 Humour is a fine line to walk in poetry, as in fiction. I just think it's harder to write. It's harder to keep the respect of the reader too. |
| I think, for me, humour needs to be used like a strong spice - sparingly. |
| I still write the occasional short story, and poked at a novel once, but it's just not what I want to do. |
| I think the main influence has been living in New York City. Aside from all the crap around 9/11, I find it very demanding to think amid all the noise and visual pollution. |
| I'm not interested in being easy anymore. Readable, yes. Easy, no. |
| A sequence works in a way a collection never can. |
| Well, we all start thinking we're going to be Romantic rock stars, but then reality hits and you realize no one reads you but other poets. |
| In my opinion, Al Moritz may be the best poet of his generation in Canada. |
| In fact, in some ways, I actually feel much more confident about the quality of Carousel than I do about The Cottage Builder's Letter: probably because of its cohesive nature. |
| With 'Carousel' I had an idea and it all came out quickly. |
| I don't think there's anything wrong with someone having to read a poem twice. Or even a book. |
| New York was breaking my concentration and disintegrating my thoughts. |
| I was writing notes, but not composing poems. The Hunter began to develop out of this fragmented process. |
| I am certainly suffering from a modicum of performance anxiety. |
| It's a bit of a crapshoot out there with young writers right now anyway. |
| I guess there is also an element of deliberate change involved. Each of my books has been, at least from my point of view, radically different from the last. |
| Even the people who have had success and made money writing these books of fiction seem to feel the need to pretend it's no big deal, or part of a natural progression from poetry to fiction, but often it's really just about the money, the perceived prestige. |
| The poetry community here has been extraordinarily welcoming. |
| Then I discovered I loved writing poetry more than fiction. |
| I do try to let what is obviously unintended yet naturally good stay in. |
