Interview
From 2/18/13:
This page is appearing because I’ve been tagged to contribute to “Next Big Thing,” 10 interview questions about what’s new in writers’ writing lives. Apparently this series has been going on internationally for a few months now. My tagger was the wise and witty Deb Gorlin, whose post you can read at the Massachusetts Review website.
Here is the interview:
What is the working title of your book?
A DOUBTFUL HOUSE
Where did the idea come from for the book?
In the past, I have always been most inspired to write whenever I go outside. I wanted to do something totally different, though, so the obvious idea was to stay indoors, at least for my writing subject—hence, a house. But there's some claustrophobia involved in being stuck in a house, especially with one or more other people (especially the one). That's how I ended up writing poems about inhabitants struggling with living together in close quarters—from the point of view of the House. Plus, I love never having to say "I" in my poems so I’m always looking for an excuse not to. There is one "I" in this entire manuscript, which, like this one here, is in quotes. The House provides a terrific alter ego, and the poems, whether semi-realistic or semi-surreal, may or may not be fictional.
What genre does your book fall under?
Poetry--experimental, I suppose. The form on the page has walls and irregular rooms.
Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?
Ha ha. Oh, for real? Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton? Meryl Streep and Dustin Hoffman? Kathleen Turner and Michael Douglas? No, I think it's going to have to be a reality show. The ominipotent House, really the main character of this series, will be played by God. Like God (maybe?) the House addresses all its inhabitants as “you,” and hopes you get your act together.
What is the one sentence synopsis of your book?
A DOUBTFUL HOUSE explores what happens to boundaries—psychological, emotional, physical, formal and even syntactical—when two people live together in one house.
Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
These questions are not really designed for poets, are they? What is likely to happen, if it follows the path of my other books, is that it will be a finalist in several dozen national competitions and then after 10 years or so maybe get taken up by a nice editor at a merciful small press. At least, one can always hope.
How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?
Under 3 years, which is less time than usual; the House was insistent in a passive-aggressive way.
Would you give us a sample sentence from this work?
Each whole poem is basically one sentence—no punctuation other than alignment and spacing—but here is a section from “The Kitchen”:
...of the cleaver
and the chopping block off enough time
for the wild
rice to absorb the subtle
tones of wine and sea salted broth could season
this friable landscape of spice curry flavor
to set florets and cubes
aglow in evening lime light in the coconut milk melting
candle wax snow small green marjoram patches of ground
pepper the conversation with gesturing forks
over the moon spoons
up such a gourmet meal you could cook up a feast
out of the deep freeze could keep
fresh meat from going bad
Who or what inspired you to write this book?
This quote from Disney’s Aladdin, brilliantly declaimed by Robin Williams (oh wait, maybe he should play the House) as the genie just let out of his lamp after centuries:
“PHENOMENAL COSMIC POWER! Itty bitty living space.”
In addition to how this quote can apply to the power of intimate relationships in a confining home, what I most love about it is that it’s true for us all all the time. We get so focused on the tiny living space of our physical bodies that we don’t realize how much more we are. There’s a spiritual or religious truth to Genie’s words that inspires and comforts me, and that took this project to another level for me.
What else about your book might pique the reader's interest?
Do the houselings remain codependent, or do they finally murder each other? Does love conquer all, or do they renovate? You’ll have to read the book to find out.
Below are more interviews I’m hosting here:
A link to another: by
Laura Wetherington
My own is at the end here below.
Peter Joseph Gloviczki:
What is your working title of your book?
American Paprika: Prose Poems.
Where did the idea come from for the book?
American Paprika picks up where my first collection, Kicking Gravity (Salmon Poetry, 2013) ends. While the two books are not directly connected, I see the development of core themes in my work (life, love, travel, connections) continuing and becoming more nuanced in this second book. That is gratifying for me, because I see in each of these books a sense of time and a sense of what might be yet to come in the future.
What genre does your book fall under?
American Paprika is a book of prose poems, and so in that way I’m standing on the shoulders of giants like Robert Bly, Russell Edson, Lydia Davis and many others. It’s also influenced by the recent American lyric tradition, so in that way I’m drawing inspiration from the work of Katie Ford, Sandra Beasley and many others. It’s a book about leaving home and returning home, which again connects it to the themes that I first raise in Kicking Gravity.
Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?
I love the work of Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Maggie Gyllenhall and Olivia Wilde, so I would want those four actors to be included.
What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?
Going around the world to find a path home.
Do you have a publisher for your book?
This is my second full-length collection of poetry, and it is presently under consideration at Salmon Poetry. Salmon recently published my first full-length collection, Kicking Gravity. <http://www.salmonpoetry.com>.
How long did it take to write your book?
The poems were mostly written between 2009 and 2011.
What surprised you most in writing the book?
I was excited to see the connections between the individual poems, and also the ways that these poems spoke to some of the poems in my first book. I hope this speaks to a growing continuity in my published work and I’ll be really interested to see how this evolves in the future.
What book or author has most inspired you lately?
There are many of them. I’m a fan of Stephen Dobyns, Paul Guest, Sharon Olds, Sandra Cisneros, Shaindel Beers, Lucille Clifton. I’m inspired by many of the writers and poets who have been my teachers, including Kim Addonizio, Karen Craigo, Maria Damon, Patrick Donnelly, Ray Gonzalez, April Ossmann, Hilda Raz, William Reichard and Eliot Khalil Wilson.
What else about your book might pique the reader's interest?
I wrote most of these poems while completing my PhD in mass communication at the University of Minnesota.
Peter Joseph Gloviczki’s first book is Kicking Gravity (Salmon Poetry, 2013). Beginning in August 2013, he will serve as assistant professor of communications at Coker College in Hartsville, South Carolina.
Welcome! I am featuring a visitor, April Ossman, here. My own “interview” is below hers.
Next Big Thing
Date: 02/25/13
Blogger: April Ossmann--posted on this site! Read on:
Thank you to Alice B. Fogel for tagging me to participate!
What is your working title for your book?
The Perfect Clamor, but I expect that will change, as the work has taken a turn I didn’t expect.
Where did the idea come from for the book?
From the effort to live more fully, to learn through examining what happens in my life and the world, and how I respond to it, so I can move to the next lesson instead of refusing to learn what’s in front of me, so it stays in front of me! Writing helps me to perceive things differently than I would otherwise, accessing as it does, the smarter (unconscious) part of the brain.
What genre does your book fall under?
Lyric poetry.
Which actors would you choose to play your main characters in a movie rendition?
Susan Sarandon, Jeff Bridges and Cary Grant—in their prime, of course.
What is your 30-second synopsis of your book?
The poems focus on human relationships: communication and miscommunication; conscious and unconscious desires and motivations. Themes are desires, loss, death, faith, fear, and personal responsibility—and how these are shaped by culture and environment. Questions I’m exploring are: How are our relationships and growth as individuals interdependent? Is it possible to consider any relationship independent of its culture and environment, or do we create our culture and environment in part through our relationships? To what degree is reality objective or a matter of perception? How shall I learn to accept the death of loved ones and my own?
Do you have a publisher for your book?
I hope that my most excellent publisher will deem my second book worthy of keeping company with my first book, Anxious Music (Four Way Books, 2007).
How long did it take you to write your book?
About eight years so far…I plan to finish by this fall, thanks to a Creation Grant from the Vermont Arts Council allowing me to take time off to write.
What surprised you most in writing the book?
Writing so many poems about death surprised me…it was not part of my plan, but I was compelled to write about it, after losing loved ones these last few years.
What book or author has most inspired you lately?
Horses Where the Answers Should Have Been, by Chase Twichell, and Tinker, by Paul Harding.
What else about your book might pique the reader's interest?
Sex, death and spirit, what more could anyone ask?
Here are my tag-ees, who will post the week of March 3rd:
Laura Davies Foley
Laura Wetherington
Laura Wetherington’s blog post can be found here.
Thanks for reading. Please come back in a few days and look for upcoming posts of more writers, including April Ossmann, Peter Money, and others I will post or link to when I get their links.