly, with a note of angry commentary on those negative features.
What have been some meaningful insights you have had about yourself and/or the world at large through writing poetry?
I thought that I had left my past behind. I wanted to leave my past behind. I had hoped to leave my past behind. I learned that I did not leave my past behind. I learned that I do not want to leave my past behind. I learned that I look forward to seeing how my past continues to shape me. As a result, my poetry is my way of reflecting on the world, including my past. What I see in the present, and what I hope for the future. The result is reflections upon important issues, be it via snippets inspired by a little bit of unremarkable graffiti and/or by issues too broad to see fully with the naked human eye — such as patriarchy and oppression in a few of their infinite forms. Poetry is my way of working through both personal and societal struggles. Even when the output is terrible, it is truly a gift to have such a remarkable outlet for processing thoughts, observations and emotions.