poetry mini interviews

How does a poem begin? Very often, for me, a poem begins when a fleeting visual image triggers that box of collected words in the mind, imme...

How did you first engage with poetry? I did not engage with poetry at school. As a teen, I wrote poems under duress and never identified wit...

Michelle Penn’s debut pamphlet, Self-portrait as a diviner, failing (2018), won the Paper Swans Prize (UK). Recent poetry has appeared in ...

How do you know when a poem is finished? I wouldn’t say I’m a great judge of when a poem is finished, but then I don’t think many poets are,...

Alyse Bensel is the author of Rare Wondrous Things: A Poetic Biography of Maria Sibylla Merian (Green Writers Press, 2020), and three chapb...

Has your consideration of poetry changed since you began? Well, to be really honest, I’ll admit that I was blissfully unaware that poetry ha...

How do you know when a poem is finished? I don’t know if a poem is ever finished because when I step back and squint a little, looking at a ...