Adam Meisner : part one

Adam Meisner’s poetry has appeared in literary journals throughout North America including Copper Nickel, The Puritan, and Ninth Letter, and this year Adam was a finalist for the Tennessee Williams New Orleans Literary Festival Prize for the story “Vanity of Vanities.” Adam’s play For Both Resting and Breeding was performed by Talk is Free Theatre in Barrie, Ontario, and the company toured the production to the Adelaide Festival, in Australia, in early 2020. Adam received an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of British Columbia in 2020, and presently lives in Ottawa. 

How does a poem begin?

A poem usually begins for me with a phrase – often something curious I’ve heard or read in the world, something that at first stands alone but that invites me to explore further and add onto. 

If I’m more intentional about writing a poem, a poem begins with a challenge I set up for myself. I might see something in another poet’s work that I want to try in my own way, or I will find several disparate things – an image, a word, and a poetic device, for example – that I decide would be fun challenge to bring together in a poem.