Samuel Guest : part four

What poets changed the way you thought about writing?

Rumi was the first poet that I fell in love with.  I thought that poetry was a waste of time until his words moved me.  From there, I wen ton to read Mary Oliver, Ono No Komachi, and Pablo Neruda who taught me a lot about love, and loving life.  There are also a slew of modern poets like Rebecca Salazar and R.R. Noall who astound me.

Samuel Guest : part three

What other poetry books have you been reading lately?

One book that is worth mentioning is Tim Bowling’s The Witness Ghost which talks a lot about family and grief.  It makes me scared to think about how much strength Mr. Bowling had to muster to write everything that he wrote in that book.  I can’t even begin to imagine what it is like to lose a parent.   

Samuel Guest : part two

What are you working on?

I finished writing my second poetry book about a month ago.  My poems “Wing Envy” and “Easy to Tell” were published in Half a Grapefruit Magazine back in December of 2018.  My poem “No Promises Required” was also published in December of 2018 by Montreal Writes.  Three more of my poems will become available to the public by the middle of next month.  Stay tuned.

Samuel Guest : part one

Samuel Guest is a Jewish/Canadian poet, author, and educator who was diagnosed with a non-verbal learning disability at the age of seven.  His first book The Radical Dreams was self-published back in April of 2018.  Some of his poems have appeared in Half a Grapefruit Magazine and Montreal Writes.  He lives in Toronto, Ontario.

Photo credit: Sandro Pehar

When you require renewal, is there a particular poem or book that you return to?  A particular author?

When I require renewal time, I read “Turning the Tide” by Chuqiao Yang.  Her chapbook Reunions in the Year of the Sheep won the BP Nichol Award at last year’s “Meet the Presses Literary Market” in Toronto.  It was the one and only time that I read a poem on the subway and almost teared up.  I appreciated the connection she made to family, because I value family very much.