For local poet Carrie Voigt Schonhoff, the past decade has often felt like it’s been stuck in a transition between two different periods of her life.
Widowed at 44 in 2012, she has remained on the 26 acres of land in the Town of Portland that she and her husband Dave had purchased, built a house on, and moved to shortly after getting married in 2000.
It was his dream to have that land to raise horses.
With her daughter now a junior at Edgewood College and her son a Waterloo high school senior, Voigt Schonhoff doesn’t know what the future holds for herself, but says it’s been hard to give up on someone else’s dreams—selling the horses, but remaining in the area as she felt it was a great place for her kids to grow up, and she’s appreciated the beauty and quiet of the land.
Her experience of losing her husband and the grief and transformation that followed became the basis for a book of poetry, “The Liminal Space,” published in 2019, which was followed by “The End of the Beginning” in 2021.
Carrie Voigt Schonhoff
Contributed
While she’s not sure exactly what the next chapter of her life holds after her son graduates high school this year, she knows there will be more writing.
She’s at work on a third book of poetry now, which she hopes to complete by the end of this year.
Other activities are also in the works for the author, including readings at Leopold's Books Bar Caffè in April and Mystery To Me in May, both bookshops in Madison. Last year, she went on a “book tour of sorts,” she said, which included 24 scheduled events—poetry readings, book signings, open mic nights, and author festivals.
Voigt Schonhoff is also looking forward to two upcoming writing residencies, one at Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts this June and one in Orquevaux, France, in Summer 2024. The latter she will be attending with her daughter, Sydney, who when not immersed in environmental studies at Edgewood, enjoys painting in her free time.
Sydney designed the cover of Carrie’s second book.
Voigt Schonhoff and her daughter will attend the Chateau d'Orquevaux International Artists and Writers Residence program for two weeks next summer. They were both awarded two grants each as part of the program.
“Chateau d'Orquevaux is a magnificent estate in the French countryside of Champagne-Ardenne that offers artists a place with limited distraction and an abundance of natural inspiration,” a news release states. “The residency is creatively self-motivated so that artists can fully immerse themselves in the environment and the French country lifestyle. It is a safe place to explore, contemplate and share ideas.”
There will be about 15 artists-in-residence during the two-week residency.
During their time, which will be their first time traveling abroad together (and only Sydney’s second time overseas), apart from socializing and touring the countryside, Carrie plans to work on a fourth book, while she said the timing might be right for Sydney to paint a cover for her third book.
They are looking forward to a “special” and “magical” experience together.
“I think France is somewhere great for artists to go, but I also think that we’re just meant to be there, so I am excited for that,” Voigt Schonhoff said.
As an offshoot of her books of poetry, she has created a brand called Liminal Artistry which she hopes will grow into an artists’ collective, promoting not only her own creative work, but also that of Sydney, and others.
Sydney credits her mom with helping inspire her artistic confidence, saying she always provided her with the support and resources to grow her painting skills.
“Mom taught me that my dreams are achievable—whatever you want to do, pursue that,” she said.
Sydney Schonhoff
Contributed
“When she asked me to do her second book cover, I was wary, the first book’s cover went so well with her poems and themes,” Sydney adds. “It was nice for her to say she wanted to work as a team. I’m excited for the residency. I think the experience we will have together will be something indescribable. It will be a meaningful time, with memories to cherish forever.”
Creative and transformative
Voigt Schonhoff said it’s important to share her poetry with others, not only as a way to help herself heal from tragedy, but also to help others feel less alone, especially fellow widows.
“I try to talk about things that I have dealt with and things I am still dealing with to connect with people, so they can feel like they are heard and seen,” she said. “I think that’s very powerful. Sometimes you feel like you’re the only one in your position.”
Her first two books encapsulated the feelings and emotions of different periods of her life, and the third book will do the same.
“I think it will be a continuation of my journey,” she said. “Different parts of your life produce different things you want to talk about or express. The third book will still be talking about different periods in my life, but now my voice is stronger and different because of my experiences.”
Those themes include grief, love, loss, and hope. Other themes in her works include “nature and how we relate to it” and “standing in your truth and how challenging that can be at times,” Voigt Schonhoff said.
She also draws inspiration from her surroundings, whether that’s the Big Dipper sparking an idea as she walks her dogs on a cold Wisconsin winter night, or a poem that serves as a “love letter” to her experiences in Vienna, Austria.
“I live in a great landscape,” she said of her home near Waterloo. “When I start writing and try to describe a place where I am, I try to relate it to an experience. I could be outside taking the dogs for a walk looking up at the stars, and it inspires me to start writing something.”
“Travel is a component,” she said of other sources for inspiration. “You get to see outside your small world, meet new people, try new things. I did a lot of traveling last year—Vienna, Nashville, Seattle, Austin. I write about different landscapes, taking a moment to notice things around me, thinking deeply about things.”
When compiling her first volume of poetry, initially it was just for herself as part of her healing process from the loss of her husband. At the time, she felt like she was stuck in a sort-of in-between space before a big transformation.
A friend said that Voigt Schonhoff’s words also existed in an in-between space—that between prose and poetry—a space that friend called “liminal.”
Voigt Schonhoff had never hard the term “liminal space” before, but liked it and felt that the concept of existing in an emotional space between what was and what’s next—and being on the threshold of transforming into a new state of being—was fitting for the title of her first collection of poems.
Through social media and at book readings, readers began to approach her and share ways in which they connected with her words.
“The responses to the first book—how people reacted to it—were really magical,” she said. “I’ve had people come to me personally and tell me about how my poetry affected them. Once I understood that my poetry affects people, I decided to keep working at my writing and worked on the second book.”
She titled the second tome “The End of the Beginning” because she felt that while she had been stuck in one place when writing the first book, that as she worked on the second book, she found herself in a new place.
One of those transitions has been learning to put herself first, she said.
“I’m a recovering people pleaser,” Voigt Schonhoff said. “I’m used to changing myself to make others feel better, instead of being my own person and loving myself. Self-love is a big thing that we all struggle with.”
