Marta Knobloch is a poet and author of four award-winning collections whose work appears internationally. She lives in Taos, New Mexico, where she writes haiku and lyric poetry inspired by the high desert’s vast, luminous solitude. Find her newest upcoming book, Absorb the Silence, on Amazon.
At 86, you continue to write with clarity, curiosity, and discipline. What keeps your creative spirit alive?
Marta Knobloch: Creativity thrives through attention and attention is ageless. When you take the time to really look at what surrounds you, noticing becomes a conscious act and keeps you engaged in our world. Creativity is encouraged by ritual, making a space in your routine every day for ruminating and writing, even if it’s only a few words. It’s enhanced by remembering the joys, griefs and losses that become the intricate mosaic of our lives. And I think it lives on through a sense of wonder, through experiencing each moment with awe and gratitude.
You embraced haiku more fully later in life. What drew you to this form at this particular moment?
Marta Knobloch: Haiku honors presence, not explanation. It does not ask for interpretation, but invites focused awareness. It celebrates impermanence; hours pass, days end, and seasons change. A haiku is an act of witnessing the revelation in a fleeting moment. As an older person, I find a quiet joy in writing haiku that celebrate life’s glorious fragility.
How did growing up in a military family and living in so many places shape your sense of home and belonging on the page?
Marta Knobloch: Growing up in many places expands the idea of home. Home is not an address, but a sense of belonging. It is not a particular spot, but a place in the heart. You become resilient and more comfortable with beginnings and endings. You find your emotional home through relationships rather than permanence. Home can be found in family and friendships and your chosen work. As you become more accepting of arrivals and departures and transience, home becomes a dwelling shaped by memory.
How did studying with Sister Maura Eichner influence your approach to language, silence, and spiritual attention?
Marta Knobloch: Studying poetry with Sister Maura Eichner taught me a reverence for language. Choosing the right word is an ethical act because it can either clarify or obscure truth. She taught me meaning cannot be rushed, but is found through waiting and deep listening. What is left unsaid is as important as what is said. Through devotion to the craft, you come to believe that your work is an offering, not a performance.
After your husband’s passing, travel became a form of spiritual inquiry. How did grief open new creative doors?
Marta Knobloch: After my husband’s death my love of language failed me. At first, it was impossible to express the depth of my sorrow through words. When I travelled west to research my family history, experiencing the solitude and silence of the desert seemed to make space for me to write from a place of love and loss. Seeking to live in the present moment led me to writing haiku, the poetic form that best embodies being here now.
How has living in Taos supported your current phase of writing and reflection?
Marta Knobloch: Taos has welcomed many artists, writers, and spiritual leaders including Georgia O’Keefe, D.H. Lawrence, and Ram Das and is a thriving center for the arts The meeting of Indigenous, Hispanic and Anglo cultures through centuries has created a community that honors its history and is open to diversity. The land itself, the infinite sky and immense desert, encourages introspection and broadens perspective. For all these reasons, Taos is a stimulating environment for a writer.
What inner journey led to “Absorb This Silence”? What do you hope readers of all ages will feel when they encounter this work?
Marta Knobloch: Years of living in the high desert teaches openness and patience. Watching the cloud shadows move across the mountains becomes a meditation and your interior world begins to mirror that numinous, silent land. “Absorb This Silence” is my homage to that inner journey, from grief toward consolation, from tumult toward stillness, from struggle toward peace. I hope readers who accompany me on this journey will feel a kinship through their own times of sadness, hope and newfound harmony.
Many people believe it’s “too late” to begin – or continue – creative work. What would you say to them?
Marta Knobloch: Creativity does not start or stop at a certai n age. Older people have experienced a lifetime of love, loss, humor, and patience. That is not a disadvantage. It can enrich your work. And a long relationship with language, and image, and sound is a benefit. I often think of the baseball great and philosopher, Satchel Paige who said, “How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you were?”
What role does courage play in continuing to follow your dreams?
Marta Knobloch: Following a dream requires the courage to take oneself seriously. It asks you to trust your inner voice. Courage is being willing to be vulnerable; to risk being misunderstood or ignored. It is picking up a pen or sitting in front of an empty screen every day and waiting. It is finding fulfillment in doing work that is meaningful to you while knowing it does not guarantee recognition or success. Courage is not the absence of fear, but the decision to acknowledge it and continue.
If you could leave one message for those who feel held back by fear, age, or circumstance, what would it be?
Marta Knobloch: Beginning is about willingness, not time. Creativity does not require youth, it requires presence. Circumstances may narrow our lives, but they can broaden our vision. What remains alive in you still has a voice that carries a lifetime of feeling, seeing, and meaning that is worth sharing with others.
