Biographie
Diana Hope Tegenkamp is a Métis poet and multimedia artist. Born in Lloydminster, Saskatchewan, Diana lives in Saskatoon and has also lived and studied in Montreal. Diana has published one book of poetry, Girl running, which was shortlisted for a national Indigenous Voices Award and two Saskatchewan Book Awards. Diana's poem, "My Father as Rhythm in Lakewater," received second place in the 2020 Banff Centre Bliss Carmen Poetry Award contest. Poems from Girl running were longlisted for a 2020 CBC Poetry Prize and included in Carving Space: The Indigenous Voices Award Anthology.
Diana's poetic style is a mix of lyrical, language-based and visual poetry. Some influences include poets Randy Lundy, Nicole Brossard, Anne Carson, Don Mee Choi, Susan Howe, Caroline Bergvall, and Anne Simpson. Diana's film poems and video work have screened in international festivals, including the Berlin Art Film Festival.
Find out more about Diana at www.dianahopetegenkamp.com or on Instagram: @dianahopetegenkamp
Entrevue
I've read poetry ever since I was a young child. A particular poem I loved as a teenager is "This Is Just To Say" by William Carlos Williams.
I first started writing poetry when I was around 10 or 11. However, I didn't think of myself as a poet until much later in my life.
My main "job" as a poet is to listen-- to words, language and sounds, and also to silence. Rather than forcing a poem into being, I try to open myself up to how the poem might need to speak or need to shape itself on the page, and then I try to follow that and build on that.
I plan to include my poem, "My father as rhythm in lakewater," as a part of a Mixtape I am working on. I was inspired to write this poem when I heard Susan Olds read a poem on the CBC Radio show, Writers & Company. Olds' poem, titled "Her Birthday as Ashes in Seawater," is about the poet scattering her mother's ashes in the sea, and yet it is a very life-affirming poem. This poem inspired me to write a poem about my father's passing. It helped me to find a way to celebrate my father's goodness and yet also observe the difficulties in our relationship.
The Temptation by Nicole Brossard
