1. What or who gives you inspiration and perspiration?

I’m inspired by people who endure and who somehow maintain purpose, if not thrive. Many of my former students have inspired me as a person and as a poet. One thing that gives me perspiration is public speaking (sort of like skydiving without the chute). Of course, that’s why I try to do readings every chance I get. What, I never said I was bright.


2. Have you always wanted to write, or did you have a secret desire for something else, like spelunking?

No, actually when I was growing up writing was one of the furthest things from my mind, after reading. I hated English and didn’t read my first poem, story, or book (outside a classroom) until I was twenty-six. I didn’t have the patience to read. I needed to be going all the time (still do, only now I do some of that all-over-the-place in my head). As a boy, I wanted to play Division-I Basketball more than anything. Then, when I hit nineteen, I wanted to be a professional golfer. I had a much better chance at the latter. I sort of came into writing, like I do most things, a bit late. But, once I realized how incredible it feels to create, I was hooked.


3. Do awards and accolades make you swoon? Have there been any that you're particularly swoon-y about that you've gotten?

I guess, maybe, as an artist I’m supposed to say no. To be honest, last year was the first year I devoted strictly to writing poetry and sending out my work. And what I wanted most was to get published. But then, somewhere along the way, I started to think, wow, I can write about the things that mean something to me, and write about them in my voice (which I’m only really just discovering), and some people actually like what I do. The validation was huge because I generally don’t like my own work. Being chosen recently for the 2008 Best of the Net Anthology is something I’m very excited about. I was also nominated for a Pushcart this year and that’s exciting too. So, yeah, I guess, they do mean something to me. Mostly they mean there’s at least one person out there who gets what I’m trying to say. As a kid, my dad was always telling me how important it was to be a good listener. And I took that to heart. Poetry is my attempt to create an echo of things that often go unheard. So, the idea that I might actually make sense to someone else, that I could give voice to something that might not otherwise be heard by some people, well, that’s what means the most. And the awards, maybe, suggest that more than just one person is listening, that maybe more than just one person thinks it’s important enough to consider! And that, maybe, I have finally found the thing I was supposed to do. Corny as that is to put in words.


4. When you're not leaving your poetic footprint, what else in the world makes you warm and fuzzy?

Being alive! I’m a young guy who views life like an old guy. I nearly bought the farm when I was thirteen (doc even said as much right in front of me). So every day is my favorite. And being able to share the day with my family and my friends, it doesn’t get any better than that. Unless, I can do it somewhere cool. I like to travel, to meet people I didn’t know (as well as people I once did all over again), and I especially like to make people laugh. You wouldn’t know it by my poetry, but I’m always joking around.


5. Give me names. Who are the best new poets, in your opinion?

As far as new poets goes, I’d have to say Dan Nowak. He won the 2007 Quercus Review Annual Book Award and his work is so fresh and unpredictable. He’s like a verbal bungee jumper and I envy his ability to take risks. Also, someone who only just started submitting, but to keep an eye out for is Cathy Nickola. I’m still trying to figure out how she gets her mind to do what it does. As for poets I love who some people might not know, I’d say Rane Arroyo and Kathleen Driskell are at the top. I’ve also just discovered Doug Ramspeck and I really like his work. And a lot of the artists published in TWC, like Paul Hostovsky and Corey Mesler. I could go on for a while.



6. Best of the Net or Pushcart? Which matters more and why?

I’m still relatively new to all this, so maybe I’m naïve. But I think both are great because they recognize what we do. Sure they’re subjective. All art is. And I think the greatest value still has to come from within, but sometimes walking by the mirror without it shattering in a thousand pieces helps you walk by another mirror and another and pretty soon you’re surrounded by mirrors and then, not only are you examining every bit of yourself, but so is everyone else, and that’s a good thing because, when they are, chances are they’re really just looking into mirrors too. Okay, that was a pretty convoluted way of saying, I think they’re both important, without trying to sound like a sellout. I know some writers who write for years and don’t share any of it, sometimes because they want perfection and sometimes they just don’t want to let go. And that’s cool. But for me, I write narrative poetry of witness. I try to find some semblance of understanding over what it’s like to be other people. I try to depict situations that I think might occur or some that I have known to occur and I reflect on those. But, and maybe it’s a result of being a former teacher, I want other people to reflect on that too. Not to validate me, but to acknowledge the things we all too find a way to overlook.

Sorry, these are rather long answers.



7. Then and now. What poem made you start writing and what poem do you absolutely love right this very moment?

As I said, I started late, but when I did, wow! It was a class on the Romantic poets and they all took my breath away. But I think, Wordsworth’s “Mutability.” Not because it’s my favorite poem, but it made me think about the ephemeral nature of everything. That’s when I fist realized how much I had already come to appreciate now. Presently, I like all things Billy Collins. And there are so many poems from others, but “The Shout” by Simon Armitage is one I keep going back to. It’s simple and haunting and true and that’s what I want to do.


8. Are online poetry 'zines a crushing blow to traditional print 'zines, or are they the meat and potatoes of the poetry world now? Also, which do you prefer?

I’m not sure, in the first part, that these are mutually exclusive. I think online media is replacing print. I’m not sure if that’s a good or bad thing, but perhaps both. On one hand, I can sit here for an hour and scroll through dozens of poems by different poets in different journals. On top of the sheer volume and diversity available to me, I don’t have to pay for a lot of it. I find the former aspect helpful when I write, as I can observe an emotion in a line somewhere and then work with that emotion myself and, online, I have relatively immediate access to many more emotional renderings. On the other hand, for some people holding your words in print might make the work seem more real, more substantial. Not to mention, sitting in front of a window as the sun slips in, sipping tea, flipping through the pages of a magazine, is often more relaxing than sitting in front of the computer screen. But I don’t think the poetry you find in one is better than the other.



9. Where do you see yourself and your poems in five years?

I’m working on a Young Adult novel-in-verse right now and I hope to get that published and then work on two other novels-in-verse I’ve started. Ideally, I’d like to write YA fiction and novels-in-verse fulltime. I also have about forty journals in which I’d very much like to have my work appear. And chances are some of those won’t be around in five years, though I certainly hope they are. I hope I continue to develop as a writer and find my way into each of them. But, most of all, I hope to find a way to say all the things I feel a need to say.



10. What are the ingredients for a tasty poem?

I like to start with a cup of I-wonder-what-it’s-like, smooth in a slab of this-is-gonna-hurt-a-bit. Add a dab of sunlight, a dash of shade, a pinch of how-do-they-do-it and a few bittersweet morsels of lose-my-breath (sprinkle with laughter or tears to suit your taste).