poetry mini interviews

Why is poetry important?  I don't mean to be grumpy, but in the USA poetry is NOT important. It is important in the since of giving the ...

How important is music to your poetry?  Not at all. 

When you require renewal, is there a particular poem or book that you return to? A particular author?  I know it's sad, but Wild Geese b...

What other poetry books have you been reading lately? I feel bad, but I don't read a lot of poetry at this moment. I read Icelandic Myst...

What poets changed the way you thought about writing? In order: Allen Ginsberg, Jorie Graham, Mei Mei Berssenbrugge, Nathaniel Tarn, Mary Ol...

What do you find most difficult about writing poetry? The fact that no one in the USA will read it or cares if you write it. The rest of the...

What do you feel poetry can accomplish that other forms can’t? Intimacy. 

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

Has your consideration of poetry changed since you began?  I think I addressed that before, but as a young woman, I loved Ginsberg, then Gra...

How do you know when a poem is finished?  It tells me.

How did you first engage with poetry? My father, Lee Bartlett, is a critic, poet and professor. I grew up with people my father knew, such a...

Jennifer Bartlett’s most recent book is Autobiography/Anti-Autobiography (theenk Books, 2014). Bartlett also co-edited, with Sheila Black ...