Many thanks for Arielle Guy, for bringing me into the Next Big Thing questionnaire. It's floating through a lot of the poetry blogs, and some very cool people have answered. I have also answered.
-Mike
What is the Working
Title of the book?
Notes Book
#2: I wanted to use something that was dry, ‘meaningless’ and a little off.
Where did the
idea come from for the book?
Since moving
to New York a few years ago, I have begun to do a large portion of my writing
on the subway. I enjoy it for a lot of different reasons, among them the fact
of being a part of this forced collectivity, and the time constraint of writing
between destinations. The poems in Notes Book arose from this period of
writing.
What genre
does your book fall under?
Poetry,
squarely.
What actors
would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie rendition?
The cast of
the Mighty Boosh: Julian Barrat, Noel Fielding, Matt Berry, Rich Fulcher and
Richard Ayoade.
What is the
one sentence synopsis of your book?
‘the spark of
a stone is breath, but when no breath only two stones, in cold light, we are
watching burn, the second sun.’
How long did
it take you to write the first draft of the manuscript?
The first
draft was done over a period of three months of this subway writing. I edit
very heavily, and this is equally as important and the main editing phase took
another three months, for six in total.
Who or what
inspired you to write this book?
There is one
poem, called ‘What is you,’ that, when I wrote it, marked the defining point
where I knew I was trying to put together a books worth of material. And that
poem came from being on the subway, and there was a medical advertisement above
and opposite me, about heart disease, and the way the poles and peoples heads
were lining up, the language of the poster read, ‘what is you heart?’ I kept
thinking about that phrase, and the rest proceeded from there.
What else
about your book might pique the readers interest?
A number of
the poems in the book were written specifically to be read in the voice of the
poet John Weiners, who has a beautiful, soft Bostonian accent. Also, the
structure of placement is pretty interesting, with the longer poems cut up and
interspersed throughout. So that will appeal to the segment of readers who
enjoy dry, technical details.
Will your book be self-published or represented
by an agency?
As of now
self published, although a few pieces are appearing in small magazines (Poems
by Sunday, ed. Dan Owen).
Make up a question you think is pressing in way
of poetry today. (put that question here) How do you articulate the idea that
poetry offers nothing to be purchased, and how do you tell that to your crowd
in a way that will draw them in?
