Tuesday 4 February 2020

Chris Banks : part three

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

I usually start with an idea, or a title, and I then start writing very rapidly. I use to write very slowly, almost methodically, especially when writing a poem in syllabics, for instance, but that has all changed. A. R. Ammons believed poetry was the result of personal anxiety and so each poem was a momentary release from anxiety. A catharsis different from therapy. I believe that too and I like to try to get some of that manic energy into a poem. Once I finish a poem or a collection, I show my work to a few trusted readers like Paul Vermeersch or Jim Johnstone. Everybody needs a few readers who you can count on to pat you on the back while pointing out glaring problems.

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