dean rader : part two

How did you first engage with poetry?

I had always “liked” poetry, but I didn’t really get hooked until I was in college. I remember one day in particular. I was taking a standard American literature survey class the assignment was to peruse our poetry anthology and note any poems that intrigued us.  I still remember sitting in the dining hall, thumbing through Robert Diyanni’s Modern American Poetry: Voices and Visions. Somehow, I found myself turning to pages that had W. S. Merwin poems on the left-hand page and James Wright poems on the right-hand page. I remember reading Merwin’s “A Door” and “When You Go Away” and Wright’s “Autumn Begins in Martin’s Ferry Ohio” and “The Jewel.”  Almost immediately, I could feel the entire room moving away from me, as though it were on a conveyor. I had never encountered anything like those poems—dark but beautiful, accessible but otherworldly, grave yet lyric. Reading those poems in that book on that day changed my life.

Adrienne Gruber : part three

What other poetry books have you been reading lately?

I’m part of a sweet poetry book club, which is awesome because I find I don’t get a lot of time for pleasure reading these days. Some of the books I’ve read and loved over the last year are Don’t Call Us Dead by Danez Smith, Trauma Head by Elee Kraljii Gardiner, After Birth by Elizabeth Ross, The Carrying by Ada Limon, War/Torn by Hasan Namir, Chenille or Silk by Emma McKenna, Dear Current Occupant by Chelene Knight, and Precious Energy by Shannon Bramer.

K.I. Press : part five

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

The book I return to is Kristjana Gunnars’s The Rose Garden: Reading Marcel Proust. In it, the narrator reads Proust non-sequentially, by dipping in and reading random sections, and I am happy to say that The Rose Garden can also be read this way.

G. E. Schwartz : part seven

What do you find the most difficult about poetry?

Building the emotional connection between the reader (or listener)and me--without that there's no compelling reason for a reader to care.

Elisa Matvejeva : part three

What do you feel poetry can accomplish that other forms can’t?

Poetry is the most concise form of writing and I admire that very much. You could read a poem consisting of only two lines and, if written well, it will transport you into another realm regardless of its length. For me, it’s the easiest way to express myself. I describe a picture or a moment, or a feeling, and, with the use of some key words, I’ve somehow managed to relate to other people. I think that’s beautiful.

Cendrine Marrouat : part four

How important is music to your poetry?

I always have music playing quietly in the background when I write poetry. But it has to be music conducive to creativity, such as classical pieces or tracks from my favorite bands (e.g. Genesis).

Music has played a very important part in my creativity. Some songs have moved me to the point where they inspired complete poems. 

Julie Morrissy : part five

What other poetry books have you been reading lately?

Hannah Sullivan’s Three Poems, Ailbhe Darcy’s Insistence, and Scott Thurston’s Talking Poetics: Dialogues in Innovative Poetics.