Tagging Two More Arizona Writers for the Process Inquisition

To fulfill my chainmail obligations for the Writing Process Blog Tour, I tagged two writers
in order to avoid 7 years of form rejections.

I met Isaac Kirkman at a recent Tucson conference. He was an awesome literary ambassador and an intriguing dude, so this was a perfect opportunity to find out more about what he's up to (which includes his involvement in a Bruce Springsteen-themed crime pulp anthology:

http://www.isaackirkman.com/108/

  

Fortunately, Allyson Boggess lives in the vicinity, so I occasionally get to hear her read around town. I'm always impressed by these brief glimpses of her poetry and now it makes sense when I see the photo of her nifty writing-space where cross country snail mail collaborative sonnet crowns are created:
 
http://allysonboggess.com/ 

Writing Process Interrogation

Thanks to Jessica Goodfellow for inviting me to participate in this Writing Process Blog Tour. Her first book The Insomniac's Weather Report just got re-issued and here is one of my favorite poems of hers on Verse Daily, if you want to see what she is capable of: "What You See If You Use Water As A Mirror" on Verse Daily.


Now for the interrogation...

1) What are you working on?

My first book of poetry The Existentialist Cookbook will be out this summer from NYQBooks, so I'm finishing up some of the final prep work (layout edits, blurbs, cover art, etc).  I'm about halfway into my next book-length collection, so I am trying to turn a portion of that into its own chapbook in the meantime.

2) How does your work differ from others of its genre?

Way back in my early days, I was one of those poets who avoided live readings. When I finally went to a few and saw/heard poets who were able to present impressive writing in a compelling fashion, it opened up new possibilities for me. Since then, I've become a somewhat popular "performer" and I have read for a wide variety of audiences. So my focus is on trying to find ways to synthesize elements that originally drew me to the page, with dynamics that work well in front of crowds.   

3) Why do you write what you do?

I try to write the kind of poetry that I would be excited to find. So in a way, I am writing for someone else, but I am that other person.

4) How does your writing process work?

It's very slow. Even short poems feel like gargantuan architectural feats to me and I construct them brick by brick over weeks (or months). I also love those occasions when I'm able to make some sort of connection between a couple of the poems I'm simultaneously working on and I get to Frankenstein them together in a way that I never expected.



Next week I will put up links to two other writers who will answer these same questions about their work, so check back then to learn about who they are and why I am curious about what they have to say.

Author Photo Sesh Makes Things Almost Official

Now that my book is getting closer to print, I have been trying to finish up the items on my to-do list. There is good reason why these items have remained on my to-do list: they are scary.

Chasing down blurbs and cover art, writing a book statement, getting an official looking author photo, etc. It's no coincidence that they have been put off for this long.

So at least I got to cross one of these off the list recently. My friend Rob Fix offered to take an authoresque photo. I assumed I would just stop by on my way home from work and stand in front of a wall or something. I had no idea that I was in for an adventure. But that's how Rob approaches photography, so I should have guessed.

I had to pick him up from a downtown coffeehouse (along with our mutual friend Doug Bale, whom Rob needed for "creative guidance") before driving to Rob's preferred location and he mentions that the only catch is that we have to sneak in.

It's a private condominium and the lobby security guard is vigilante in a way that could be described as Glorified Mall Cop. He was immediately on to our shenanigans, so we waited in the parking lot for a resident to return from work and pleaded with him to pretend that we were friends so we can sneak onto the elevator with him. Surprisingly, it worked and we were able to haunt the stairwell from floor to floor and take pics with whatever bizarre furniture, artwork, wallpaper was around each corner.

Of course, the security guard was waiting for us at the bottom and he knew we were liars, by then. He asked us who we were there to visit and Doug blurted out "Rousseau" which fooled NOBODY, because we do not live in the South of France so that was a wasted guess. The Security Guard threatened to call the cops and have our flashdrive confiscated, but luckily Rob talked us out of there with all photos in tact. So at least I have a few to choose from...

Jackalopes, Ekphrasis, and Giveaway Winners (Now with More Cats)

I am happy to be involved in an Ekphrasis exhibit at a local art gallery with writers and poets from all over the country. The poems are framed and displayed next to the artwork all month at Obliq Art, but we read our poems at last night's opening reception.

Fortunately, I was paired up with the marvelous Southwest artist El Moises and he gave me this image ("Jackalope Vato") to write about:

I started doing research and wanted to go in a bunch of different directions. Part of me was tempted to go crazy and have the Jackalope skinny dipping with the Loch Ness Monster and kicking the Easter Bunny's ass; another part of me wanted to explore the possible scientific origins of this infamous creature, etc.

So I ended up borrowing Wallace Stevens' title for his Blackbird poem and calling it "Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Jackalope." That enabled me to touch on all the different aspects of this folklore that fascinated me.

I had a great time and the poem was well received. I think I might play around with the title a bit and see if I can find a journal to adopt it.

Here's a pic of my friend and co-host Jack Evans reading at last night's event. He's one of those Midas poets. Any event he touches, turns to gold.

 

And thank you to everyone who entered this year's Big Poetry Giveaway!

As you can see, my drawing was officiated by the honorable Snoki to ensure integrity. Congratulations go to:

Joshua Harker wins a copy of my upcoming collection The Existentialist Cookbook (as soon as I get copies)!

and Lynn Pederson gets a copy of the debut issue of Four Chambers Magazine!

If you didn't win one of my drawings, I hope you won something on another blog. Maybe you even found new poets and blogs to keep an eye on. That would be bi-winning.