Lisa Kinser is a Columbia, MO author whose debut book is “I Am the Night.” It’s a poetry book written over a 15 year period that chronicles a younger, more free time in her life — a past of longing and searching for both adventure and true love. Kinser is an Integrative Nutrition and Lifestyle Coach and End of Life Planner. She was kind enough to take the time to be interviewed via email.
Daniel Boone Regional Library: How did you get started on the journey of collecting your poems and publishing a book?
Lisa Kinser: I started writing poems regularly after the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995. I had never experienced anything like that and the memorial services and rescue images opened me up in a new way. The poems flowed out of me like tears. I wrote stories before that but poetry seemed to fit during my “dark years.” I wrote my poems in a notebook and dated most of them. I kept track of who the poems were about or what they were about. My book, “I Am The Night” is most of those poems in the order they were written. I left out some poems that were very clearly about a specific person.
DBRL: How did it feel to re-examine these poems from your past? Can you share with us anything that you may have learned from the process?
Kinser: I knew I was holding on to the past but I didn’t realize how much I was mourning it until I was putting this book together. I know this process was a way to try to wrap up any loose ends and prepare for my future in a forward looking way. I learned more clearly that I have not imagined who I wanted to be at this age. I identified with who I was, what I was doing and who was around me from college to marriage. I didn’t meet my person until I was 36 so that whole time I considered myself a “single, party girl.” Now life is different. Columbia is different and I am figuring out what I want my legacy in life to be.
DBRL: You have a poem called “The Silent Cowboy Singer” which features a local legend who used to be a street corner performer. Do you have any perspective to give about this poem or the person who inspired it?
Kinser: “The Silent Cowboy Singer” was a guy who used to hang out on Providence and stand in the median. He was always singing (no outward sound) and dancing and conducting an orchestra. He was out rain or shine. I saw him all the time. He always seemed happy. I noticed when I stopped seeing him and the town seemed more empty without him.
DBRL: Can you tell us about the artwork you did that is featured throughout the book? Were they done over several years, just like the poems?
Kinser: The art was done over these same years. Each piece in the book is a combination of two pieces put together through Photoshop, I think. I brought my pictures to my publisher, Yolanda Ciolli at Compass Flower Press and individually they were “good” but something was missing. I had color pieces and black line drawings. It came to me to try to overlay the black line drawing on the colorful backdrops. Yolanda was able to make the program work perfectly. New art was created from a series of different experiences.
DBRL: Where can readers get a copy of your book?
Kinser: My book is available at all online book sellers. There are also copies at the bookstores in downtown Columbia and Jefferson City. I have been doing local author events too, so you can get signed copies from me as well.
