How does a poem begin?
A poem begins naturally or else it’s not a poem at all. Every poem that I have forced out of myself has only been good for practice.
Now that you’ve published a chapbook, is there a
difference in how you approach a poem?
What have the challenges been?
Sometimes it is hard to take a step back from myself. It was my girlfriend who told me that my
style of writing was getting too repetitive. For the past two weeks I have been trying to
use more constrained formatting. It has
proved useful, but at times feels restrictive, so then I switch to visual or prose
style poems. It sounds more complicated
than it is.
Have you a daily schedule by which you work, or are
you working to fit this in between other activities?
I had to switch positions at work because I was feeling burnt out. Sixty hour work weeks do not equate to much
“me time.” I am not being paid much
less, and now I have time to write. I
usually try and write a half an hour a day otherwise it feels too forced. Drawing helps to let my mind drift, and
forget about time constraints.
What are your favourite print or online journals?
Disclaimer: Malcolm Curtis did not pay me to say this:
talking about strawberries all of the time is one of my favourite literary
journals. Not because I have appeared in
the journal more than once but because I appreciate the work in it. I have especially enjoyed the work by hiromi
suzuki, Michael Edwards, Matthew Walsh, and Kim Fahner.
Other literary journals and magazines I enjoy in no particular order are: The Temz Review, Dreich Mag, Juniper, and Ice Floe Press.
What are some of the writers you are reading lately
that most excite you?
I have been going through all of Anna Yin’s books and I must say she is
one of my favourite poets. Afua Cooper’s
Black Matters (Fernwood Publishing, 2020) was very lyrical. Terry
Watada’s The Four Sufferings (Mawenzi House, 2020) is a sorrowful
collection written by someone with much life experience. I just finished jasper avery’s number one
earth (Metatron Press, 2018) which I absolutely loved. I am currently
reading knot body (Metatron Press, 2020) by Eli Tareq El Bechelany-Lynch. All notable books. I have also been trying to read a lot of the
visual and constrained poetry books that Penteract Press comes out with.
A selection of his poems appear in the fifth issue, as well as the third issue.