What do you feel poetry can accomplish that other forms can’t?
A good poem can be multiple things at the same time--a cave painting, a sculpture, a silent film, a ditty, an opera, a message in a bottle... Other art forms seem to have a more limited range as to what they can do.
What do you find most difficult about writing poetry?
The rejection. Seriously. My poems have been rejected over 98% of the time.
How important is music to your poetry?
Pretty important, I think. Music led me to poetry. And sometimes I get ideas from songs. In my book Dead Letters, there’s a longish poem called “Juke Box Gothic.” Each section in the poem is mimicking a country song.
Or maybe this question is about prosody, etc? I usually start out writing in meter with a certain set number of feet per line. When I’m at my best, I usually throw in internal rhyme and puns and keep riffing like that as I go.
How did you first engage with poetry?
As a boy, I went to church services at least three times per week. Our songs were sung in a cappella, so everyone had the song book out and was reading all the verses while singing. So I spent a lot of time with lyrics before I was exposed to poetry. And then there was the Book of Psalms, etc., all of the Old and New Testaments in the weird music of the King James Version. I was exposed to poetry at school but nothing really clicked until we got to Shakespeare and Emily Dickinson. Then, soon after, we read aloud "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" in class and I thought "This is even better than going to the movies.”
How do you know when a poem is finished?
When it stands up on its hind legs and starts to walk away.
What are you working on?
I’m sending out a new book-length manuscript called Everyday Monster. I’m also writing poems and trying to avoid eye contact.
