Christina Hennemann is a poet and writer. Her latest poetry book “Leafing” is a winner of the Cerasus Poetry Chapbook competition. Her pamphlet “Witch/Womb” was funded with an Agility Award from Arts Council Ireland. She received the Doyle Award and the Diana Woods Memorial Award in Creative Nonfiction, as well as a Mayo Artist Bursary. Her work appears in Poetry Ireland, Poetry Wales, Anthropocene, Southword, York Literary Review, Meetinghouse, Kelp Journal, and elsewhere.
You can read Biohacking in the July 2025 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?
The first lines of this poem came to me as I woke up one morning, drowsy and still half-caught in a dream. I let my subconscious guide me as I took the first notes. Later, I ran with that idea of how technology controls our lives and what happens to our autonomy in a society full of demands and pressures on the individual.
Is there a collection of poetry that never leaves your (perhaps metaphorical) nightstand?
I love Diane Seuss’s frank: sonnets because it shows so phenomenally what you can do with form and how you can bend and innovate it. I also come back often to Jane Kenyon’s The Boat of Quiet Hours for the poems’ precision and clarity.
How do you revise your work?
I try to be ruthless. I keep all my drafts, so I can always return to a previous one if the revision doesn’t feel right. But often, the way into and out of a poem are not necessary for the reader. So, I try to find the core of the poem and refine the images for precision and originality.
Are there other art forms that inspire or inform your poetry?
I often draw inspiration from visual art and love visiting galleries and exhibitions. Although the poems sometimes move far away from the initial inspiration and don’t always end up being ekphrastic in a stricter sense, visual art opens my mind to new perspectives and lets the words flow.
How do you make space for poetry in your daily routine?
I write in the morning, before I reply to emails and take care of other work commitments. I find that my mind is still fresh and I’m more creative than later in the day. When life gets busy, I make an effort to at least record any interesting observations, a flash of an idea, an image, and come back to it when I have more time.
In terms of poetic style or craft, is there a big question you are trying to find an answer for?
The big question for me is how I can stay true to the poem. Poetry can do so much by playing with form, b(l)ending genres, and surprising both the poet and the reader. Anything can turn into a poem. I hope I will never find an answer for that mystery of how a poem comes into the world. It’s the process of exploring that question that keeps the work fresh and rewarding.