How did you first come to poetry? What is it about the form that resonates?
I meandered into poetry as a teenager through my practice as songwriter. My dad had some old poetry books around the house that I would flip through, then later on I was steered into the beat poets. For some reason, poetry really resonated: we were wearing tie-dye, reading Ferlinghetti, and getting into the late 90s rave scene in Toronto where creativity was a real undercurrent. At the University of Guelph, I took a Canadian poetry class with Janice Kulyk Keefer that was really influential. I remember reading poets like Gwendolyn MacEwen and getting really excited about the dialogue between these writers and the Canadian landscape. This in turn influenced my songwriting for many years. The freedom of the poetic form is what recently drew me back to poetry. As a songwriter, there is always that concern with melody and chords – poetry has been so enjoyable because I can focus solely on the form and content of a poem.
How does a poem begin?
Usually when I am hiking, biking, or generally moving outdoors, a phrase will come to mind. It’s often the same deal for songwriting; it must be something about the footstep/heartbeat/rhythm-thing. The worst is when I am out on a backcountry mountain trip, and some lines will come into my head, but I won’t have a pen and paper to get it down. This just happened north of Pemberton on a 4 day-trip, and I am still trying to remember what the damn poem was about!
How do you keep the genres straight?
I’m not really that concerned with the form that my creative output takes, whether it is a song or a poem. It’s probably the influence of some of my friends who are big hippies, but I just go with the flow and try to find whatever form best fits the creative vision. Sometimes I will try to manoeuvre a poem into the structure of a song, but I haven’t had much success with that. I think it’s because when I am songwriting, I craft lyrics while strumming chords, and those syllabic hits of the words are intrinsically tied to the melody and song structure. Shifting from writing lyrics to poetry has actually felt pretty seamless; the immediacy of the poetic process has been really exciting.
Have you a daily schedule by which you work, or are you working to fit this in between other activities?
I usually try to write a little bit in the morning fuelled by excessive amounts of coffee, then right before bed when I can wind down and get into that liminal space where poems sometimes come out effortlessly. Those are the pieces that only take up 2 or 3 pages in my book for revisions, then they are done. Professionally, I work as a curator in the heritage field and I also spend a lot of time backpacking and climbing mountains, so poetry provides an interesting complimentary aspect to these activities, allowing for a certain introspection that brings a lot of meaning into my life.
What are your favourite print or online literary journals?
I have so much admiration for all of the journal creators, editors, and owners of independent literary presses out there who put so much love into the poetry community. Hats off to you Malcolm for all of your work on this great site eh! I really love the energy + spirit of the Yolk crew out Montreal; their print journal is just beautifully put together and lovingly curated. Train poetry journal has been another one of favourite places to become familiar with some amazing poets. Juniper, Antilang, Temz Review and Prairie Fire are total favourites. I also really enjoyed the summer 2021 issue of Arc – what an amazing selection of poems in there.
Who are some of the writers you are reading lately that most excite you?
Over the past little bit, I have been on a huge Tom Wayman
kick. I just love the vitality and humour in his work, as well as the profound
moments of joy sprinkled through his pieces. His recent micro-chapbook The
House Dreaming in the Snow from Alfred Gustav Press was just killer.
Recently, I have been enjoying a variety of work by writers like Jenny Wong,
Jason Heroux, and the inimitable CA Conrad. I also just picked up Rebecca
Salazar’s new book Sulphertongue that I am really looking forward to
reading. There’s just so much good stuff out there!
