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- Apr 12, 2005
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1. When did you start writing poetry?
To be honest, I really can’t remember starting. I’ve always loved the sound of words and I wrote to reach that love since I learned to write.
2. What other writing do you do regularly?
I’m a freelance article writer. I write fiction and memoir too. Most recently, I’ve been writing advertorials and radio commercials as well. Whatever comes my way, really.
3. Do you think of yourself primarily as a poet?
Actually—and this is going to sound a bit crazy—I think all writers should try to think of themselves primarily as poets. The sound of words is really important in any writing. I’m a romantic when it comes to language. A poet has to think about words individually. In a poem, each word holds the weight of the world. Why shouldn’t we aspire to that in all writing?
4. Why do you write poetry?
Because I love words and the sounds they make when strung together. I do not mean this lightly. They make me high and give me life.
5. How does writing poetry relate with your other writing?
I think I may have answered this already, but I will try to elaborate. Every time I open a word file to work on my WIP fiction—or anything else—I first write a poem. I see poetry as an exercise to help me dip deeper into language. I get myself flexible through poetry and then go on to write whatever else it is I am working on.
6. Beyond Absolute Write, what is your publication/performance history?
I have had a few wonderful opportunities to read poetry at spoken word events. In 2006 I was invited to the Renaissance Café in Toronto, to be the featured spoken word performer for an evening. It was probably the highlight of all the readings I have done. I have also done readings in and around the GTA (Greater Toronto Area). I won’t go into my publication history. I’ll just say that I feel really lucky and blessed to have had some success in that area.
7. How often do you write poems?
Every day. Maybe two or three a day.
8. What goals, if any, do you have for your poetry?
I’ve never really had goals for my poetry, per se. My goal is always to attain the beauty that I can see just ahead of me. It’s like the world is dangling a carrot on a string, just outside my reach. Every poem I write is just my hand reaching out and grasping at that carrot. I want to get the beauty out. Is that a goal?
9. Do you set out to write a poem, does it compel you to write it, or something else?
I get a jumble of words in my head and I hear a chord of music. I guess at that poem you could say I set out because I’m compelled. Again, it’s all about the beauty of language and my severe addiction to that beauty.
10. What formal, semantic, or thematic traits do you prefer to use in your poems?
I have to confess that I don’t really understand this question. I simply try to funnel my experiences and my love of the world into poetics. I’m kind of erratic with the subjects I tackle. I’m polar opposite of an intellectual. There is really no thought in much of anything that I do. I know that sounds bad, but it’s pretty much the truth.
11. Which usually comes first: Topic/idea, form, words? Other?
Words mostly. Sometimes I will have something weighing on me, though. And I will attempt to purge it through poetry. Poetry, for me, is linked closely to emotions and the past.
12. Do you revise? Right away, later on? How do you decide when you've finished with a poem?
Up until a couple months ago, I USUALLY didn’t revise at all. To me, it was about getting it out. Once it was out, it was out…no need to look back on it. I’ve recently discovered the pleasure of revisiting past poems and editing them. In May I took a workshop at the Ontario Writers’ Conference (It was my first class of any kind on poetry…so it was really a thrill for me). My favourite living poet, Canada’s Barry Dempster, was teaching it. It was all about revision and I went into it as a non-revising poet. Barry offered me a lot of encouragement and I learned much about the art of revision and how it can be as much fun as creation. My stand on not revising was NEVER about me thinking it was good enough to stand unrevised. NEVER. It was always just about getting it out and leaving it to stand for what it was when it went through me. I’m not sure how to answer the when is it finished question. They are so organic…are they ever finished?
13. How did you come to be interested in poetry?
I was always interested in the sound of words. This naturally sent me right to poetry at the very beginning.
14. What particular poem or poet first attracted you to poetry?
I was first attracted by Dr. Seuss. His love of words showed through everything he ever did. That’s a silly answer, but it’s a very true one. He made me mad for language and desperate to learn more about it. My first OH MY GOD moment with a real poet was in my grandmother’s library when I was too young to fully understand the meaning of what I was reading. She was a fan of Pablo Neruda…and I loved his work. One of my biggest regrets is not being able to read it in his language.
15. What poems, poets, movements or eras have influenced you as a poet: which do you particularly enjoy, admire, or aspire toward?
I wouldn’t know a movement or an era if it hit me in the eye. I usually just pick up a poet and read them willy nilly. I don’t pay attention to their birthdates or any particular movement…just the words.Pablo Neruda and Barry Dempster—I admire both and aspire to reach just a fraction of what they attained. They seem capable of perfect reflection.
16. What single poem of yours would you recommend to someone who had never read your work?
I don’t like doing something like this, as I am not one to see value in my own work. I can’t answer this question.
17. What are your thoughts on poetry today: its function, future, direction, relevance?
I can only speak for myself. It is an elephant in my life. I can hardly see past it, so for me it is extremely relevant. Its function, for me, is to translate the untranslatable…to reach for the beauty in the world and reflect it back. I’m hopelessly in love with the universe and I burn to get that love out into poetry. That’s the function for me…as a poet and as a reader. It’s the language of the universe we can’t grasp…the universe we sense viscerally. The future of poetry? Like everything else, people will say it’s dying. IT NEVER WILL. People feel. Poetry is the essence of this.
18. What, in your view, makes a written/spoken work a poem?I did not know you were going to hit me—someone who does not know or understand form—with this question. If it lifts me…if the language is just so—and seems to hum along with the universe and pick up on that hum—then it is a poem. Other than that, you will have to get the poets to tell you the answer to this riddle. I am uneducated and not allowed to pontificate on such things.
19. What do you like about your own poetry?
What it does for me. I don’t really look at and ponder the finished product as much as I enjoy being wrapped up in the creation of it. When I’m writing poetry I feel like I am communing with a higher self. That’s what I like about it.
20. What would you say to someone who wants to learn to write poetry well?
Listen, Grasshopper. Listen with your ears; with your lungs; with your loins; with your heart and with your blood. There is a natural rhythm in the world. All things have a sound and a beauty. On most levels we cannot hear it, but where we reach to write poetry…it is there. I firmly believe that. The most important thing an aspiring poet can do is listen.
To be honest, I really can’t remember starting. I’ve always loved the sound of words and I wrote to reach that love since I learned to write.
2. What other writing do you do regularly?
I’m a freelance article writer. I write fiction and memoir too. Most recently, I’ve been writing advertorials and radio commercials as well. Whatever comes my way, really.
3. Do you think of yourself primarily as a poet?
Actually—and this is going to sound a bit crazy—I think all writers should try to think of themselves primarily as poets. The sound of words is really important in any writing. I’m a romantic when it comes to language. A poet has to think about words individually. In a poem, each word holds the weight of the world. Why shouldn’t we aspire to that in all writing?
4. Why do you write poetry?
Because I love words and the sounds they make when strung together. I do not mean this lightly. They make me high and give me life.
5. How does writing poetry relate with your other writing?
I think I may have answered this already, but I will try to elaborate. Every time I open a word file to work on my WIP fiction—or anything else—I first write a poem. I see poetry as an exercise to help me dip deeper into language. I get myself flexible through poetry and then go on to write whatever else it is I am working on.
6. Beyond Absolute Write, what is your publication/performance history?
I have had a few wonderful opportunities to read poetry at spoken word events. In 2006 I was invited to the Renaissance Café in Toronto, to be the featured spoken word performer for an evening. It was probably the highlight of all the readings I have done. I have also done readings in and around the GTA (Greater Toronto Area). I won’t go into my publication history. I’ll just say that I feel really lucky and blessed to have had some success in that area.
7. How often do you write poems?
Every day. Maybe two or three a day.
8. What goals, if any, do you have for your poetry?
I’ve never really had goals for my poetry, per se. My goal is always to attain the beauty that I can see just ahead of me. It’s like the world is dangling a carrot on a string, just outside my reach. Every poem I write is just my hand reaching out and grasping at that carrot. I want to get the beauty out. Is that a goal?
9. Do you set out to write a poem, does it compel you to write it, or something else?
I get a jumble of words in my head and I hear a chord of music. I guess at that poem you could say I set out because I’m compelled. Again, it’s all about the beauty of language and my severe addiction to that beauty.
10. What formal, semantic, or thematic traits do you prefer to use in your poems?
I have to confess that I don’t really understand this question. I simply try to funnel my experiences and my love of the world into poetics. I’m kind of erratic with the subjects I tackle. I’m polar opposite of an intellectual. There is really no thought in much of anything that I do. I know that sounds bad, but it’s pretty much the truth.
11. Which usually comes first: Topic/idea, form, words? Other?
Words mostly. Sometimes I will have something weighing on me, though. And I will attempt to purge it through poetry. Poetry, for me, is linked closely to emotions and the past.
12. Do you revise? Right away, later on? How do you decide when you've finished with a poem?
Up until a couple months ago, I USUALLY didn’t revise at all. To me, it was about getting it out. Once it was out, it was out…no need to look back on it. I’ve recently discovered the pleasure of revisiting past poems and editing them. In May I took a workshop at the Ontario Writers’ Conference (It was my first class of any kind on poetry…so it was really a thrill for me). My favourite living poet, Canada’s Barry Dempster, was teaching it. It was all about revision and I went into it as a non-revising poet. Barry offered me a lot of encouragement and I learned much about the art of revision and how it can be as much fun as creation. My stand on not revising was NEVER about me thinking it was good enough to stand unrevised. NEVER. It was always just about getting it out and leaving it to stand for what it was when it went through me. I’m not sure how to answer the when is it finished question. They are so organic…are they ever finished?
13. How did you come to be interested in poetry?
I was always interested in the sound of words. This naturally sent me right to poetry at the very beginning.
14. What particular poem or poet first attracted you to poetry?
I was first attracted by Dr. Seuss. His love of words showed through everything he ever did. That’s a silly answer, but it’s a very true one. He made me mad for language and desperate to learn more about it. My first OH MY GOD moment with a real poet was in my grandmother’s library when I was too young to fully understand the meaning of what I was reading. She was a fan of Pablo Neruda…and I loved his work. One of my biggest regrets is not being able to read it in his language.
15. What poems, poets, movements or eras have influenced you as a poet: which do you particularly enjoy, admire, or aspire toward?
I wouldn’t know a movement or an era if it hit me in the eye. I usually just pick up a poet and read them willy nilly. I don’t pay attention to their birthdates or any particular movement…just the words.Pablo Neruda and Barry Dempster—I admire both and aspire to reach just a fraction of what they attained. They seem capable of perfect reflection.
16. What single poem of yours would you recommend to someone who had never read your work?
I don’t like doing something like this, as I am not one to see value in my own work. I can’t answer this question.
17. What are your thoughts on poetry today: its function, future, direction, relevance?
I can only speak for myself. It is an elephant in my life. I can hardly see past it, so for me it is extremely relevant. Its function, for me, is to translate the untranslatable…to reach for the beauty in the world and reflect it back. I’m hopelessly in love with the universe and I burn to get that love out into poetry. That’s the function for me…as a poet and as a reader. It’s the language of the universe we can’t grasp…the universe we sense viscerally. The future of poetry? Like everything else, people will say it’s dying. IT NEVER WILL. People feel. Poetry is the essence of this.
18. What, in your view, makes a written/spoken work a poem?I did not know you were going to hit me—someone who does not know or understand form—with this question. If it lifts me…if the language is just so—and seems to hum along with the universe and pick up on that hum—then it is a poem. Other than that, you will have to get the poets to tell you the answer to this riddle. I am uneducated and not allowed to pontificate on such things.
19. What do you like about your own poetry?
What it does for me. I don’t really look at and ponder the finished product as much as I enjoy being wrapped up in the creation of it. When I’m writing poetry I feel like I am communing with a higher self. That’s what I like about it.
20. What would you say to someone who wants to learn to write poetry well?
Listen, Grasshopper. Listen with your ears; with your lungs; with your loins; with your heart and with your blood. There is a natural rhythm in the world. All things have a sound and a beauty. On most levels we cannot hear it, but where we reach to write poetry…it is there. I firmly believe that. The most important thing an aspiring poet can do is listen.
