An Interview with Diane King

Q.  What is your worst life experience?


A. Being sexually abused by my father from the time I
was an infant until I was about 10 years old has to
be by far the worst and most enduring pain that has
happened in my life. Most people would never realize
that anything like that has happened to me. Incest
survivors don't get capitol I's tattooed to their
foreheads. We are so ordinary.



Q.  What is your strongest sense?


A. Sound. I can hear humming birds when they fly past my
balcony with their pinging chirps, my cats as their
feet lightly touch the carpet, the distant rumble of
a violent thunderstorm. Music is a very big influence
on my poetry. Sometimes just the rhythm of a song can
get my brain to flow with new words and ideas.



Q.  What do you like best about yourself?


A. That I never give up hope.  




Q.  Tell me about your best friend.


A. I've never had a best friend or any close friends. My
family moved so often; with that added to the abuse I
endured, I didn't learn the art of making and keeping
long term relationships until recently. 



Q.  What is your most prized possession?


A. My 4 cats, if it's possible to own them.



Q.  What would you define as the most terrifying moment of your life?


A. Until I had to have surgery a couple of years ago, I
never really felt afraid of anything, or maybe I
never admitted being afraid of anything. This was the
1st time I'd ever had surgery in my life and I had no
idea what to expect. As I waited, I was so afraid
that I could hardly think or speak.  The movie Coma
and all the years of watching Days of Our Lives were
taking their toll on me. No one in a soap opera ever
just checked into a hospital and then left without
incident. Would I be one of the lucky ones? I was
shaking all over. Then the anesthesiologist gave me a
shot and all was wonderful.



Q.  If you could go back and relive a year of your life, which year would it be?


A. I would go back to winter 96-97 and get myself to a
doctor earlier than I went. When I 1st found the lump
in my breast, I, who thought she had come so far,
fell into my old ways of thinking - that cancer was a
really easy way to kill myself.



Q.  What is your proudest accomplishment?


A. Getting my college degree. It was always an important
goal and even now, so many years later, I look back
at my life and am amazed that I did that.



Q.  Do you remember writing your first poem?


A. Yes. I was in 4th grade and each of us had to copy a
poem out of a book for some useless assignment. My
poem was about a moth and a caterpillar. I remember
the pictures in the book to this day; however, for
some reason I only wrote down a couple of lines and
then couldn't find the book when I realized I didn't
have the entire poem. As it got closer to class time,
I panicked and thought about looking for another
poem, but there wasn't time. So, I added my own
lines, about 5 or 6 more and hoped no one would
notice. When it came time to read the poem in class,
I was so nervous and thought that everyone would know
it wasn't a "professional" poem. No one noticed. In
fact they loved it and asked me where I got it. Today
I don't know what is worse - that I lied to my
teacher and classmates or that the first 2 lines of
my first poetic effort were plagiarized.



Q.  Whose poetry do you like to read?


A. Every now & then I glance at my old anthologies from
college. My favorites poets are Emily Dickinson,
Robert Frost and Chaucer. I also like to surf the
poetry & writing web rings just to see what all is
out there. People ask me to read their poems and tell
them if they are any good. I know what I like, but I
don't know what's good. 



Q.  If you had 3 free hours in the middle of the afternoon, how would you spend them?
     

A. Not doing what I should be doing.