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Today's Feature: Deanna Nikaido

4/14/2013

29 Comments

 

National Poetry Month Celebration

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Bio:  Deanna Nikaido is the author of two collections of poetry, Voice Like Water and Vibrating With Silence and holds a degree in Illustration from Art Center College of Design. Voice Like Water was selected in the Small Press Bookwatch July 2009 by Midwest Book Review. Her poems have appeared in several anthologies and journals and in 2006 she was a guest poet for Rumi’s 800th Birthday Celebration at the Visionary Art Museum.

She is a senior coach and design consultant for Bookinday(www.bookinaday.org), a non-profit hands-on literacy project that teaches students the fundamentals of creative writing, through poetry and book publication; is Maryland’s North and Western Regional Coordinator for the national recitation program, Poetry Out Loud(www.poetryoutloud.org); and sits on the board for Artblocks (www.artblocks.org), a nonprofit organization, whose mission is to provide Baltimore neighborhoods with creative placemaking, a grassroots design tool used to identify the community’s projects and goals for its public spaces.


Lotus

All winter long I’ve been watching 
the sound sleep of the lake.
Springs slow decision to arrive.
And we like what’s to come, are layers deep.
Too young for the moment we’re in
perfect and terrible--
The wind carrying the seed taking the house with it.
The earth quenched by rain that forgets to stop.

And the heart, invisible beneath this body’s mud
is more than itself;
more than the ordinary planet turning in our humanness.
Unshattered like this lake
that never drinks or thirsts.
Like these lotus sipping through hidden stems
that always find their way through the dark.

The Interview

Where do you draw your inspiration from to write poetry? 
For me writing poetry is more of a listening process where pen point hits the page and a conversation begins. I never plan to write a poem about this or that and even if I do it tends to lead me to some unforeseen place where it wants to tell me something. And strangely enough there is comfort in this unknowing where little by little another layer falls away and I see another connection I didn’t notice before. You can learn a lot listening to silence. 

What advice do you have for someone that is threatened by poetry? 

I would tell them to come out to a Poetry Out Loud recitation competition in their area and listen to the most amazing high school students recite poetry by heart, or attend a local reading of poetry in their area.  Poetry comes alive when you hear it read aloud because it calls upon your emotional intelligence. It’s about connecting to that part of you that is connected to everything else.

What is an interesting fact about you? 
I like to collect small rocks or pebbles from places I’ve been or when people visit places and want to know what they can bring me that is what I ask them to bring me.

Where are you from/Where do you live?
I am originally from Denver Colorado. I have lived in 8 different states, 7 of them before I finished high school. Currently I reside in Baltimore MD

Who is your favorite poet? 
Although I have many favorite poems hands down, Rumi is my favorite poet. 

Contact:  www.deannanikaido.com

29 Comments
Cindy Rinne link
4/15/2013 02:56:12 am

Loved listening to your reading and reading the poem. Also, that you listen to the quiet and collect stones!

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Yvonne Brown
4/17/2013 01:15:47 pm

Poets showing Poets LOVE---- warms my heart!

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Kolleen
4/15/2013 09:07:22 am

I love how Deanna Nikaido used elements of nature in her poem "Lotus." It is something I don't see much of nowadays, or at least not in a long time. It makes her poem stand out. She is very talented and is well-deserving of this feature.

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Yvonne Brown
4/17/2013 01:16:18 pm

Thank you for your support and kind words Kolleen!

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Nadir S.
4/15/2013 12:32:28 pm

I really love your poem its very calm

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Rebecca Wardlow link
4/16/2013 06:11:50 am

I enjoyed listening to your reading. Thank you.

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Alexandra McAllister link
4/16/2013 06:17:39 am

Beautiful post...enjoyed listening to it. Thank you very much for sharing. Lovely.

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Mark Favre link
4/16/2013 06:38:34 am

I enjoyed listening to your reading as well. Thanks for sharing!

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George L
4/16/2013 08:22:41 am

I enjoyed her poetry, I liked the calmness and relaxation of it. Her writing is unique in the way, with the integration of mother earth.

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Estefany T.
4/16/2013 08:50:43 am

I enjoy listening to your reading as well as reading your poem. Thank you for sharing how you use the elements of nature in your poetry. I really liked it.

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Meryl Hershey Beck link
4/16/2013 10:11:54 am

Deanna Nikaido is a gifted poet. Thank you for sharing!

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Leah link
4/16/2013 10:50:31 am

Loved your poems! We seem to also share an affinity for Rumi :). It's interesting that you mention the not knowing part of writing - I often wondered if it was the same with other writers (I scribble on occasion as well) that their works end up getting a mind and direction of their own :)

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Yvonne Brown
4/17/2013 01:17:04 pm

Rumi is truly awesome---I am a fan as well!

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Carele Belanger link
4/16/2013 01:23:22 pm

Great poem! It was also great to listen to it.

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gina link
4/16/2013 04:00:24 pm

Thank you for sharing!

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Jessica
4/17/2013 05:53:30 am

I could feel the observant passion in the lines of this poem, simply amazing!

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Meire Weishaupt link
4/17/2013 06:14:21 am

Nice to listening to her, calm and soft voice!

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Robin link
4/18/2013 03:36:14 am

What a fabulous non-profit project she has going on. I love that mission :)

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Carla J Gardiner link
4/18/2013 04:37:22 am

Reading and listening to the poetry today gave me a calm much needed. Thank you.

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Daniele Holmberg link
4/18/2013 05:08:16 am

Great poem! So nice to listen to it! It is so calming:) I need that in my busy day:)

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Delia @ Blog Formatting link
4/18/2013 09:18:00 am

I don't believe I read poetry in a lot of time now! Thanks for bringing that back to me :)

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Growin' N Luvin' the BIZ! w.Norma Doiron link
4/20/2013 11:48:43 am

What a great share... loved it all the way. You are teaching me a lot about poets...

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Franklin
4/21/2013 10:06:10 am

Wow very creative and nice to hear and read to, your truly talented

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Carl Mason-Liebenberg link
4/21/2013 07:37:36 pm

WOW...beautiful! Thank you!

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Jose
4/28/2013 06:23:59 am

I am very captivated by both her work and her writing style. Her work has a very calm, peaceful element to it, which I enjoy. I also enjoy that her writing style is very organic, something that is commendable in a poet.

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Hyon
4/29/2013 09:42:53 am

I really enjoyed listening to her, it was very relaxing.

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Francisco S
5/1/2013 01:26:52 pm

Her way of uttering that poem was rather relaxing and soothing. I like the idea of the poem. This was great!

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Ian H
5/2/2013 05:39:39 am

Wow, The way she spoke her poem. Almost hypnotic. You could really feel what she was saying.

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Kylie Holliday
5/2/2013 07:11:05 am

Your poetry has such good flow between the words

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