James Schwartz : part four

How does your work first enter the world? Do you have a social group or writers group that you work ideas and poems with?

My output since 2011 has been fairly steady, publishing chapbooks and anthologies with indie and small presses. I recently added several poetry collections and essays to Amazon Kindle and continue to write for The Good Men Project.

James Schwartz : part three

Has your consideration of poetry changed since you began?

Vastly. When I began writing poetry in my early 20s my poems were basically juvenile Cavafy influenced. It took me time to find my voice since ‘LGBTQ’ and ‘Amish’ are two very different sections at a library! To want to be a provocative, political artist and come from a conservative background can be both a new and old battle. These days now in my 40s I have more distance and a more objective eye in terms of LGBTQ Amish issues today.

James Schwartz : part two

What other poetry books have you been reading lately?

I love reading indeginious voices and Hawaiian / Pacific poetry which is on the Amish forbidden reading list.

You should read Indigenous Literature from Micronesia by an amazing poet Craig Santos Perez.

James Schwartz : part one

James Schwartz is a poet, writer, slam performer and author of 5 poetry collections including The Literary Party: Growing Up Gay and Amish in America.

http://literaryparty.blogspot.com  Twitter / IG: @queeraspoetry

What poets changed the way you thought about writing?

Growing up Amish and gay meant I had literally no books or poets to identify with at the public library or school and still do not. But there were male writers that were vital to my literary development: Arthur Rimbaud, Oscar Wilde, Walt Whitman, Hart Crane, James Baldwin, Truman Capote, Allen Ginsberg and the Beats. Today’s poets as well, look at the groundbreaking, amazing work done by Ocean Vuong, Sam Sax, Kaveh Akbar, Buddy Wakefield. I loved Eugene Gloria’s Sightseer in This Killing City and Tommy Pico’s poetry collections. Not simply gay poetry but interesctioning with other closed communities and cultures.