Q:1. How did you decide on what poems to send?

I sent a batch of poems to Alan Parry with a nature theme. My poem ‘Now and Forever’ was selected. It deals with a memory of driving away from a psychiatric unit where my grandfather was resident. The poem focuses on my grandfather’s brain and his failing memory. I focus on nature breaking down within the walls of the hospital in his honeycombed mind.

Q:2. What poetic form did it take, and why?

‘Now and Forever’ is in free verse. I mainly use free verse because I don’t like too much restriction in the words I choose in poetry. There’s no syllabic pattern or regular rhythm, following the irregular patterns of thought.

Q:3. How did you use the whiteness of the page in your poem?

I would say that line breaks are important to me. A well placed line break can slow the reading down, allowing for a longer pause and more impact on a part phrase on the next line. It makes poetry less dense to read and break down.
The stanza form allows the longer pause and a shift to the next section and can mean a significant break from the previous one.
My use of white space is centred on readability and aiding different length pauses; also signifying a shift in ideas.

Q:4. How did you decide on the title of your poem?

‘Now and Forever’ is a pretty simple, not exactly innovative title, but it sums up the sentiment of the poem – the hope that my grandfather will be released from the prison of his mind and the hospital and will
Be free in nature; it also signifies the bond between us in the present and the powerful feeling that this will continue forever.

Q:5. Imagery, or narrative. Which was more important to you in writing the poem?

In the poem, there’s a dominance of imagery. A story is told in a series of snapshots, but overall I want strong pictures and sequences conjured in the reader or listener’s mind. A kind of cinematic sequence with an emotional undertow of fear and sadness.

Q:6. What do you think of where your poem is placed in the collection?

I like the different shifts in this collection. All of the poems feel different, a fresh approach on the theme of nature. The poems could have been placed in any order, I feel, as there’s a real sense of individuality and creative flair in each piece.

Q:7. Once they have read your poem what do you hope the reader will leave with?

I would like the reader to feel a striking sense of fear and loss and the contrast between confinement, the suggestion of freedom outside the walls of the hospital and the feelings of loss and confusion from a grandson. I would like the imagery and phrasing to strike an emotional chord with readers.

Bio and Links

Matthew MC Smith

is a writer from Swansea with work in Poetry Wales, Arachne Press, and lamb. He is the editor of Black Bough Poetry. The Keeper of Aeons is published with Broken Spine. Twitter: @MatthewMCSmith