J. D. Nelson : coda

How does a poem begin?

Most of my writing is created through a process which involves the cutting-up and collaging of my own daily freewriting. My process is a combination of the spontaneous prose techniques of Jack Kerouac, and the cut-up technique pioneered by William S. Burroughs. I start by freewriting a section of text, not stopping to punctuate or worrying about whether or not what I’m writing makes any sense. I simply try to empty my brain, usually typing as quickly as I can, following Kerouac’s advice to “blow as deep as you want to blow.” Then I go through what I’ve written and highlight words or phrases that stand out to me. I begin to play with these pieces, putting them together, rearranging them, and looking for unexpected juxtapositions. I keep adding pieces which I’ve taken from my freewriting, collaging things together. This is most often the method I use to create a poem.

Jack Kerouac – Belief & Technique for Modern Prose

https://www.writing.upenn.edu/~afilreis/88/kerouac-technique.html

Jack Kerouac – Essentials of Spontaneous Prose

https://www.writing.upenn.edu/~afilreis/88/kerouac-spontaneous.html

William S. Burroughs – Cut-up Technique

http://www.languageisavirus.com/creative-writing-techniques/william-s-burroughs-cut-ups.php#.YP3PVejYrrc

https://www.writing.upenn.edu/~afilreis/88v/burroughs-cutup.html

J. D. Nelson : part five

When you require renewal, is there a particular poem or book that you return to? A particular author?

I love the poetry of Gary Snyder. His poem, “How Poetry Comes to Me” is one of my favorites. I often return to his work, especially this poem, for inspiration.

https://silverbirchpress.wordpress.com/2013/08/24/how-poetry-comes-to-me-poem-by-gary-snyder/

J. D. Nelson : part four

What other poetry books have you been reading lately?

I am always returning to many books from the mOnocle-Lash Anti-Press catalog, including the work of Olchar E. Lindsann in its Tacky Little Pamphlets series.

https://monoclelash.wordpress.com/2021/07/21/olchar-e-lindsann-8-tlp-set/

Keith Higginbotham – Prosaic Suburban Commercial (E·ratio Editions, 2010)

http://www.eratiopostmodernpoetry.com/pdfs/ProsaicSuburbanCommercial.pdf

Michael Jacobson – Hei Kuu (Post-Asemic Press, 2020)

http://postasemicpress.blogspot.com/2020/10/hei-kuu-by-michael-jacobson-is.html

Barton Smock – Skin to Skin in an Unmarked Life (Trainwreck Press, 2021)

https://www.trainwreckpress.com/skin-to-skin-in-an-unmarked-life

Marzi Margo – Blueberry Lemonade (Be About It Press, 2021)

https://www.amazon.com/Blueberry-Lemonade-Marzi-Margo/dp/0998601268/

Luis Cuauhtémoc Berriozábal – Make the Water Laugh (Rogue Wolf Press, 2021)

https://www.amazon.com/Make-Water-Laugh-Cuauhte%CC%81moc-Berriozabal/dp/B08TZ9M2N8/

Paul Corman-Roberts – Bone Moon Palace (Nomadic Press, 2021)

https://www.nomadicpress.org/store/bonemoonpalace

Wayne Mason – Automation, Man! (Bold Machines) (Sweat Drenched Press, 2020)

https://sweatdrenchedpress.webador.co.uk/order-1

Warren Dean Fulton – the coronation & inevitable dethroning of the tiger king (hiccup press, 2020)

Heather Sweeney – The Book of Likes, Winner of the Tiny Fork Chapbook Series (The Hunger Press, 2021)

https://www.thehungerjournal.com/store/the-book-of-likes

Phillip Hall – Cactus (Recent Work Press, 2021)

https://recentworkpress.com/product/cactus/

Laura Ortiz – Unwritings (Post-Asemic Press, 2021)

https://postasemicpress.blogspot.com/2021/08/unwritings-by-laura-ortiz-is-available.html

Tameca L Coleman – an identity polyptych (The Elephants, 2021)

https://theelephants.net/ephemera/an-identity-polyptych

J. D. Nelson : part three

What do you find most difficult about writing poetry?

Letting go of a poem can be very difficult. I often find myself thinking, maybe I should just hold onto it for a little longer and keep tinkering. I’ve learned to get better at recognizing when a poem is finished, or when it is time to let go of it. I find that this is a function of intuition; a poem just “feels right” when it’s time to let go.

J. D. Nelson : part two

How did you first engage with poetry?

My earliest introduction to poetry was listening to my parents read nursery rhymes, the books of Dr. Seuss, and Edward Lear’s “The Quangle Wangle’s Hat” to me when I was very young. In 1976, when I was five years old, my parents gave me a subscription to Highlights for Children magazine, and one to Cricket magazine when I was six. I read more poetry in these publications. Around this time, I was experimenting with my parents’ typewriter, and I showed my dad something that I had created. He said that it reminded him of the poetry of e e cummings. He told me about cummings’ work, and he was the first major poet I was introduced to. I started writing poetry and little stories in second grade.

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44604/the-quangle-wangles-hat

J. D. Nelson : part one

J. D. Nelson (b. 1971) experiments with words in his subterranean laboratory. His poetry has appeared in many small press publications, worldwide, since 2002. He is the author of several collections of poetry, including Cinderella City (The Red Ceilings Press, 2012). His first full-length collection, entitled in ghostly onehead, is slated for a 2021 release by mOnocle-Lash Anti-Press. Visit http://www.MadVerse.com for more information and links to his published work. Nelson lives in Colorado, USA.

What are you working on?

I am currently working with my publisher, mOnocle-Lash Anti-Press to finalize the layout and design of my first full-length collection of poetry, in ghostly onehead, which is slated for a 2021 release. The 75 never-before-published poems in this collection were written over a period of 2,000 days, from July, 2015 to January, 2021.

I am also editing a chapbook manuscript consisting of 30 new poems I’ve written in the past year. I am always submitting poems to small press publications, both print and online.

https://monoclelash.wordpress.com/