Monday, 6 January 2020

Brian Henderson : part four

What other poetry books have you been reading lately?

I’m just, belatedly, picking up James Tate, can you believe it? Viper Jazz, wow, what a great title!

Sunday, 5 January 2020

Matthew Gwathmey : part four

How important is music to your poetry?

Music is of the utmost importance to my poetry. I’ll often sacrifice meaning for a good sound. As a failed jazz drummer, I believe in sound: rhythm, tempo, beat, meter, pattern, accent, stress, alliteration, assonance, consonance, euphony, cacophony, all of it. Reminds me of a bad joke. What do you call a musician’s best friend? A drummer. Get it? Because drummers aren’t actual musicians… So, what do you call a poet’s best friend? Music. Logic kind of falls apart here…

Shelly Harder : part three

How important is music to your poetry?

I can feel and think poetry only as a form of music. Texture, dissonance, tension, rhythm, melody – not only in terms of the materiality of the words, taut plop and click on tongue, but also in terms of the progression of concept, narrative, emotion, image. When composing a piece, I’m always listening for the reverberations of sounds and ideas, the microtonalities, unexpected resonances.

Saturday, 4 January 2020

Kyla Jamieson : part five

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

I have workshop burnout, so no. I think it can be detrimental to open your work up to too many sources of input. But I love to be in dialogue about ideas, and am lucky to have a partner who’s a writer and a generous reader, as well as friends who are great writers, actors, and artists. I also have an online post-concussion syndrome community that I’m deeply grateful for. I don’t know how I’d have made it to where I am without creative and disability community.

In terms of how I work poems, I typically do a lot of the writing and editing in the notes app on my phone. I’m not attached to this method, but I’m grateful that this was how I was working when I got my concussion, because since my injury my eyes have really struggled to follow a line of text across a page, and keeping my lines short on a narrow phone screen allowed me to read my own work.

Friday, 3 January 2020

Victoria J Iacchetta : part five

How important is music to your poetry?

Music is important to poetry in the same way its important to life in general – it serves in so many ways as a source of inspiration, support, and influence. Music can be so incredibly poetic, sometimes it stops me in my tracks. I’ve had a couple poems published that were immediate reflections on songs I had just heard, so I’d say it’s vital.

Thursday, 2 January 2020

Amritpal Singh Arora : part four

What other poetry books have you been reading lately?

I’m currently reading a few great books by some wonderful Canadian poets. They include Heft by Doyali Islam, Port of being by Shazia Hafiz Ramji,  Ceremony of Touching by Karen Shklanka and a great debut by Jasmin Kaur titled When you ask me where I’m going

Wednesday, 1 January 2020

James Schwartz : part four

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

My output since 2011 has been fairly steady, publishing chapbooks and anthologies with indie and small presses. I recently added several poetry collections and essays to Amazon Kindle and continue to write for The Good Men Project.