Tuesday 21 April 2020

Jay Besemer : part two

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

In terms of how the work very first enters the world, period, that can depend on the mode of composition that's taking place. Most often it happens in fountain pen ink in a notebook. I'm a total notebook geek. Occasionally it happens in pencil on the pages of a found text or in collaged elements. It can also first appear in video or still images.

Unless it's in the context of collaborative projects, I don't generally share work with others until I send it out for consideration, or very occasionally to a friend who's agreed to read & comment on a completed book draft. But recently I've been resuming some correspondence, which sometimes involves trading small works in progress. There's no expectation of feedback in that case; it's more a mutual answer to the "what are you working on" question.

I do talk a lot about process, though, with other poets. I'm always interested in how other poets go through their own composition processes. I also enjoy collaborating with others, as I mentioned.

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