Charmaine Arjoonlal is a writer and social worker who lives with her husband and two spoiled dogs in Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada. When she’s not squeezing in writing, she enjoys hanging out in coffee shops, biking and swimming in cold lakes. Her writing has appeared or is forthcoming in The Rumpus, MUTHA, Last Stanza Poetry Journal, Reckon Review and elsewhere. You can find Charmaine on X @Arjoonlal on Instagram @charmainearjoonlal or charmainearjoonlal.wordpress.com
You can read her poem Wild Abandon in the January 2024 issue.
Would you like to tell us a little bit more about your poem? For instance, how or why you wrote it, or perhaps provide some extra context?
“Wild Abandon” is inspired by Long Lake which is located near our home in Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada. Every day from mid-May, just after the ice melts, to mid-October, when fresh snow appears, my husband and I and our two rescue dogs hike to a little beach to perform our Tai Chi routine. (As such, the mention of cloud hands.) Afterwards, we enjoy a swim of varying lengths depending on the temperature. Sometimes it’s freezing to say the least!
If you didn’t write poetry, how do you think you might access the same fulfillments that poetry offers in your life?
We live in what’s referred to as “The Wilderness City”. Spending time outdoors biking, canoeing or hiking is adventurous and fulfilling as well as meditative. However, I have to say, it’s hard to spend time enjoying what nature has to offer without wanting to write about it.
How do you revise your work?
I read it, revise it and set it aside. After a little time has gone by, I go back to it and tweak it again. I keep doing this until it provokes the feeling I’m trying to inspire.
How or when or with what does a poem begin?
In regards to “Wild Abandon”, as we approached the parking lot at the end of our hike, we saw a school bus full of kids which triggered a memory. However, strangely enough, I often will think of a last line to a poem first and then craft what comes before.
Are there other art forms that inspire or inform your poetry?
I write the majority of my poetry by myself, usually late and night, and mostly they are inspired by life situations. For instance, I might feel slighted about something and it provokes a poem about something else entirely. However certain life situations, such as travelling, inspire my husband and I to craft together. Often, we write a poem or Haiku instead of taking a photograph.