Ilze Mueller • Gate

In Gate Ilze Mueller takes the mind on uncommon journeys and transforms simple experience into exquisite, almost surrealist detail. She writes about gardening, eating, and treasuring food — which was scarce during her childhood. Her extraordinary relationship with plants allows her to render gardening and mushroom collecting with deep, purified appreciation.

A Heart

A heart that thinks it’s a prisoner

In a cage, when really it is a dog

Barking, barking behind a white fence

Bewildered by change, any change:

these strangers passing by

whom it does not recognize

even when they reach out a hand

even when they call it by name

From Gate, by Ilze Klavina Mueller

About Ilze

Ilze Klavina Mueller, who emigrated from Latvia during World War II, lives in Minneapolis. Her poetry reflects her range of languages and cultures and her interest in travel. She divides her time between translation and poetry. Her poems have appeared in Looking For Home: Women Writing About Exile, CALYX, Water~Stone, 100 Words, Hedgebrook Journal, and Deeper Than You Think.

Ilze on Writing Poetry

Writing is a little like fishing. A word or a phrase or even a rhythm can be the line I gently pull to see what comes up from the dark water. Sometimes what emerges is just an old boot or a discarded tire. But if I’m lucky, I’ve caught a poem, and I feel blessed all day.

From The Double Meaning of Yield: Laurel Poets on Writing Poetry