How does a poem begin?
Noticing. Discomfort. Strangeness.
Showing posts with label Alex Leslie. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Alex Leslie. Show all posts
Wednesday, 25 December 2019
Wednesday, 18 December 2019
Alex Leslie : part twelve
Why is poetry important?
Anything that inhibits the process of becoming a robot!
Anything that inhibits the process of becoming a robot!
Wednesday, 11 December 2019
Alex Leslie : part eleven
How important is music to your poetry?
I’m constantly listening to music. I grew up playing music, in so many bands and orchestras, and abruptly stopped in my late teens, but that programming is deep inside me, of pacing, temporal structure, and rhythm. I took music composition classes as a kid and I remember learning about time signatures and such, and feeling that it was like learning a secret code. I used to try to figure out the time signature that different people talked according to. Most people speak in three-four time, by the way. If someone’s talking in 4/4 time, run!
I’m constantly listening to music. I grew up playing music, in so many bands and orchestras, and abruptly stopped in my late teens, but that programming is deep inside me, of pacing, temporal structure, and rhythm. I took music composition classes as a kid and I remember learning about time signatures and such, and feeling that it was like learning a secret code. I used to try to figure out the time signature that different people talked according to. Most people speak in three-four time, by the way. If someone’s talking in 4/4 time, run!
Wednesday, 4 December 2019
Alex Leslie : part ten
When you require renewal, is there a particular poem or book that you return to? A particular author?
Yehuda Amichai’s Psalm. Italo Calvino’s Invisible Cities. Edmond Jabes’s ‘Book of’ series.
Yehuda Amichai’s Psalm. Italo Calvino’s Invisible Cities. Edmond Jabes’s ‘Book of’ series.
Wednesday, 27 November 2019
Alex Leslie : part nine
What other poetry books have you been reading lately?
Eyes Bottle Dark with a Fistful of Flowers by Jake Skeets
Hymnswitch by Ali Blythe
I just ordered the Penguin anthology of prose poems that came out recently, and I am ready to geek out with it. I’m soooooooooo excited.
Eyes Bottle Dark with a Fistful of Flowers by Jake Skeets
Hymnswitch by Ali Blythe
I just ordered the Penguin anthology of prose poems that came out recently, and I am ready to geek out with it. I’m soooooooooo excited.
Wednesday, 20 November 2019
Alex Leslie : part eight
What poets changed the way you thought about writing?
Edmond Jabes, because he was able to write about the Holocaust truthfully, that is nonsensically and beautifully at the same time. Richard Siken, because Crush is just a queer masterpiece. Rita Wong’s poetry for eco justice. Once I saw Joy Harjo read at the Longhouse at UBC, years ago, right after a big death in my life, and it felt like a sacred space.
Edmond Jabes, because he was able to write about the Holocaust truthfully, that is nonsensically and beautifully at the same time. Richard Siken, because Crush is just a queer masterpiece. Rita Wong’s poetry for eco justice. Once I saw Joy Harjo read at the Longhouse at UBC, years ago, right after a big death in my life, and it felt like a sacred space.
Wednesday, 13 November 2019
Alex Leslie : part seven
What do you find most difficult about writing poetry?
Balancing love of form and resistance of misinterpreting the world as a poem.
Balancing love of form and resistance of misinterpreting the world as a poem.
Wednesday, 6 November 2019
Alex Leslie : part six
What do you feel poetry can accomplish that other forms can’t?
Compression. Instantaneous connections. Chant.
Compression. Instantaneous connections. Chant.
Wednesday, 30 October 2019
Alex Leslie : part five
How does your work first enter the world? Do you have a social group or writers group that you work ideas and poems with?
Yeah, I exchange work with fellow writers from time to time. It’s very ad hoc and I don’t really have a stable sense of a reader. More like exchanges that happen depending on who I’m talking to, or who I run into. Some work enters the world through sending it to journals, and having a conversation with the editor. I was very grateful to work with Karen Solie on Vancouver for Beginners. She’s an incredibly sensitive reader.
Yeah, I exchange work with fellow writers from time to time. It’s very ad hoc and I don’t really have a stable sense of a reader. More like exchanges that happen depending on who I’m talking to, or who I run into. Some work enters the world through sending it to journals, and having a conversation with the editor. I was very grateful to work with Karen Solie on Vancouver for Beginners. She’s an incredibly sensitive reader.
Wednesday, 23 October 2019
Alex Leslie : part four
Has your consideration of poetry changed since you began?
Yeah. When I started out, I was very attached to a sense of pacing, phrasing, creating a certain feeling. Now I’m equally interested in poetry that is abrasive, or startling. I try to read very broadly. I don’t have a unified sense of what poetry “is.”
Yeah. When I started out, I was very attached to a sense of pacing, phrasing, creating a certain feeling. Now I’m equally interested in poetry that is abrasive, or startling. I try to read very broadly. I don’t have a unified sense of what poetry “is.”
Wednesday, 16 October 2019
Wednesday, 9 October 2019
Alex Leslie : part two
How did you first engage with poetry?
I was a voracious reader growing up, but in terms of poetry that engaged me as an aspiring writer, I remember seeking out Anne Michaels’ poetry in high school – books like Miner’s Pond – because we read Fugitive Pieces in class and that book rocked my little world. I kind of spread out from there, reading contemporary poetry, but this very lyrical fiction writer was really the thing that opened the door for me.
I was a voracious reader growing up, but in terms of poetry that engaged me as an aspiring writer, I remember seeking out Anne Michaels’ poetry in high school – books like Miner’s Pond – because we read Fugitive Pieces in class and that book rocked my little world. I kind of spread out from there, reading contemporary poetry, but this very lyrical fiction writer was really the thing that opened the door for me.
Wednesday, 2 October 2019
Alex Leslie : part one
Photo credit: Johnny Alam.
What are you working on?
Right now I’m working on my first novel.
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