How does a poem begin?
Usually, a poem begins with trying to pin a single image. I don’t know why, but I think of this as a stump, even though it functions more like a seed or a sapling. From there, I build: more images, more layers. I follow those tendrils to find out what the poem is really about. Quite often, though, in the editing stages, I end up cutting that stump entirely. It’s like a rocket booster that falls away after launch; the poem has taken off and doesn’t need it anymore.
How important is music to your poetry?
I’m tone deaf and have zero musical ability, but I love listening to music, especially singer-songwriters who really work their lyrics. Listening to music, especially live, makes me itch to write, but I can’t actually write while there’s music playing. I get too caught up in listening and can’t hear what’s on the page. My work doesn’t have a particularly musical sensibility, but I like to work with sound, especially consonance and assonance, subtly repeating and recombining sounds.
What do you feel poetry can accomplish that other forms can’t?
For the writer and reader, poetry is often very personal, very human; it can create common ground. It also feels more immediate and more intense than longer forms of writing. I notice this particularly when I’m reading to an audience or attending a reading – there’s a very visceral sense of connection between reader and listener.
How do you know when a poem is finished?
I don’t always know. Every once in a while, I’ll write a poem in a big exorcism-style gush and afterwards kind of brush my hands together and think: “done and done.” Much more often, I’ll write a poem, redraft several times, continue to fiddle over a period of days or weeks until it feels if not finished, exactly, then as I far as I’m capable of taking it. Sometimes, that’s as good as it gets.
What are you working on?
It feels wrong to admit this here, but right now I’m primarily working on a novel. Of course, I’m always writing poems – sometimes more actively than others – and I’m currently looking for a home for a new poetry manuscript that collects several years’ worth of work.
