Wombwell Rainbow Interviews

I am honoured and privileged that the following writers local, national and international have agreed to be interviewed by me. I gave the writers two options: an emailed list of questions or a more fluid interview via messenger.
The usual ground is covered about motivation, daily routines and work ethic, but some surprises too. Some of these poets you may know, others may be new to you. I hope you enjoy the experience as much as I do.

Cathryn Shea, 

Cathryn Shea’s poetry has been widely published and was nominated for Sundress Publication’s Best of the Net. Her third chapbook, “The Secrets Hidden in a Pear Tree” is forthcoming from dancing girl press in early 2019. Her second chapbook, “It’s Raining Lullabies” is also from dancing girl press (November 2017). Cathryn’s poetry has appeared recently in New Orleans Review (web feature), Typishly, After the Pause, burntdistrict, Permafrost, Tar River Poetry, and elsewhere.

Her first chapbook, “Snap Bean,” was released in 2014 by CC.Marimbo of Berkeley. She was a merit finalist for the Atlanta Review 2013 International Poetry Competition and in 2004, she received the Marjorie J. Wilson Award judged by Charles Simic. Cathryn is included in the 2012 anthology “Open to Interpretation: Intimate Landscape” and she has poems in 2017 anthologies, including “Luminous Echos” by Into The Void, and “The New English Verse” by Cyberwit.net(India).  Follow her on Twitter: @cathy_shea.

https://www.cathrynshea.com/

cathy.shea11@gmail.com

The Interview

1. What inspired you to write poetry?

When I was little, my father had the complete works of Robert Burns, which he cherished and read from. That made a big impression on me and made me feel from an early age that poetry is important. We also loved Edgar Allen Poe and Walt Whitman. I discovered a few other poets like e. e. cummings and Emily Dickenson in high school, after my love affair with everything Steinbeck. I kept notebooks from a very early age, full of scribblings, observations, and drawings. I attempted poetry with the result that I was good at doggerel. But that didn’t stop me.

2. Who introduced you to poetry?

Although my father had a big part in instilling in me the importance of poetry, I feel that finally when I was in college, my professors really got me going on poetry. Also, my cadre of friends that I hung out with. They introduced me to a disparate array of poets like Auden, Neruda, Rilke, Roethke, Plath, Bishop. The list is much longer now that I think of it; too long to list here. It’s interesting to me that the list really did not contain the most current poets. I was an English Literature major with Fine Art minor, so I as lucky to be immersed in reading and analysing and the attendant deadlines for papers and creative work of my own.

3. How aware were you of the dominating presence of older poets?

I would say that I was very aware since, like I say, I was an English Lit. major. Therefore, I studied Chaucer, Milton, Dunne, the old English poets, and Shakespeare. I also studied some Classics, but not as much as I would have liked since my main focus was English origins of poetry and literature. I also loved Russian literature and read widely (in English, of course).

4. What is your daily writing routine?

On a daily basis, I take my cup of coffee into a small room furnished with a couch (that folds out to a Queen bed, which I can use for guests), a TV tray for balancing books and paper on, a chair for our 20 lb. Main Coon cat, and my desktop computer and monitor. I bring my iPad and sit on the couch with a cup of strong coffee, first thing. I handwrite in a notebook; go over previous notes and freewrites; read over my manuscripts; choose poems to revise. If I am not inspired to write, then I read from an ever-present stack of poetry books. When I want to do serious work revising, I work on my desktop computer, not my iPad. I really never write using my iPad; that is just for looking things up and going to online poetry sites. I also use Duotrope almost daily to track my work and submissions, find places to check out and submit to.

I also belong to several writing groups and one poetry book study group. I belong to Marin Poetry Center, which has a reading series where we hear poets from all over. MPC also has an annual traveling show where its members read in local venues. My groups are invaluable for workshopping my poems. I meet with five or six poets every two weeks in San Francisco; up to ten poets once a month in a group led my Tom Centolella (an excellent poet and teacher); once per month with four poets; and once per month with a poetry book group. I almost forgot: I also participate in a fun freewriting group of women, typically six or so, who meet quarterly on the solstices. We each bring a poem to read aloud and a writing prompt.

I feel like working with or on poetry is a great part of my daily routine. After working many years in the computer industry as a product manager and finally as a technical writer, I now have much more time to devote to poetry. My two children are adults and my long-time marriage is humming along, for which I am grateful. I’m glad that many years ago poetry and art were ingrained in me so that as I age, I can rely especially on poetry for solace and camaraderie.

5. What motivates you to write?

My motivations for writing have always been the expression of personal joys, sorrows, loves, grieving, along with a smidgen of sarcasm and anger. Writing has always provided me with a wonderful outlet, even if I tear up old rants. I now share a lot of what I write because it is much more polished and I seem to write much more for sharing with others.

6. What is your work ethic?

Probably because of all my years in the workplace with severe deadlines and a heavy workload, I have a strong sense of what I set up as my own projects. I worked so much with milestones and progress reports that although I am not that hard on myself, I do have a sense of due dates that I set, and then I am also always preparing for my poetry groups and workshops. That keeps me busy. It takes some discipline and I cannot just be willy-nilly with what I want to accomplish.

7. How do the writers you read when you were young influence you today?

I’ve always loved Grimm’s Fairy Tales and folklore, and loved being scared to death as a child. The stories and imagery were so inspiring. Language is very important to me. The roots and history of language is fascinating. I do enjoy studying and knowing about formal poetics, various forms, and all the technical stuff, even though I write mostly in free verse. I have a good collection of how-to poetry books and reference books like The New Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics and Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, to name a few.

8. Who of today’s writers do you admire the most and why?

This is a tough question because I always have a big stack of books and I also download best sellers and books from the library to my Kindle. My list of writers seems to morph with what I find through my friends and even on Facebook and Twitter. I follow a lot of poets on social media. I also go into Duotrope and click around to find new publications that lead me to new writers. Here is a partial list of people I have laying round my table right now:

Thomas Centolella (Almost Human, Tupelo Press)

Patricia Lockwood (Motherland Fatherland Homelandsexuals, Penguin Poets)

Maggie Smith (Good Bones, Tupelo Press)

Tony Hoagland (Priest Turned Therapist Treats Fear of God, Graywolf Press)

Kristy Bowen (Salvage, Black Lawrence Press)

Wesley McNair (Lovers of the Lost, David R. Godine, Publisher)

Jack Gilbert (Refusing Heaven, Alfred A. Knopf)

George Oppen (New Collected Poems, A New Directions Book)

Kaveh Akbar (Calling a Wolf a Wolf, Alice James Books)

I admire the books of my poetry friends too: Connie Post, Francesca Bell, Kate Peper, Ann Robinson, Yvonne Canon, Rebecca Foust, Yvonne Postelle, Joe Zaccardi, Donna Emerson, Ricky Ray, Mare Leonard, Barbara Brauer and Roy Mash; this is just a partial list. I am blessed to have many poet friends in a community of poets in my vicinity and online.

9. Why do you write?

Writing provides a tremendous force for my wellbeing and imagination. Writing connects me with a diverse community of other writers, which if I were not writing I would totally miss out on. Reading helps too, but the creative energy I put into writing really links me to other people while also nourishing my soul.

10. What would you say to someone who asked you “How do you become a writer?”

I would say that keeping little notebooks around and jotting down thoughts and impressions is a good way to start. Just write stream of consciousness and do not be concerned with grammar or punctuation (at first anyway). Just let it flow. I do believe that reading broadly and educating yourself is extremely helpful. I cannot imagine just trying to write without also reading a wide range of authors, whether poetry or fiction. Reading book reviews and essays on writing is also a good way to get into the writing mode.

11. Tell me about the writing projects you have on at the moment.

Currently, I’m waiting for the galley for my latest chapbook, “The Secrets Hidden in a Pear Tree,” which is due out in early 2019 by dancing girl press of Chicago. I’ve just submitted a full-length poetry manuscript (approx. 80 pages) for an evaluation to a publisher in Portland OR. I paid extra for feedback. This is a manuscript I’ve been working on in earnest for the past year. I’m hoping to find a publisher, of course. I’ve already been rejected several times and I expect to go through more submitting and rejections before it, hopefully, lands with a home. It’s quite a process getting a book accepted. I may have to work on it for another year. Who knows. Meanwhile, I have yet another poetry chapbook that I’ve put together and torn apart and put back together. It got rejected by a few places and I suspect it will morph over the next few months to a year as well. I submit regularly to what I consider to be somewhat “underground” journals. That is, I typically do not submit to the top-tier most well-known places, but to lesser-known, newer, and experimental journals that encourage a variety of nascent and well-established poets.

 

 

 

 

Wombwell Rainbow Interviews

I am honoured and privileged that the following writers local, national and international have agreed to be interviewed by me. I gave the writers two options: an emailed list of questions or a more fluid interview via messenger.

The usual ground is covered about motivation, daily routines and work ethic, but some surprises too. Some of these poets you may know, others may be new to you. I hope you enjoy the experience as much as I do.

James Knight

is an experimental poet and digital artist. Void Voices, a reimagining of Dante’s Inferno, is available from Hesterglock Press.

Void Voices link: http://www.hesterglock.net/p-007-james-knight.html

Website: thebirdking.com

Twitter: @badbadpoet

The Interview

1. What inspired you to write poetry?

As a teenager, I was in a crappy rock band, for whom I wrote some embarrassingly bad lyrics. Moving on to poetry became a logical extension. I got serious about it when I was 19, writing over-wrought pieces indebted to the early modernists.

2. Who introduced you to poetry?

Like all school children, I had been subjected to poetry at school from an early age. An anthology edited by George Macbeth still makes me shudder. It wasn’t until I was studying A level Eng Lit at a sixth form college that I started getting excited about poetry. William Blake was the first poet I loved. T S Eliot and Sylvia Plath followed swiftly. The floodgates truly opened when I bought a copy of Edward B Germain’s Surrealist Poetry in English. That book, combined with a translation of Raymond Roussel’s Impressions of Africa, began a love affair with surrealist writing that persists to this day.

3. How aware were you of the dominating presence of older poets?

I did not become particularly aware of living poets until I started buying periodicals and submitting poems to them, in my early 20s. Those more established poets came from another world, it seemed to me. I didn’t ever expect to be one of them, and I still don’t now.

4. What is your daily writing routine?

I don’t have a routine. My job takes up six and sometimes seven days a week, so I usually write in the evenings, on my iPad. I don’t write for a fixed amount of time or attempt word-count quotas, both of which are symptomatic of our joyless performance target culture. I write totally self-indulgently and lazily.

5. What motivates you to write?

Some writers talk romantically about being driven to writing, as if putting words on a page is as essential an activity as eating or having a poo. I write with great enthusiasm and enjoyment, but never because I consider myself a tortured soul seeking catharsis. Generally, enthusiasm strikes if a peculiar image or phrase pops into my head. Then I let that image or phrase play out, see where it takes me.

6. What is your work ethic?

I have no work ethic, although I feel frustrated if I haven’t written for a few days.

7. How do the writers you read when you were young influence you today?

Surrealist writers like André Breton, Joyce Mansour and Paul Nougé made me think again about the function of language, its relationship to reality, and its potential to subvert and liberate. I still consider myself a surrealist of sorts, not stylistically, but in outlook. Eliot’s mastery of different voices and the immediacy of his imagery have been an influence since I started writing poetry; the big man even makes an appearance in my long poem, Void Voices, as my guide to Hell. Harold Pinter had a wonderful ear for spoken language, and I am conscious that several of the voices I employed in that poem owe a lot to his example.

8. Who of today’s writers do you admire the most and why?

There are some fabulous small presses out there, publishing a myriad of exciting writers. There is an atmosphere of joyful possibility reminiscent of the early days of modernism around publishers like Hesterglock Press, Dostoyevsky Wannabe, Haverthorn and Salò Press. I’ll just name a few writers whose work I find particularly inspiring right now. Poets Astra Papachristodoulou (author of the phenomenal Astropolis) and Matthew Mahaney, fiction writers Shane Jesse Christmass and Georgina Bruce and visual poet Catherine Vidler all ask fundamental questions: What is a literary work? What language can it use? What should the reader bring to the party? What is meaning? They all have distinctive voices, they all challenge and delight, and their work conveys the illusion of effortlessness. I must also mention the subversively inventive poet/artist Paul Hawkins, Miggy Angel (Extreme Violets is nothing less than visionary) and Joanna Walsh, whose work is in a league of its own. I could easily name a dozen or more brilliant writers who are making their mark. These are exciting times to be a reader!

9. Why do you write, as opposed to doing anything else?

I don’t know. I suppose that the childlike urge to create never left me. And I hope it never does.

10. What would you say to someone who asked you “How do you become a writer?

For many people, you don’t qualify as a writer until you’ve had something published. That strikes me as ridiculous; if you enjoy arranging words on a page, you are a writer. Publication is another issue. I don’t think writers should be considered superior to everyone else just because they love working with words. The preciosity of #amwriting threads on Twitter makes me want to throw up. As Lautréamont wrote, “Poetry should be made by all.” Write if you want to. Enjoy it. Don’t get hung up on the persona of the “writer”.

11. Tell me about the writing projects you have on at the moment.

My last book, Void Voices, was (by my standards) gargantuan. It was also highly chaotic. It had to be. I’m now working on a long sequence of short poems that are the exact opposite, terse and intense. I am also in the early stages of a couple of collaborations, so keep an eye out!

 

 

 

Wombwell Rainbow Interviews

I am honoured and privileged that the following writers local, national and international have agreed to be interviewed by me. I gave the writers two options: an emailed list of questions or a more fluid interview via messenger.
The usual ground is covered about motivation, daily routines and work ethic, but some surprises too. Some of these poets you may know, others may be new to you. I hope you enjoy the experience as much as I do.

Chelsea Dingman

Chelsea Dingman’s first book, Thaw, was chosen by Allison Joseph to win the National Poetry Series (University of Georgia Press, 2017). She is also the author of the chapbook, What Bodies Have I Moved (Madhouse Press, 2018). She has won prizes such as: The Southeast Review’s Gearhart Poetry Prize, The Sycamore Review’s Wabash Prize, Water-stone Review’s Jane Kenyon Poetry Prize, and The South Atlantic Modern Language Association’s Creative Writing Award for Poetry. Her recent work can be found in Redivider, New England Review, and The Southern Review, among others. Visit her website: chelseadingman.com.

The Interview

1. When and why did you begin to write poetry?

I wrote my first poems in elementary school. I have always been an avid reader, but I honestly don’t know what drew me to poetry rather than prose. When I was young, it seemed to be the means through which I could best respond to the world around me.

2. Who introduced you to poetry?

An elementary school teacher that I had for first and fifth grades. I lived in a very small town in British Columbia. She would take me out of class and let me go to the library by myself and provide me with extra reading. She was also one of the first teachers who encouraged me to write.

3. How aware were and are you of the dominating presence of older poets?

I find this question troubling for a few reasons, but I’ll get to that. In my undergrad, I was a literature major, so I spent time with Chaucer and Milton and Shakespeare and the great poets of the literary canon. I was in Canada at the time. I was not introduced to contemporary poets, with the exception of the small section in the Norton Anthology of Literature. By the time I started grad school in the US, I had read relatively few contemporary poets. Having read a broader spectrum of work now, I’m not sure that “dominating presence” is the right term since there are so many contemporary poets doing exciting things, which only adds to the possibility of poetry that our predecessors have laid out. I’m also not sure about the term “older.” I didn’t start publishing until my late 30’s. I don’t like to measure poets or artists of any kind in terms of age. I’ve learned, and continue to learn, from poets across all ages and countries and time periods.

4. What is your daily writing routine?

I like to read in the morning when I wake up. And I always have a book with me wherever I go, lest I have a few minutes throughout the day to read. I tend to write either early in the morning before my kids get moving and the house gets crazy, or later at night. Anytime I can find some quiet.

5. What motivates you to write?

It can be many different things, big or small. The light snow. The sound of a train passing. The early dark. Petrichor. The smell of wildfires that are hundreds of kilometres away. Events in the world or in my family. Things I’ve witnessed. Past events that arise as obsessions to force me to confront them with some distance now. And, sometimes, it is simply reading a great poem. A great line. An essay. A fiction. Some other creative work that sparks something in my imagination.

6. What is your work ethic?

I tend to be very obsessive. I overwrite. I write poems in groups of three, often trying to get at the one poem that I really wanted to get down on the page. I have to force myself to shut my brain off sometimes. But, underneath that, I think some of my doggedness is that I fear going long periods without writing, as I did when my kids were first born. The other part is that I genuinely can’t help it. Sometimes a poem wakes me in the night with a line or a few lines. I wake up needing to write them down.

7. How do the writers you read when you were young influence you today?

It was Plath or Shakespeare in our high school library and she made the bigger impression. Langston Hughes, Amiri Baraka, Gwendolyn Brooks, Anne Sexton, Adrienne Rich, Leonard Cohen. I remember finding all of them in the library and copying their poems into my notebooks to take home. I genuinely liked how many layers there were in Shakespeare’s work and the difficulty of the language, but we didn’t learn it as poetry. I wasn’t a proficient enough reader then to understand what he was doing with meter and rhyme, nor did I understand why. I think that the biggest influence all of these artists have on my work is that they made me want to read and write. They made me care about language and value its importance.

8. Who of today’s writers do you admire the most and why?

There are so many people, for so many reasons. I value poets whose work brings me back in wonderment, time and again, like Larry Levis, Louise Glück, Aracelis Girmay, Brigit Pegeen Kelly, Anna Akhmatova, Wislawa Szymborska, Lucille Clifton, Patricia Smith, and Li-Young Lee. They never fail to both amaze and destroy me with their use of language. In addition, other luminaries such as Linda Gregg, Franz Wright, Tomas Tranströmer, Czeslaw Milosz, and Pablo Neruda. Catherine Barnett and Katie Ford have gorgeous new books out and I am a longtime fan of their work. I loved Ilya Kaminsky’s first book and I am eagerly awaiting the next one, along with everyone else. Allison Joseph for her eye and her work ethic. I think she might produce as much work as I do, which makes me feel better about that. I was lucky enough to work with Jay Hopler for three years, who is a gorgeous poet, nominated for the National Book Award last year. I also worked with Traci Brimhall for my thesis year and I can’t say enough about her work or how much I learned from her. There is no one writing poems like hers. In that way, she reminds me of Brigit Pegeen Kelly. Jay’s work is also very distinct, which seems an amazing feat to me when trying to find myself in my work sometimes.

Right now, the poets whose work I get excited to read when I open a magazine or spend time with their books are Tiana Clark, Leila Chatti, sam sax, Ruth Awad, Nicole Sealey, John Nieves, Hala Alyan, Marcelo Hernandez Castillo, Jenny Molberg, Erin Adair-Hodges, Richard Siken, Roger Reeves, Solmaz Sharif, Jennifer Chang, Emilia Phillips, Devin Kelly, Rachel Mennies, Tarfia Faizullah, Emily Skaja, Ocean Vuong, Eloisa Amezcua. The wonderful Anne Casey who lead me to this interview. There are so many. I could do this all day.

9. Why do you write?

I have been driven to respond to the world in writing since I was a child, especially when I don’t understand something. Even when no one reads a word of it. The act of writing something down has been enough. Maybe I like the solitude of it.

10. What would you say to someone who asked you “How do you become a writer?”

You sit down and write. A writer is a person who engages in the act of writing as a practice. I wasn’t writing poems I would share with anyone before grad school. I still write a lot of work that no one will ever see. But I truly love to sit inside a poem or an essay I’m working on. I like the challenge of it. If poems are supposed to challenge a reader’s intellect, I love that they challenge me in a similar way as a writer also. The poem usually teaches me what it’s doing and how to improve it as I feel my way along.

I would also say you must read a lot and write a lot. Then, read some more and write some more. That is the only way to improve after actually sitting down to the page. I genuinely believe that mentorship is helpful. Find someone to read your work and respond to it in a productive manner. Risk something, craft-related or otherwise.

11. Tell me about the writing projects you have on at the moment.

I finished a manuscript last spring that I started sending out about stillbirth and infertility that affects a couple who eventually have healthy children. I am currently writing poems toward something new that I hesitate to call a collection yet. They are a series of poems that involve research that I’ve been doing about post-concussion syndrome, CTE, and the long-term effects on the individual, such as depression, anxiety, and even suicide or early death.

 

 

 

Wombwell Rainbow Interviews

I am honoured and privileged that the following writers local, national and international have agreed to be interviewed by me. I gave the writers two options: an emailed list of questions or a more fluid interview via messenger.
The usual ground is covered about motivation, daily routines and work ethic, but some surprises too. Some of these poets you may know, others may be new to you. I hope you enjoy the experience as much as I do.

Magdalena Munro

is a Los Angeles based painter and poet with a passion for nature, language, and a desire through poetry and art to loosen the steely umbrage of a boxed-in existence.  Magdalena’s abstract expressionism paintings are meant to evoke visual metaphor of life, death, the after life, and the return back to life.  Her free verse poetry is unapologetic and cutting and she endeavors to say what others avoid for fear of falling.  In her writing she burrows into the sinew and marrow that imprison us in cages of our own design and through abstraction and metaphor, busts you out so that, at last, the air you breathe is singularly yours.

https://allpoetry.com/Magdalena%20Munro

https://www.behance.net/magdalenamunro

The Interview

1. What inspired you to write poetry?

As a teenager, I was drawn to language, words, how vowels and consonants slid and danced on the tongue and believed (and still do to this day) that poetry is an art form that rewards individual words to receive their due accolades that might otherwise be lost in longer works of art.

2. Who introduced you to poetry?

I suppose I did; my earliest journal entries were poems but at the time I did not realize this was the case.  I observed and wrote about sounds and colours (injured spring birds with deflated red chests, the cruel barks of an angry father) to keep myself afloat.  Like many out there, I had a sad childhood and took refuge in letters.

3. How aware were you of the dominating presence of older poets?

As an undergraduate I studied philosophy and theology and recall being particularly drawn to Shijing which is the oldest existing collection of Chinese poetry. How wonderful is it that the Book of Songs, written so long ago, is still relevant today? I also recall reading the Tao Te Ching for the first time, crying, and thinking to myself, this is neither philosophy nor theology, this is poetry.

4. What is your daily writing routine?

I am a single mom with a full-time job. Additionally, I am an abstract expressionist painter and as such, need to maintain a regimented writing schedule. Seven days/week from 4:00-6:00 AM is when I write. If I have ideas, words, or lines pop into my head during the course of the day, I text myself and follow up the following morning.

5. What motivates you to write?

The evasive answer is to look at the converse of this question. What happens to me when I do not write? My head feels as though it’s going to explode. I have too many words sashaying about in my hippocampus and they need to be released!

6. What is your work ethic?

I write from 4-6, don my Mommy cape from 6-8, from 8-5 I slog away at my corporate job, from 5-8 PM I wear my favourite maternal hat, and from 8-10 I paint. It’s a crazy schedule but I am very happy and fortunate that I can squeeze it all in to make for a pretty good life. Weekends are reserved for hiking and outdoor activities during the core daytime hours. I have a strong work ethic and hold myself accountable for my many goals in life.

7. How do the writers you read when you were young influence you today?

I was most influenced by Le Guin, C.S. Lewis, Dickinson, and Whitman in my youth. I have always been drawn to writers for whom Jungian archetypes prevail and Le Guin’s work struck many chords with me. I just finished reading “So Far So Good” and it was bittersweet to read these lovely poems of hers. I’m still sad she is no longer with us. The first time I read “I Felt a Funeral, in my Brain” I felt less alone in the world. “Leaves of Grass” was/is my bible and still rests faithfully by my night table, and when I first read “The Four Loves” by Lewis, my definition of love was gleefully expanded from a box to an endless vista.

8. Who of today’s writers do you admire the most and why?

I am very active on All Poetry and admire many poets that are not household names in the writing community. I enjoy David Yezzi for his clarity and strong narratives. I love Chiyo Kitahara and encourage everyone to read “A River of Pearls – Barroco” – I am particularly fond of this book because it’s based on images which, as a painter, run deep and wide for me. Her writing is gorgeous and subtle.

9. Why do you write, as opposed to doing anything else?

I write to preserve my sanity. I have so much to say and our lives are short, yes, and there is an urgency to write and paint all that I can with the time I have in this body.

10. What would you say to someone who asked you “How do you become a writer?”

That is easy. You just write. Anything. Write. Just the other day I gave my son a sheet of paper, a pencil, and the prompt was simply the word courage and he wrote a damned good poem.

11. Tell me about the writing projects you have on at the moment.

I finished a comprehensive year-long project entitled Rivulets which is a collection of 30 paintings and paired poems and am in discussions with several art brokers at the moment about a long term installation. My son is in love with Shel Silverstein and as a side project I told him I would self pub a book of poetry for him this year that is a tip and nod (and a wink) toward dear Uncle Shel. I wrote 150 poems last year and am pleased with 50% of them which is not bad – as awful and boring as editing is, I’ll be spending a big chunk of time this year editing last year’s poetry. Today/this month I am finished a painting for a group art show– the theme/prompt is fear. I’ll leave you with my poem that I wrote to accompany my painting entitled “The Canvas”.
The Canvas
Pouring ciphers of oily letters and
simile onto desiccated December skin.

My paints are cracked, an unprimed
canvas arched and furious —

Unremitting deadlines pluck at
scabs and dandy hairs.

Mustering fear to spit on a piece
that culls joy.

 

Wombwell Rainbow Interviews

I am honoured and privileged that the following writers local, national and international have agreed to be interviewed by me. I gave the writers two options: an emailed list of questions or a more fluid interview via messenger.
The usual ground is covered about motivation, daily routines and work ethic, but some surprises too. Some of these poets you may know, others may be new to you. I hope you enjoy the experience as much as I do.

Wayne Riley

was born in Conisbrough, South Yorkshire England in 1968. By the early 1970s he had learned to make shapes into letters and from there progressed to words. This gave Wayne the ability shortly thereafter in which he wrote his first hand pencilled story about the adventures of the six million dollar man. Spurred on by this monumental achievement and the strange sensation that he was going to be more famous than God before lunchtime, Wayne continued to scurrilously scribble away. Fast forward forty years and Wayne finally achieved his dream of becoming an overnight nobody with the escape of his first book in 2015.

‘I Softly Went A Huntin’’, a collection of nonsense poetry and humorous short stories gripped the nation in such a way that it was completely missed by the general public. His second book, however hopes to eclipse this oversight and actually sell a copy.

Wayne lives at home with his wife, Dawn and only son, Nathan. Both continue to endure his madness from a distance and keep him well stocked up on crayons.

The Interview

1. What inspired you to write poetry?

In my first book, ‘I SOFTLY WENT A HUNTIN’’ there’s a short story in there called, ‘IT’S NOT ONLY TRUE, IT REALLY HAPPENED’. That will tell you everything you need to know.

2. Who introduced you to poetry?

From the moment I first met the white rabbit I knew poetry and words would be my life support system. I believe that day I was given a gift and one in which I will try to make good use of.

3. How aware were you of the dominating presence of older poets?

In school, in my day that’s all I can remember being taught, Byron; Keats; Wordsworth etc… but nowadays; with the invention of the internet the world really is your oyster.

4. What is your daily writing routine?

I don’t really have a daily writing routine. I’m pretty flexible when it comes to that, and the Gods who give me the stuff don’t have a set routine, so why should I.

5. What motivates you to write?

Like I’ve just said, when the Gods give me a poem/story or whatever, then that’s motivation enough. To get it down on the page. To let them know that their efforts haven’t fallen on deaf ears. And so far I think they’ve given me some pretty interesting stuff.

6. What is your work ethic?

I’m a binge writer, simple. You can get nothing out of me for months on end and then I can literally write and think about nothing but writing for a full year. It’s a double edged sword really. Because when I’m doing nothing I’m quite normal, but when I’m writing I’m this completely other monster that gets consumed and eaten by myself over and over again until at last there’s this piece of art in front of me. I’m not pretty to look at or live with when that happens as I’m sure the wife and son will testify to.

7. How do the writers you read when you were young influence you today?

That hasn’t changed or ever will, I think. If you’re a great writer then you’ll always be a great writer; the same with a painter or musician. Their work will continue to inspire me until my dying day, and I could never judge my work alongside theirs. That’s for other people to do. As long as you buy my books, that i8s. I don’t believe in free criticism. To me they’re asking for a fight. So if that’s the case then get fuckin’ ready.

8. Who of today’s writers do you admire the most and why?

I don’t have any one- single- writer who I admire above the next. That would be like saying that you were always happy. Different moods; feelings situations dictate who I read or listen to at any given time.

9. Why do you write?

I’ve been writing for so long that I don’t have any choice now; it’s become automatic. Every phrase, every thought I get it down on the page. Also the Gods have a lot to do with it. They’ve been good to me. My mind and body is just a vehicle in which the words travel through before they get onto the page. I feel very privileged to be allowed that luxury, although sometimes it does come at a price.

10. What would you say to someone who asked you “How do you become a writer?”

If they’re serious about writing then they’ll already know the answer to that question, instinctively. It’s like asking someone ‘how do you breathe?’ But if you really want to be one then you have to go to all those secret places in your mind that only you yourself can get to. Once you’re there and you know who you really are then set the world on fire with your words. There’s no other feeling like it.

11. Tell me about the writing projects you have on at the moment.

I’ve just completed my second book called ‘OUT OF ME HEAD’ Foundations Books Publishing are going to release it. Probably early next year, so I’ll be promoting that…

 

 

Wombwell Rainbow Interviews

I am honoured and privileged that the following writers local, national and international have agreed to be interviewed by me. I gave the writers two options: an emailed list of questions or a more fluid interview via messenger.
The usual ground is covered about motivation, daily routines and work ethic, but some surprises too. Some of these poets you may know, others may be new to you. I hope you enjoy the experience as much as I do.

 

 

Patricia Carragon,

Patricia Carragon’s recent publications include Bear Creek Haiku, First Literary Review-East, A Gathering of the Tribes, The Café Review, Muddy River Poetry Review, Poetrybay, and Krytyka Literacka. Her latest books are The Cupcake Chronicles (Poets Wear Prada, 2017) and Innocence (Finishing Line Press, 2017). Patricia hosts the Brooklyn-based Brownstone Poets and is the editor-in-chief of its annual anthology. She is an executive editor for Home Planet News Online. 

Websites:

https://brownstonepoets.blogspot.com/

https://patriciacarragon8.wordpress.com/

The Interview

1. What inspired you to write poetry?

As a child, I would write and illustrate a make-believe newspaper. However, I wasn’t encouraged to write until the early ’90s when I wrote witty pitches for my Brunch ’n Fun social activities at St. Bartholomew’s Church in Manhattan. One friend encouraged me to explore my literary muse. Another friend said that my eulogy for Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis had poetic resonance.

2. Who introduced you to poetry?

As a child, I admired Emily Dickinson, but found it impossible to write poetry. It was until my adult years that l started writing, thanks to people who believed that I have the gift for words.

3. How aware were you of the dominating presence of older poets?

Starting out on the poetry circuit in the Fall of 2003, most of the poets were older. I’ve befriended several older poets who offered guidance and support. They taught me what I needed to learn, therefore grooming me to be the poet that I am today.

4. What is your daily writing routine?

I don’t have a daily routine, because, unlike some writers, I don’t need it. I have a very busy schedule between my job, life, my Brownstone Poets Reading series, et al. When I don’t have the time to sit down and focus on my craft, I need not worry, because when I do, my muse works overtime.

5. What motivates you to write?

Dreams, listening to music, riding the subways, and life’s experiences.

6. What is your work ethic?

My work ethic is constant. I’m always in motion, whether it may be writing, working at my job, cleaning house, running errands, cooking, baking, snapping pictures, and more. I like to keep busy and as a night owl, I tend to do my best work at night.

7. How do the writers you read when you were young influence you today?

When I read works by Emily Dickinson, William Butler Yeats, and Fyodor Dostoyevsky, I’ve learned that metaphors and words express emotion. Sometimes, you can say less and mean more, like Ernest Hemingway and Matsuo Basho, especially in writing haiku.

8. Who of today’s writers do you admire the most
and why?

I’m into books by Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami. I can relate to his work since I’m currently exploring my usage of dreams and the metaphysical world in my poems, haiku, and fiction.

9. Why do you write?

Because I want to and need to, especially with the rise of the “Me Too” movement. For me, words allow the imagination to guide the hand in writing down the voice from within. Writing is a safe flight into my darkest moments and other forbidden territories with me at the controls. By using words on paper, they become puppets. Through these puppets, I can express any deep-rooted fear or desire. These emotions and ideas, whether dark or light, are beautified, and the afterimages that they produce are rewarding and uplifting.

10. What would you say to someone who asked you “How do you become a writer?”

There is no “how to” method. Everyone has their own way. For me, it took encouragement from friends. If I don’t write today, the muse will be back another day, and inspiration would rise almost sevenfold.

11. Tell me about the writing projects you have on at the moment.

I have completed my second novel, “What Hasn’t Happened Yet” before New Year’s Day and plan to have it professionally edited later this year. My first novel, “Angel Fire” is currently being submitted to various small presses for publication. I’m working on a cat haiku chapbook, as well as a collection of music-inspired poems.