How does a poem begin?
A poem usually begins as a simple word or phrase stuck in my head like a song… usually at work where my body is at but my mind is far from. Then eventually the line hits paper with a slew of other words, a mess of words, it is far from a tidy process as the only priority is getting it all out. It is only after some cutting and editing the the poem starts to reveal its true shape.
Why is poetry important?
The importance of poets in our society as been spoken about in great length innumerable times, mostly by other poets, and while I’d obvious-ly like to think as poets as speakers of truth, beacons of hope, and the true historians… I don’t know. I can only speak from a personal place, as for me poetry is extremely personal. From being a painfully shy child to an awkward adult trying to reconcile his place in the world, poetry has always been my preferred language.
How important is music to your poetry?
Vastly important! As a poet and a sound artist, music and poetry have always been intertwined for me. As as someone who makes experimental music with everything from synths to pieces of scrap metal, I hear music everywhere. I hear music on the streets, I hear music in the machines at work, and I hear music in my poems… even though most of my poems are far from traditional, there is almost always a certain rhythm or musi-cality. My poems, usually born at work, are infused with the musicality of hydraulics and gears.
What do you feel poetry can accomplish that other forms can’t?
There is a certain democracy in poetry that you don’t often find in other forms of expression. Most everyone has at least dabbled in poetry at some point in their life with little regard to technical know how. This is before we “learn” how to write. At this point we limit ourselves and where we can go within the narrow parameters of traditional writing. How can one discover new places that are not on any psychic map if they are following a very strict road map that dictates rhythm and form?
His poetry and prose have been published widely in the small press both in print and online. His work has also been included in several anthologies, including Cut Up! An Anthology Inspired By The Cut-Up Method Of William S Burroughs And Brion Gysin (2014 Oneiros Books).
He has also been active in the experimental music scene for over twenty years. He records noise, experimental, and ambient sounds both solo, and as one half of the electronic project Blk/Mas.
Has your consideration of poetry changed since you began?
When I was young poetry was a very external thing, very reactionary to the world around me. Now that I am older I am more concerned with in-ner space than outer space… I want to go so far inward that I leave this body. Like the psychonauts of Tibet I want to access places that are oth-erwise hidden. Poetry as always is a form of therapy, but also it is a form of meditation.
