 "Photo: Courtesy of Fred Hofstetter")
Despite writing poetry since she was in high school, Joann Balingit said she still considers herself a new poet.
"I feel like I'm just getting started in a way," Balingit said. "The first poems I got published were 20 years ago, but I haven't always spent the time I could have writing with raising four kids and working. Now I feel like I'm just getting started, with more time to devote to the craft.
"It's not a pastime, it's not a hobby - it's a responsibility."
Balingit is being featured in "The Best New Poets" anthology, a collection of 50 poems chosen from literary magazines, writing programs and an open Internet competition.
While the subjects of her poetry vary, Balingit said she believes poets will always revert back to specific memories, or "obsessions."
"The real important events in your life tend to be anchors, or cornerstones," she said. "There are scenes that repeat, 'Oh gee, I'm going to try and figure out what my relationship with my father meant to me.' There are important memories that keep surfacing, obsessions that keep surfacing over again."
Balingit's family life is one of the cornerstones from where she draws inspiration. Born in Ohio to a mother of German descent and a Filipino father, Balingit's family soon moved to central Florida where she grew up.
Her Filipino heritage and her childhood are a thought-provoking subject for Balingit, she said.
"I thought about how traits and cultural characteristics get passed down being raised in a culture," Balingit said. "I have some Filipino traits without being raised there and I wonder how much of that is ingrained because of parents and genetics."
She said she specifically thinks about her Filipino heritage when discussing her father. Her father was in the Philippines when the United States annexed the country, and he was brought up as a product of the American ideal.
"My father was trained to want to be a product of American colonialism and that Americans were better," Balingit said. "He grew up during the time of the insurgency and grew up around a lot of violence. He left for America and never came back and never saw his family again. He felt a lot of pain about that."
After attending Florida State University, she attended graduate school at the University of California, Irvine and Indiana University and is now finishing her doctorate degree at the University of Delaware.
Balingit said location plays a big part in choosing subject matter.
"I live near White Clay Creek and one of the things that really gives me energy is walking through the woods," Balingit said. "I could never picture myself really living in a city - I need to be in a place where I could really dig my feet into the dirt."
Writing inspiration for Balingit can come from anywhere, she said.
"Hearing phrases, listening to people talk, talking with my kids, reading other poets, looking at things," Balingit said. "Even if I'm driving and see a bumper sticker or walking in the woods, or thinking of my childhood in central Florida, it's just really about being wide awake, then when you sit down and write, you have fun with language."
Maggie Rowe, a close friend of Balingit and poetry teacher at the Wellness Community Center in New Castle, said she is thrilled to see a fellow poet's work getting noticed on a wide scale.
"Joann is a terrific poet and she has such a rich history to draw on in her work," Rowe said. "She has a wonderful ear for the way a poem sounds and has a very fresh take on things. With poetry it's not just the experience - it's also the talent and the ability to reach a wider audience and be recognized."
Rowe said she believes it is impressive to get noticed at an older age.
"What's sad is it's so hard to get books of poems published, and all contests and awards are for younger poets," she said. "There are so many more opportunities for poets at age 20 then there are at age 50."
Balingit said she is just getting started. She is working on a manuscript and hoping to get a book published soon; however, poetry remains her favorite.
"What's nice about poetry is you can turn a love of language into a work of art and it can connect you to other people very closely," she said. "To get a better understanding of a poem and to identify strongly is almost like a shock cause you understand it so well.
"You can reflect back and understand something about yourself and have it said to you so clearly by someone else."
Follow us on Twitter
Subscribe to our feed
Contact us through email
Be the first to comment on this article!