12 or 20 questions: with Marita Dachsel

Marita Dachsel's first full-length book of poetry, All Things Said & Done, was published this spring by Caitlin Press. She was born and raised in Williams Lake, BC, and has lived in Kamloops, Dawson City,Vancouver, Auckland and Montpellier, France. She has an MFA in creative writing from UBC and has been published widely in Canadian literary journals. She had been a contributor to the online magazines sweetspot.ca and sweetmama.ca and has written for The Globe and Mail. She's dabbled in playwriting and screenwriting, but finds herself most at home with fiction and poetry. She currently lives in Edmonton with her husband, Kevin Kerr, and their son, Atticus.

1 - How did your first book change your life?

Not very much, but I think that's a good thing. My life is pretty much the same as it had been. I think it would be very difficult for both the writing and the ego if one's first book greatly changed your life. But it did give me an external, tangible validation that publishing in journals just doesn't match. My parents can show their friends my book and everyone can understand what it is I do. It's nice to be able to give your family something to brag about. Probably the best life-changing perk was that it allowed me to go on tour through northern BC with the lovely and talented PG poet Gillian Wigmore. At that point she had been a friend of a friend and now I count her amongst my cherished friends. That was a treat.

2 - How long have you lived in Edmonton, and how does geography, if at all, impact on your writing? Does race or gender make any impact on your work?

As of Thursday, I will have been here four weeks. Our family moved because my husband, Kevin Kerr, has been made U of A's Lee Playwright in Residence. Other than some relatively brief stints in France, New Zealand and the Yukon, I'm a BC girl. It might take our full two years here before I can consider myself an Edmontonian. Geography definitely impacts my writing. Many of my poems in All Things Said & Done were inspired by places I'd traveled to or lived in, but I can't seem to write about where I currently am. Perhaps this will mean now that I'm in Edmonton I'll finally be able to write about Vancouver, after living there for twelve years. Does race and gender impact my work? I think so, but not as overtly as geography had. I think everything about life, one's life's experiences, impacts what we write.

3 - Where does a poem usually begin for you? Are you an author of short pieces that end up combining into a larger project, or are you working on a "book" from the very beginning?

It depends on the poem. Sometimes it's an image or a phrase. Sometimes the poems arrives whole, other times it's a long building process. All Things Said & Done was mostly a collection of short pieces combined into a larger project, with one section envisioned as a 'series' and then added to the collection. However, the collection I'm currently working on has been a 'book' from the very beginning. On one hand, it's a lot less daunting. I know what I need to write to fill the pages. But on the other hand, it's a little scary: will I be able to write the poems I need to write? I find it a lot more challenging, which I think is good for me as a writer.

4 - Are public readings part of or counter to your creative process?

If you had asked me this before my book came out, I would have said 'neither.' I did almost no readings the entire time I wrote my first book. I didn't even like to read the poems aloud to myself. But since being forced to do readings to promote the book, it has changed how I view them. Before, the idea of reading my own work made me twitchy, but since the tour I realised how important readings are. Not just with connecting to the readers, but with learning about my own writing, understanding the rhythms of my own work.

5 - Do you have any theoretical concerns behind your writing? What kinds of questions are you trying to answer with your work? What do you even think the current questions are?

Maybe? I don't have a list that I'm aware of, but I know that as I write, I do work through things, on emotional and intellectual levels. I am going to keep those to myself, however.

6 - Do you find the process of working with an outside editor difficult or essential (or both)?

I'm part of a small writing group (poets Jennica Harper and Laisha Rosnau) and we've been reading each other's work for almost six years now. I consider them my first editors and I love getting their feedback. I'm at the point where if they haven't read it yet, the poem won't feel ready. I was fortunate to have Silas White as the editor of my first collection. He was fantastic and I'd love to work with him again. He's got such a great ear and eye for poetry, but also respects the wishes and impulses of the writer. For me, to date, it's been essential, but only because I've been lucky enough to work with some great people. I'm sure my opinion would change if I had a bad experience.

7 - When was the last time you ate a pear?

Today! Shared one with my son. We're getting organics delivered once a week and it's all about BC fruit and local vegies right now. Yum.

8 - What is the best piece of advice you've heard (not necessarily given to you directly)?

"Never trust a man with thin lips." Okay, that might not be the best advice I've ever heard, but the only thing I can remember right now.

9 - What kind of writing routine do you tend to keep, or do you even have one? How does a typical day (for you) begin?

Writing? Routine? I have an 18 month old son and another babe to be born in February. I haven't, nor will have, a writing routine for some time. Sometimes I try to write during naps or after dinner, but nothing resembling a routine yet. Once upon a time, when I had the time and means to write regularly (thank you, Canada Council!), I would get up, have breakfast, make a pot of tea, and write all morning. Then go to a yoga class or for awalk. If I still felt up for writing after that, I'd return to it, but otherwise I'd do things like reading, research, or returning correspondence. It was a lovely time.

10 - When your writing gets stalled, where do you turn or return for (for lack of a better word) inspiration?

I don't have a prescribed place, inspiration could come from anywhere. Lately, I've been writing from my obsessions, so if stuck I just return to my research. But I've been inspired by visual art, theatre, dance, music, nature, archetecture, friends, strangers, so many things. I think you just have to be open to it.

11 - How does your most recent book compare to your previous work? How does it feel different?

My recent book is my previous work. It's a collection of what I hope are the best poems I've written since I began to take writing seriously. The oldest one in the collection was written in 1994 (!) and the newest was written July 2006. There are definitely poems in there that I wouldn't write now, but it's nice to seem them all together.

12 - David W. McFadden once said that books come from books, but are there any other forms that influence your work, whether nature, music, science or visual art?

I think everything in my life, every experience I've had, every person I've met, every piece of art I've seen (plays, movies, dance, music, visual arts, etc.) influences who I am and what I create. Their revelevance may ebb and flow, but it's all there.

13 - What other writers or writings are important for your work, or simply your life outside of your work?

I don't want to sound like a name-dropping wanker, but I'm very blessed to have some amazing writers as close friends. We don't all live in the same city anymore, but we're a strong community of support, not just within our writing sphere, but our personal lives as well. Obviously my husband, and then dear friends like Jennica Harper, Laisha Rosnau, Steven Galloway, Madeleine Thien, Nancy Lee, Kevin Chong, Charlotte Gill, Lee Henderson. As for writings, I don't have texts that I return to for help or inspiration, but I can say that Keith Maillard's Gloria taught me how to be a woman and David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas helped me rebelieve in the power of the individual.

14 - What would you like to do that you haven't yet done?

I'd like to be the Governor General of Canada.

15 - If you could pick any other occupation to attempt, what would it be? Or, alternately, what do you think you would have ended up doing had you not been a writer?

I'd love to have my own art gallery or solve Pi. Also, see previous question.

16 - What made you write, as opposed to doing something else?

In college, I thought I was going to be an English Professor, but thenI took a creative writing class and was amazed at how easy it was to get an A. So I followed that and went to UBC to do my degree. I've never been a full-time writer. During the time I've considered myself a writer, I've been a research assistant, a teacher, an administrative assistant, a travel agent, and a grant writer among other things. Now I'm a full-time mom. I write because I love it, but I do other things, too.

17 - What was the last great book you read? What was the last great film?

We rented The Lives of Others the other day and it was fanstastic. As for great books, I read Keith Maillard's quartet Difficutly at the Beginning and it was simply brilliant. (Why doesn't he get the recognition he deserves?) I also read Ole Risom's and Richard Scarry's I am a Bunny about twenty times a day. It really holds up.

18 - What are you currently working on?

A poetry collection from the points of view of the polygamous wives of Joseph Smith and a novel, if I ever can remember (or find time to) write fiction again.

12 or 20 questions archive

WILD PROSE COUNTRY

readings by:

Thea Bowering

T.L. Cowan

Laura Crawford

Rebecca Fredrickson

Kathryn Payne

Wednesday, October 3
DOORS 7 / SHOW 7:30 sharp

THE BLACK DOG FREEHOUSE
10425 Whyte Avenue, Edmonton; downstairs (info: 454-8287)

The Edmonton Small Press Assocation & the North of Nowhere Expo present...

two films about D.I.Y. zine culture...

Living Room Documentary: Info-shops and a Space-Based Culture of Resistance, SEPT. 19 @ 7PM @ Metro Cinema (Main Floor, Zeidler Hall, Citadel Theatre) 9828 101A Ave.
http://www.metrocinema.org/film_view?FILM_ID=3D1294
AND
$100 and a T-Shirt: A Documentary About Zines in the Northwest US, SEPT. 19 @ 8:30PM @ Metro Cinema (Main Floor, Zeidler Hall, Citadel Theatre) 9828 101A Ave.
http://www.metrocinema.org/film_view?FILM_ID=3D1295

Both films are suggested donation of $8 each, and free to low-income. Youth/students highly encouraged to attend!

SYNOPSES:********
Living Room Documentary: Info-shops and a Space-Based Culture of Resistance
We live in a society where public places that people feel like they are an active part of and can use for non-economic purposes are increasingly rare. Public spaces where people can go in order to feel like a part of acommunity and to participate in creating a transformational culture of resistance to the dominant society are even more rare. One exception to this general scarcity of alternative public spaces is the emergence of Infoshops in urban centers across the world. Infoshops are community spaces that facilitate access to traditionally marginalized information while providing a physical space for people to build creative projects of resistance to current forms of destruction and domination. Six U.S. infoshops are featured in the film: the Lucy Parsons Center in Boston, Breakdown Book Collective & Community Space in Denver, Jane Doe Books in Brooklyn (RIP), the Long Haul Infoshop in Berkeley, The Back to Back Worker-run Caf in Portland, OR, and the Wooden Sho in Philadelphia.The film interrogates the importance of place and space in relation to daily life in urban areas, the creation of activist movements for social change, the decline of public, non-commercialized space, ways that privilege and oppression are manifest physically in space, and ways in which people participate in place-making exercises. A good primer for zine geeks and novices alike.

and

$100 and a T-Shirt: A Documentary About Zines in the Northwest US
The folks at Microcosm Publishing in Portland, Oregon bring us a much needed film on the underground culture of zines (pronounced "zeens"). This documentary is a cultural analysis of what causes zine makers to tick - what the hell zines are, why people make them, their origin, the resources and community available for zine makers, and the future of zines. Interviews with about 70 zine makers, ex-zine makers, and readers from the northwest, and featuring footage of the Portland Zine Symposium bringing zine culture to life. An original documentary culled from over 64 hours offootage for people with a new interest in zines as well as pros and novices. The video sparks untapped creativity and new interest into zine making and reading. Artwork by Cristy Road and music by J Church and Defiance, OH! Collaborators include Rev. Phil Sano, Basil Shadid, Nickey Robo, and Joe Biel. "Valuable as a peek inside the subculture or as a guide of sorts, this video documents the Portland zine scene and its inhabitants. Zines are so readable because the subject matter isn't dumbed down for you, homogenized by the filters of a corporate culture or edited by anyone other than the creator herself. You're getting the info (or diary or opinion) straight from the horse's mouths. Except these horses are independent publishers who don't stand to make a dime on their efforts. Your first question might be "Why bother?" and that's what this documentary asks, both of the creators and of the cultural historians who are compiling a library/workshop by and for the zine scene. The closest thing to an answer may be the DIY aesthetic that launched the punk movement in the '70s: because they can, and without the interference, ass kissing, and frustration more conventional writers face to be heard. Why write obituaries and shit local interest stories for a newspaper for 5 years to earn a byline on a story you're passionate about? Sidestep the corporate red tape, write what you want, and publish it yourself. Most zines cost $1 to $2, and that covers labor, printing, construction, and distribution. Profit? Not likely, at least not in the traditional sense. There's some debate early on as to what constitutes"selling out". One creator draws the line at selling ads; another thinks that anything that can be done to facilitate the printing and distribution of a zine is perfectly OK. Regardless of where you stand on the issue, the passion and dedication of these folks is undeniable. Can most of us say that about our work? As hobbies go, zine creation is both fulfilling and grueling. Distribution is as a dicey proposition as creation, often yielding no cash but plenty of gratification. Like the most big-budget documentaries, $100 inspires curiosity and interest. Shot and edited in the same DIY spirit as the zines it covers, this is a winner." - Chimpanzee "Early in this documentary about zine culture, Moe Bowstern of the zine XtraTuf describes the experience of bringing zines onboard a working boat. "My skipper said 'I could do a zine!'" says Bowstern. "You just write about what you did today and what you ate and put a recipe in there and then you write about your bike and then you write about stealing something!" Bowstern goes on to say that the skipper wrote something for the publication Pacific Fisherman which paid him $100 and a t-shirt. "And I said, 'Fred, if I give you a shirt and a hundred bucks, will you write for me too?'" The skipper argues that zines aren't real writing. He's the only nay sayer in this hour survey of zine culture in Portland, OR. As the documentary unfolded, I thought it would make perfect viewing for people like the skipper or my mom; people who don't understand the whole concept. But by the end I was questioning why it had been so long since I had made a zine myself. The DVD is organized into chapter headings that cover topics like Who Makes Zines? and How Are Zines Distributed? But this isn't really a how-to guide; more like a celebration. The filmmakers were smart to focus on the Portland scene. The point isn't to tell the comprehensive story of zines, even the story of zines in Portland. But by selecting such a slender piece of the pie, this [talkie] hasn't made me full but rather hungry for more pie. Surely the hunger is the point; to go out and create and search on my own, not just to be content with living vicariously by watching people on a DVD. Like a good zine, the documentary is high quality (the video and audio are top notch with smart music and graphics) without being slick. Mostly this is a film of talking heads talking about themselves, their work, and the bigger picture. It's good to see zines getting the same documentary treatment that music has long received. A few stories are illustrated by "dramatic recreations", that are surprisingly charming, not annoying. The credits note that this production was assembled using only borrowing materials - verycool indeed." - Punk Planet #73

North of Nowhere Expo: Multidisciplinary Festival of Independent Media & Underground Art, Sept. 16-30, 2007 (Various Locations in Edmonton)

http://www.edmontonsmallpress.org/non2007/non2007.html

MORE INFO: (780) 434-9236 / nonexpo@edmontonsmallpress.org

poet Jan Zwicky in Edmonton

What role can lyric poetry play in addressing environmental crisis?

poet Jan Zwicky is doing a reading at the University of Alberta on October 4, 4:30pm; 1003 Natural Resource Engineering Facility.

She will "read from her work, and discuss the relevance of this medium for environmental thought."

www.ualberta.ca/ERSC
ersc@ualberta.ca

Edmonton writing workshops

Edmonton--The Canadian Authors Association - Alberta Branch invites writers to gather their words and get down to business at the first workshop of the 2007/2008 season. On Saturday, September 22nd, Albert Branch presents an information-packed double-header, with The Business of Writing leading off the morning, and Non-Fiction: from Concept to Publication wrapping up the afternoon.

Join Deborah Windsor, Executive Director of the Writers' Union of Canada, as she addresses practical topics including publishing contracts; revenue-generating through royalties, readings, residencies, and reviewing; and publishing industry of today-and the future. After lunch, author and speaker Tony Dalton will take you through the stages of preparing a saleable non-fiction book or article. He'll guide you through finding ideas to stunning proposals, through research to structure, to working with your editor.

Deborah Windsor has an extensive background in Canada's cultural and cooperative industries. Her career includes service with the Canadian Television Fund, the provider of funding for Canadian independent television production, and Media Three Group Inc., a marketing consultancy.

Tony Dalton writes non-fiction books about the sea and about exploration. His illustrated non-fiction articles have been published in magazines and newspapers in twenty countries and nine languages. He is the author of BAYCHIMO, Arctic Ghost Ship; J/BOATS Sailing to Success; WAYWARD SAILOR, in search of the real Tristan Jones; and The Best of Nautical Quarterly, The Lure of Sail (with Reese Palley). His latest book, currently in production at Heritage House for release in October 2007 is Against Arctic Odds. Tony is president of CAA's Vancouver branch. For more information on this workshop or the Canadian Authors Association - Alberta Branch, please visit www.canauthorsalberta.ca

Workshop: Getting down to business
Presenters: Deborah Windsor and Tony Dalton
Date: Saturday, September 22, 2007
Place: Room 1-22 Education South, UofA campus, Edmonton

Time: 9:30 am - 4:00 pm
Fees: CAA members $30
Non-members: $60=20
Lunch is included with registrations received before September 20th

To register: contact Joe at 423-5477.

12 or 20 questions: with Sheri-D Wilson

The Mama of Dada - Sheri-D Wilson (poet, playwright, performer, film-maker, essayist, and educator) is Internationally renowned for her jazz infused performance style laced with a dangerous wit.

In 2005, she was invited to present her work in Ottawa as part of the Alberta Scene celebration to commemorate Alberta's 100 year centennial, and in 2006 she was honoured with Global TV's Woman of Vision award, the Stephan G. Stephansson Award for Best Alberta Poetry Book of 2005, for her book Re:Zoom, and she was chosen 2006 and 2007 favorite writer by ffwd (peoples choice).

In 1989 Sheri-D studied at Naropa, The Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics in Boulder, Colorado. BEAT. Sheri-D's unique experimental poetry shatters all conventions. In 2003 she won the title Heavyweight of Poetry, USA in a Bumbershoot Bout against the incredible Andrei Codrescu.

Her Performance/Reading highlights include: Festival des Voix d'Amérique (2005: Montreal), Dub Collective (2005: Toronto), West Coast Poetry Festival (2005: Vancouver), The Bumbershoot Bout - Winner of Heavyweight Title (2003: Seattle), The Superbowl of Poetry - Winner (2003: Seattle), The World Poetry Bout (2002: Taos, New Mexico), Poetry Africa (2001: Durban & Jo'burg, South Africa), Shakespeare and Co. (2001: Paris), PanCanadian Wordfest (2000, 1995: Calgary/Banff), Vancouver International Writers Festival (2002, 2000, 1995, 1993, 1990: Vancouver), Bumbershoot (1999, 1991, 1989: Seattle), Small Press Festival (1990: New York), Harbourfront Reading Series (1993: Toronto), Spoken Word Festival (1996: Montreal), Brainwash Reading Series (1995: San Francisco).

Sheri-D Wilson has six collections of published poetry: Re:Zoom (2005, Frontenac House), Between Lovers (2002, Arsenal Pulp Press), The Sweet Taste of Lightning (1999, Arsenal Pulp Press), Girl's Guide to Giving Head (1996, Arsenal Pulp Press), Swerve (1993, Arsenal Pulp Press) and Bulls Whip & Lambs Wool (1989, Petarade Press).

1 - How did your first book change your life?

The first book that changed my life was Moby Dick

2 - How long have you lived in Calgary, and how does geography, if at all, impact on your writing? Does race or gender make any impact on your work?

I was born and raised in Calgary

Left when I was 17

Traveled

Lived in Vancouver for 18 years

(eight of which I spent half the time in New York City)

And then I returned to Calgaria ten years ago

Love it here

Plus other places

All places inspire

The notion and motion of inclusion informs

Me as an artist

I am interested in the voices of all people

3 - Where does a poem usually begin for you? Are you an author of short pieces that end up combining into a larger project, or are you working on a "book" from the very beginning?

Good question

The ecstatic impulse is a form of beginning

Inspiration arrives in many masks

And then there are major edits

In order to answer your question, though

It would be necessary to consider each individual work

This would likely take an entire essay

Artistic process can bewilder

4 - Are public readings part of or counter to your creative process?

I write to be read aloud

For the orator

This does not mean that I write for the public, or audience

There are many ways of seeing and reading

That which lives on the page

It is important to educate our eyes and vision

To include different forms of poetry

In our educational process

This would mean

That writing professors would have to teach themselves

How to read

Work which is created to be read aloud (Spoken Word)

5 - Do you find the process of working with an outside editor difficult or essential (or both)?

I love editors

I love ideas

Mixing ideas

Collaborations

Profound trust

And exchanging knowledge

I also enjoy working with editors

Who take a new approach to the page

(Another essay)

6 - After having published more than a couple of titles over the years, do you find the process of book-making harder or easier?

This question

Lives outside my realm of thought

Good bad

Hard easy

Love love

7 - When was the last time you ate a pear?

Today

With my lover

Under an apple tree

Beside a fence

There may have been psychoactive hallucinogens

And raw sex

Mango twisted

Involved

Ask the fence

If you are sitting on it

8 - What is the best piece of advice you've heard (not necessarily given to you directly)?

Live long and prosper

9 - How easy has it been for you to move between genres (written poetry to more performative pieces)? What do you see as the appeal?

There are many ways of seeing

The page is in a state of transformation

Most people are educated to see the page from the literary point-of-view

...they are not educated to see the page as sound

You cannot compare them

As they are bananas and tomatoes

I have always mixed banana-toes

And enjoy the process of discovery

They offer

The taste

10 - What kind of writing routine do you tend to keep, or do you even have one? How does a typical day (for you) begin?

Please no! Not a typical day!!!

11 - When your writing gets stalled, where do you turn or return for (for lack of a better word) inspiration?

Everywhere and everything

And then back again

There's nothing like reading great poetry

Lorca, Lane, Purdy, di Prima, Waldman, Crozier, Apollinaire, Cohen, Smith,

Marley

12 - How does your most recent book compare to your previous work? How does it feel different?

There are different times in the life of an artist

Which are reflected in their work

Like phases

Or periods of time

Transformation and experimentation

Always bring new approaches

Like a painter I find my previous works

Part of my long bouncy springboard into the future

13 - David W. McFadden once said that books come from books, but are there any other forms that influence your work, whether nature, music, science or visual art?

Right!

Psycho babble, qu'est-ce que c'est ?

Du-du-du-du

Du-du

Du-du-du

14 - What would you like to do that you haven't yet done?

When my grandmother was 101

She said

"I did everything I wanted in my life"

I thought:

That's what I want to say when I'm 101

There will be much between now and then

And life has been rich until now

15 - If you could pick any other occupation to attempt, what would it be? Or, alternately, what do you think you would have ended up doing had you not been a writer?

I have done so many other occupations

Damn, what are we talking about?

I'd rather suck Bukowski's dick then answer this question

16 - What made you write, as opposed to doing something else?

Writing took me

I didn't take it

It through me across the pommel

And had its way with me

At a full gallop

It has been a love fest ever since

A great body for me to follow

17 - What was the last great book you read? What was the last great film?

Anything with Johnny Depp in it

Nosferatu

Hunger's Bride - Paul Anderson

18 - What are you currently working on?

My abs

12 or 20 questions archive

12 or 20 questions: with Douglas Barbour

Douglas Barbour, poet, critic, and reviewer, is Professor Emeritus of English at the University of Alberta, where he has taught creative writing, poetry, Canadian literature, twentieth century poetry and poetics, and science fiction and fantasy. Books of poetry include Visible Visions: The Selected Poems of Douglas Barbour (NeWest Press 1984), which won Alberta's Stephan Stephannson Award for poetry, and Story for a Saskatchewan Night (rdc press 1989). More recently, Fragmenting Body etc. (NeWest Press 2000), Breath Takes (Wolsak & Wynn 2002), A Flame on the Spanish Stairs (greenboathouse books 2003), and Continuations, with Sheila E. Murphy (University of Alberta Press 2006). Critical works include Daphne Marlatt and Her Works, John Newlove and His Works, bpNichol and His Works (ECW Press 1992) , and Michael Ondaatje (Twayne Publishers 1993). Lyric/Anti-lyric: essays on contemporary poetry appeared from NeWest Press in 2001. Transformations of Contemporary Canadian Poetry in English appeared from Adam Marszalek in Poland in 2005. Essays have appeared in journals and anthologies in Canada, the United States, Australia, Great Britain, New Zealand, Denmark. He has delivered papers at conferences on Canadian Studies and modern poetry, in Australia, Germany, New Zealand, Poland, Sweden, Scotland, and, of course, Canada. He was inaugurated into the City of Edmonton Cultural Hall of Fame in 2003, and reads with Sheila Murphy with Edmonton poet and fiction writer Jonathan Meakin at Hulbert's Cafe, 7601-115 Street, Edmonton on Thursday, September 22, 2007 at 7:30pm (come early; seating is limited).

1 - How did your first book change your life?

It meant that someone took my writing seriously, and that I could start to find 'an audience' (haha) through bookstores. I'd already been publishing, though, & reaching a few readers, mostly other writers, who meant a lot to me. Today, I wonder if the same kind of feeling about a first book applies when the internet allows for reaching an audience much wider & perhaps more responsive.

2 - How long have you lived in Edmonton, and how does geography, if at all, impact on your writing? Does race or gender make any impact on your work?

We came to Edmonton in 1969, a return for me to the prairies (I was born in Winnipeg). Geography did affect my writing early on, as did weather (see WHITE), but it's much more 'the geography of the imagination' (as Guy Davenport put it), seen as a geography of writing & art itself, & language, that has affected me for quite awhile now.... I'm a white male, so it does in a reflective way but probably not that much; although I do note that I, like bpNichol who pointed this out to me) belong to the first generation, I suspect, of which members, like us, could point to women writers as major influences: early on, especially Phyllis Webb & Denise Levertov.

3 - Where does a poem usually begin for you? Are you an author of short pieces that end up combining into a larger project, or are you working on a "book" from the very beginning?

Somewhere in language I think, a phrase or line that starts something happening. I have been, & tend to think in terms of what Robin Blaser & Jack Spicer named as Serial Poems. I don't usually begin with a 'book' in mind, although one usually emerges as these serial works move on....

4 - Are public readings part of or counter to your creative process?

Certainly part of when it comes to Sound Poetry; & generally, they dont run counter to the process. Poetry is certainly sound for me (among many other things).

5 - Do you find the process of working with an outside editor difficult or essential (or both)?

When I've been lucky enough to get a good editor, usually for criticism, it's been extremely useful (if sometimes mortifying). It's been quite awhile since I've had close editing of a poetry manuscript, although I've certainly had help from poet friends....

6 - After having published more than a couple of titles over the years, do you find the process of book-making harder or easier?

It's getting harder, or I'm just getting a lot slower...

7 - When was the last time you ate a pear?

too long to remember, oh wait, maybe a couple of months ago...?

8 - What is the best piece of advice you've heard (not necessarily given to you directly)?

There are too many pieces of good advice to even begin to list them. I have learned a lot from a number of other writers, & would like to think I never turn away good advice (although Im sure I have). My father taught me how to take a curve in a car; that has stayed with me.

9 - How easy has it been for you to move between genres (poetry to essays)? What do you see as the appeal?

Not difficult, really, as I tend to write about individual works, & specifics in them, so I see my criticism as highly responsive to poetry& poetics, from which I'm learning stuff I can apply to my own writing. I tend to think that writers read for a rather mixed pleasure (by which I mean two kinds of pleasure at once), of the text as it is, & as it shows possibilities for one's own writing.

10 - What kind of writing routine do you tend to keep, or do you even have one? How does a typical day (for you) begin?

Sadly, I dont. These days I check my e-mails (thus this) & read the latest (bad) news on some political blogs & news sites. I really should stop doing this.

11 - When your writing gets stalled, where do you turn or return for (for lack of a better word) inspiration?

If Im writing something, then I turn to other writing, sometimes work I know & love, sometimes something brand new to me. Also, just turn away for awhile, to music, a walk, whatever....

12 - How does your most recent book compare to your previous work? How does it feel different?

It's all emergent, a growing I hope. And sometimes, there are things in a more recent book written before stuff in an earlier one, since how these bits & pieces fit together is part of how one puts the book together, & perhaps what you have on hand will have to wait awhile till the other piece that fit arrive. So I guess I cant really answer that question directly. Except that my most recent book is the collaboration with Sheila E Murphy, Continuations, & the working process of absolutely writing from the language presented to me (back & forth) is a lot of fun.

13 - David W. McFadden once said that books come from books, but are there any other forms that influence your work, whether nature, music, science or visual art?

He's right as far as Im concerned, but, yes, other forms do influence my work, especially music & visual art. Perhaps Ill get more history into some of my writing; Id like to do so.

14 - What would you like to do that you haven't yet done?

In sure there are, but I cant think of anything specific at the moment, beyond going to places I havent yet visited. And meet some people I would love to meet.

15 - If you could pick any other occupation to attempt, what would it be? Or, alternately, what do you think you would have ended up doing had you not been a writer?

At this point I cant think of what I might have done other than write & teach. I guess I would have managed somehow, but Im glad I didnt have to.

16 - What made you write, as opposed to doing something else?

I dont really know. I met someone when I was in first year Engineering who actually wrote poetry, & at some point thought I can do that too, & tried, & kept trying, & eventually, well here I am....

17 - What was the last great book you read? What was the last great film?

This past summer I was lucky enough to get Robin Blaser's The Fire & the updated The Holy Forest to review. Both the essays & the poetry are major works.

18 - What are you currently working on?

Continue to work on Continuations with Sheila E Murphy, a continuing collaboration that is terrific fun & energizing. I have a few poetic works almost going....

12 or 20 questions archive

12 or 20 questions: with Kimmy Beach

in Cars, Kimmy Beach’s fourth full collection of poetry with Turnstone Press, was published in the spring of 2007. Her previous collections are Nice Day for Murder: Poems for James Cagney (2001), Alarum Within: theatre poems (2003), and fake Paul (2005). Alarum Within was long-listed for the ReLit award, and has twice been adapted as a full-length stage play. In 2004, the University of Toronto at Mississauga/Erindale Theatre staged a collective adaptation under the direction of Ralph Small. Larry Reese and Kimmy Beach collaborated on a second adaptation for the Red Deer College Theatre and Film Studies Program in 2005 under the direction of Larry Reese. Kimmy was the 2005 International Guest Poet for the Dead Good Poets Society in Liverpool, UK, where she was invited to launch fake Paul on stage at the Cavern Club in Mathew Street. She took second place in the 2006 Lichen Arts and Letters Preview’s “Tracking a Serial Poet” Competition and was a finalist in the 2003 CV2 48-Hour Poetry Competition. Kimmy has facilitated Blue Pencil Cafés and writing workshops in Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba, and has read at festivals and literary gatherings across the country including the Festival of Words in Moose Jaw, Banff/Calgary Wordfest, the inaugural Edmonton Poetry Festival, and at the South Country Fair in Fort Macleod, Alberta. Kimmy is the first and only Poet Laureate of Humboldt Collegiate Institute in Humboldt, Saskatchewan, and is a full member of the League of Canadian Poets. She holds a First Class Honors Degree in English from the University of Alberta, and writes from Red Deer, Alberta where she lives with her husband, Stu.

1 - How did your first book change your life?

I wouldn’t say it changed my life (my life was chugging along happily before I published a book), but it did add to my knowledge of what I could accomplish. My first book was very much a First Book, but because it was picked up by a house I knew and respected, I started to feel more confident about what I had chosen to do with my creative talents, whatever they might be or evolve into. Wait, I lied. It did change my life because it brought four Canadian women poets into my life at a colloquium when I was working on it (Rebecca Campbell, Holly Borgerson-Calder, Heidi Greco, and Catherine Greenwood). The five of us are still in daily email contact nearly eight years later, and it’s one of the most important friendships of my life.

2 - How long have you lived in Red Deer, and how does geography, if at all, impact on your writing? Does race or gender make any impact on your work?

I’ve been here more than half my life, so it truly is my home. The vibrancy of the cultural community here impacts my writing more than geography does. I know I have a group of people here on whom I can rely for cultural nourishment, and hopefully I provide that to them as well. I’m an “indoor” poet, so generally speaking, geography and nature don’t enter my work unless a character is hurtling through them at midnight in a 74 Mustang. I have less than no interest in writing about the cedar waxwings in my crab tree, that sort of thing. The race or gender question doesn’t really speak to me so I’ll leave that dangling.

3 - Where does a poem usually begin for you? Are you an author of short pieces that end up combining into a larger project, or are you working on a "book" from the very beginning?

I’m working on a book from the very beginning. Each of my books begins with a central moment; then I build the world in a spiral pattern around that moment. When it’s at the stage where I feel it’s spiraled to my satisfaction, I take it on retreat to St. Peter’s Abbey and lay it out, physically, on the floor of my room and allow it to order itself correctly. The physical laying-out-on-the-floor of the poems on paper is the key to my narrative continuity.

4 - Are public readings part of or counter to your creative process?

Readings are part of the bargain. We enter into this life knowing that certain things are expected of us. I personally love readings, but I know a lot of writers who don’t. I give high-energy readings, but the extended gregarious requirements during and after do tire me out. But I signed up for that. No complaints. I like it, and that’s where I sell my books, so I’d be silly not to embrace that part of the process. Aside from that, each time I launch a book in Red Deer, it’s a glorious celebration for me as I’m surrounded by friends and family, the crowd is warmer than almost anything I’ve experienced, and it’s just a big, fat party.

5 - Do you have any theoretical concerns behind your writing? What kinds of questions are you trying to answer with your work? What do you even think the current questions are?

Nah. I’ll leave all that to the rest of the writers. I’d rather have fun and let the reader ask her/his own questions and decide whether I’ve answered them. I’m not really sure what the current questions are, and I deliberately don’t seek to answer them. I only speak for myself, but I feel that if I were setting out to ask or answer the Current Questions, then I’m taking my work waaay too seriously, and that’s not my style or my intent. For instance, a couple of writers have told me that they think I’m making a statement about the energy crisis in my new book because it’s full of gas-guzzling muscle cars. I’m not, but that’s what I mean by allowing the reader to ask her/his own questions. Every reading of a published text is valid, and by putting it out there, I invite those varied readings.

6 - Do you find the process of working with an outside editor difficult or essential (or both)?

It can be a pain in the arse, and at the same time, it’s absolutely necessary. I would never dream of publishing a book without an independent editor. I’ve been lucky, though, as I’ve really liked - and worked well with - my editors. Frequently, they’re right, but sometimes they’re not. The key is to recognize when something has to stay the way you wrote it rather than changing it based on advice from an editor or anyone else. I’ve often been wrong when I’ve stuck to my guns on a line or a stanza, but I’ve still been right.

7 - After having published more than a couple of titles over the past few years, do you find the process of book-making harder or easier?

It’s easier in that I now know how to put a “Kimmy Beach” book together. I recognize that I have developed a particular style of storytelling in my work, and I’m fiercely true to it. My first book fell together without my knowing it, and it wasn’t until after it was published that I could see its narrative and thematic continuity. Now I’m completely aware that I do that in my work, so by my (hopefully) fifth book, I feel pretty confident that if I stand aside, the work will lay itself down in the correct narrative and thematic order.

8 - When was the last time you ate a pear?

July. I got it at the farmers market, and I’m pretty sure it was from BC. We don’t grow a lot of pears in these parts.

9 - What is the best piece of advice you've heard (not necessarily given to you directly)?

“Don’t show me half your dark side! If you’re going to show me your dark side, show me the whole thing.” A monk told me that over breakfast years ago.

10 - How easy has it been for you to move between genres (poetry to non-fiction)? What do you see as the appeal?

I don’t move back and forth, except on very rare occasions when the contest (or whatever) calls for it. I’m a poet. When I do shift, the appeal is that Geist isn’t running a Postcard Poem contest. I can shift if I have to, but I don’t get a lot of pleasure out of it. I’m not a Jill of all trades when it comes to my writing. My work is highly narrative anyway, so in some ways, I think I’m crossing genre within what I call poetry.

11 - What kind of writing routine do you tend to keep, or do you even have one? How does a typical day (for you) begin?

The only time I keep a routine is when I’m on retreat for the specific purpose of writing or revising. I try, on those occasions, to spend at least four hours in front of the computer per afternoon. The mornings are for writing-related stuff like reading, editing, or walking alone in the woods, and the evenings are social. At home, I have other commitments like everyone else, and sometimes the work has to be squeezed in wherever it can fit. I don’t have any sort of routine at home, as I find it difficult to generate new stuff at home. Sirens blaring, phones ringing, Jehovah’s Witnesses ringing my bell off the bloody hook, gas bill to be paid, etc. I’m a writer on retreat, and a reviser at home. If St. Peter’s Abbey ever shuts down, I’m sunk.

12 - When your writing gets stalled, where do you turn or return for (for lack of a better word) inspiration?

The first thing I do when that happens is go to the Abbey with a stack of books and a laptop, just in case. However, I welcome being stalled as part of the process. I don’t necessarily think it’s a negative; I don’t feel the need to Be A Writer 24/7. That’s a completely unreasonable expectation to saddle oneself with. I have a life outside writing. Everybody else goes to work eight hours a day, and they don’t panic if they’re not thinking about their day job till the minute they go to bed. I think it’s damaging to say that if we’re not writing or thinking about writing all the time, that we’re somehow Not Writing. My writing has been stalled by trauma in the past and I accept it and work through it as a natural component of the writing life. I try not to freak out about it, especially if I know the cause. My mentor, Birk Sproxton, died six months ago and I’m only now getting back on the horse that’s been standing next to me waiting for me to saddle him up. I accept that and I move through that.

13 - How does your most recent book compare to your previous work? How does it feel different?

I believe my latest book is my best work. I like all my previous books very much, but I see a pattern of improvement in craft and style in my work that I’m very gratified about. The work feels the same in that I recognize that I am meant to write in a very colloquial, narrative style. My work’s not for everyone because of that, but I don’t care.

14 - David W. McFadden once said that books come from books, but are there any other forms that influence your work, whether nature, music, science or visual art?

I wish I could join the growing camp of poets who say that science is the new poetry just so I would fit in, but not so much. Science and poetry don’t go together in my work. I’m glad they do for some. My books come from other books, movies, lived experience, and a conscious noticing of the moment I’m in.

15 - What other writers or writings are important for your work, or simply your life outside of your work?

I rely on a network of writers far and near who will look at whatever I’m writing with amazing regularity and clarity. I lament the demise of an Edmonton group I was in for years (lead by Bert Almon), but I have a local group in Red Deer (Leslie Greentree, Joan Crate, and Blaine Newton) that has sustained me through four books and myriad other (successful and not so successful) writing stuff the last eight years. My friendship with the four poets I mentioned earlier has been a constant source of inspiration and editing as well. I’ve always relied on Birk, and now that he’s gone, his work and advice to me over fifteen years are even more important to me. Of course I’ve had many other mentors, but he was my truest. And when in doubt, always, The Collected Works of Billy the Kid. If I were only allowed one book on the desert island, that would be it. There is nothing that book cannot teach me, over and over, about how to be a writer.

16 - What would you like to do that you haven't yet done?

Travel through the length and breadth of the U.K. for six months. It’s on my list. All I have to do is win the Griffin. [pause] HA HA HAAA!

17 - If you could pick any other occupation to attempt, what would it be? Or, alternately, what do you think you would have ended up doing had you not been a writer?

I was a great stage manager, and if the theatre hadn’t sucked the very soul out of me, I would probably still be doing that. Or something equally control-freaky where I’m in total charge. That’s why I love writing; I’m the boss of it. It likes to think it’s the boss of me. I let it think that as it helps us come to some agreement about what order the words are going to be in. So maybe, Queen of All She Surveys. Yeah, that’s a good job.

18 - What made you write, as opposed to doing something else?

I did everything else first, but everything seems to have lead into the writing. My life has been a series of real cool events that show up in my work in one form or another. I didn’t start writing seriously (though mom tells me I’ve written in some form all my life) until I was nearly thirty, so I’d had all kinds of life and careers prior to that. T/Ed Dyck and Birk Sproxton are to blame for planting the evil seed in my mind.

19 - What was the last great book you read? What was the last great film?

The last great film I saw was Tarantino and Rodriquez’ Grindhouse Double Feature. In fact, I’d say that’s one of the best films I’ve seen in the last five years. Its sensibility really spoke to me on a visceral level, and then I stood up and applauded at the end. Haven’t done that for years. That film reminded me that everything great doesn’t have to be High Art, and that my own work is legit, even though a lot of it might fall into that fun art-making style as well. Of course, even Tarantino’s deliberately low art is high art anyway. I don’t think a lot of people got that film, but it spoke directly to my core about how art is supposed to be made in the year 007.
The last great book I read was I, Lucifer by Glen Duncan. What a cheeky little thing it is.

20 - What are you currently working on?


I’m hoping to go back to Crete to finish a zillion-year-old manuscript set there that I’ve never been completely happy with. I’m also thinking a lot about turning my chapbook, Aberrant Lounges, into a full-length collection. And I’ve just sent a proposal to the Canada Council in which I go on and on about some nebulous book I think I might write someday involving Jean Harlow. I wrote a lot about her in my first book, Nice Day for Murder, but I’m not done with Hollywood in the 1930s and she has always fascinated me.

12 or 20 questions archive

Calgary Blow-Out #3!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Filling Station is thrilled to announce...

The Third Annual CALGARY BLOW-OUT!

Friday, September 14 – 7:00 PM
Saturday, September 15 – 1:00 PM
Saturday, September 15 – 7:00 PM

All Events at the Carpenter's Union Hall (310 10th St NW)
FREE!
This explosive literary festival puts the spotlight on Calgary's talented writing community, featuring over twenty poets, playwrights and fiction writers that are either locally-based, or who have strong ties to the city.

Friday night: September 14th, 7pm
host: Natalie Simpson
readers: Emily Elder, Helen Hajnoczky, Mark Hopkins, Brea Burton, Shane Rhodes, Jaspreet Singh, Robert Majzels
music: The Lonely Hunters

Saturday afternoon: September 15th, 1pm
host: ryan fitzpatrick
readers: Ian Kinney, Ross Priddle, Kevin McPherson-Eckhoff, Chris Ewart, Weyman Chan
music: Heather Blush

Saturday night: September 15th, 7pm
host: derek beaulieu
readers: Emily Carr, Bronwyn Haslam, Peter Norman, Laurie Fuhr, Aaron Giovannone, William Neil Scott, Sina Queyras
film: Garth Whelan
Of course, there'll also be books, booze and the long-awaited launch of filling Station #39! All events are absolutely FREE and open to the public. Join us in celebration of Calgary's booming literary talent!
CONTACT: Natalie Zina Walschots, Managing Editor, filling Station
403.283.7212
nzwalschots@gmail.com
calgaryblowout.blogspot.com

EVENT HISTORY: The Calgary Blow-Out! was founded in 2005 as a celebration of Calgary's vibrant literary community. The former Managing Editor of filling Station, derek beaulieu, founded the event out of good-natured frustration when he realized there was simply too much happening in the Calgary literary scene to see it all, and so he created theBlow-Out! as a fête for the community at large. This is filling Station's third annual Calgary Blow-Out!

ABOUT filling Station: filling Station is a literary magazine based in Calgary, Alberta, that is dedicated to showcasing innovative poetry, fiction, drama, film and visual art, and to promotion local and international arts communities. This year's Calgary Blow-Out! will see the launch of filling Station's 39th issue.

12 or 20 questions: with Thomas Wharton

Thomas Wharton is the author of The Logogryph (Gaspereau Press, 2004; winner of the 2005 Writers Guild of Alberta Award for Short Fiction, nominated for the Sunburst Award for Canadian Fantasy and shortlisted for the IMPAC-Dublin Prize, 2006), Salamander (McClelland & tewart, 2001; shortlisted for the 2001 Governor-General’s Award for Fiction, shortlisted for the Sunburst Award for Canadian Fantasy, winner, Georges Bugnet Award for Fiction, Alberta Book Awards, 2002, shortlisted for the Grant MacEwan Author’s Award, 2002 and finalist for the Roger’s Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize, 2001) and Icefields (NeWest Press, 1995; Grand Prize & Banff National Park Award at the1995 Banff Mountain Book Festival, Henry Kreisel Award (Best First Book) at the Alberta Book Awards 1996, 1996 Commonwealth Writers Prize for Best First Book, Canada and Caribbean Division, shortlisted for the Boardman-Tasker Prize in Mountain Literature and chosen as Grant MacEwan College Book of the Year, 1998). He lives in Edmonton, where he teaches at the University of Alberta as an Assistant Professor in the Department of English, and his The Shadow of Malabron, the first novel in a YA fantasy trilogy, will be published by Doubleday Canada and Candlewick/Walker US/UK in fall 2008.

1 - How did your first book change your life?

I was a painfully shy person and suddenly I had a public persona as an author. Doing readings was terrifying at first but I did get better at it. After the book was published I started to meet writers, publishers, critics - I had never been part of this community before. And I got to travel to exotic places like Europe, Africa, Canmore.

2 - How long have you lived in Edmonton, and how does geography, if at all, impact on your writing? Does race or gender make any impact on your work?

Moved to Edmonton to go to school in 1983. Since then have lived elsewhere (Peace River 1992-95) and Calgary (1995-98) then back to Edmonton and here ever since. I rarely write about the place I actually live, but I have no doubt the setting, climate, culture, etc., are major (if often unperceived) factors in how I see the world.

Race and gender in the same question as geography???

3 - Where does a piece of fiction usually begin for you? Are you an author of short pieces that end up combining into a larger project, or are you working on a "book" from the very beginning?

I start with fragments of imagery, ideas, characters, and slowly fit them together, like a jigsaw puzzle with no finished picture on the boxto guide me.

4 - Are public readings part of or counter to your creative process?

I used to hate em. Now I look forward to meeting readers and talkingabout books. Often the energy at a reading is helpful to my writing; I'm less bummed out now by small crowds. I write because I love to write. Give me one intelligent, sensitive reader and I'm happy.

5 - Do you find the process of working with an outside editor difficult or essential (or both)?

Both. I've worked with great editors, but there are always moments where their vision departs from mine. Sometimes you know they're probably right but you do it your way anyhow, just to stay in creative control.

6 - After having published more than a couple of titles over the years, do you find the process of book-making harder or easier?

A bit easier - I now trust the process more. I know that all thefloundering and uncertainty and sheer plod of the process willeventually bear fruit. It may take longer than I hoped...

7 - When was the last time you ate a pear?

Several weeks ago. It was one of those pears that looks like an apple. It was like eating a very watery apple. Grilled pear and brie sandwiches are so yummy.

8 - What is the best piece of advice you've heard (not necessarily given to you directly)?

Quit playing author and get back to work.

9 - What kind of writing routine do you tend to keep, or do you even have one? How does a typical day (for you) begin?

I try to get an hour in the morning on my teaching days. And two or three hours on the non-teaching days. Ha ha ha ha...

10 - When your writing gets stalled, where do you turn or return for (for lack of a better word) inspiration?

Other arts. Music, drama, film. I have also made a collection of"creativity" cards with images from art and culture - when I'm stalled I'll pull out two or three of these cards at random and usually the unexpected juxtaposition will burn a new synaptic path in the brain, hopefully toward something that will kick-start the writing.

11 - How does your most recent book compare to your previous work? How does it feel different?

My new book is a fantasy novel for younger readers. I've noticed myself becoming more of a storyteller in the process. It has been great fun - make contact again with the reader I was as a kid. The way I could climb inside a book I loved for weeks at a time and live there.

12 - David W. McFadden once said that books come from books, but are there any other forms that influence your work, whether nature, music, science or visual art?

See above about art, music, etc. I'm also very interested in science.That's where I find new and exciting metaphors for the human condition. And from spirituality, too. Buddhism and contemporary science both point toward the instability and fragility of many of the things we consider stable and familiar. I'm tired of what I see as an underlying assumption in a lot of fiction (realist fiction anyhow) that human nature is essentially selfish, that everything is power relations, and that life basically ... sucks. We've inherited that morose outlook from the 20th century (from miserable Frenchmen like Sartre etc) and I think writers try to adopt it or mimic it to give their work a veneer of toughness and relevance. A lot of genuine creativity gets stifled that way. What new forms and subjects of literature can come from shedding these sorts of ingrained assumptions? Milan Kundera talks about great literature rending the veil of preconceived ideas and attitudes (the stuff we see and believe because we’re told that’s all there is.)

13 - What would you like to do that you haven't yet done?

Write a novel about emptiness. Emptiness in the Buddhist sense: that everyone and everything is empty of separate, inherent existence. How would character, plot, etc have to be reconceived from such a point of view? Will I ever write the thing? I haven't yet found the way in, or the story...

14 - If you could pick any other occupation to attempt, what would it be?

Troubador.

15 - Or, alternately, what do you think you would have ended up doing had you not been a writer?

Graphic artist, probably.

16 - What made you write, as opposed to doing something else?

Don't know. The impulse followed almost immediately from learning how to read, and I don't know where the love of reading came from. None of my siblings read much.

17 - What was the last great book you read? What was the last great film?

The People's Act of Love, by James Meek.

The Children of Men

18 - What are you currently working on?

Book Two of the Perilous Realm Trilogy: The Fathomless Fire

12 or 20 questions archive

12 or 20 questions: with Catherine Owen

Catherine Owen has been publishing and performing poetry since 1993. Her work has appeared in periodicals such as The Dalhousie Review and Poetry Salzburg. Titles include: Somatic – The Life and Work of Egon Schiele (Exile Editions 1998), nominated for the Gerald Lampert Award, The Wrecks of Eden (Wolsak and Wynn, 02), shortlisted for the BC Book Prize, and her new collections, Shall: ghazals (Wolsak and Wynn, 06) and Cusp/detritus (Anvil Press, 06), both longlisted for the Relit Prize, while the latter made the shortlist for the George Ryga award for socially conscious literature. A selection from Seeing Lessons, on the pioneer photographer, Mattie Gunterman was recently nominated for the CBC Literary Awards. Her poems have been translated into Italian (Caneide with Joe Rosenblatt, 05) and Korean. She has a Masters degree in English (Simon Fraser University, 01), collaborates with painters/dancers, practices photography, and plays bass/sings in the blackmetal band, INHUMAN.

1 - How did your first book change your life?

The first book that I self-published altered my existence because it taught me that creation was my responsibility. The first trade book introduced tours and their quirky, undependable but still essential audiences into my life. Both firsts allowed for an entrance into the impoverished yet relentless publishing industry.

2 - How long have you lived in Edmonton, and how does geography, if at all, impact on your writing? Does race or gender make any impact on your work?

I've lived in E-Town for a year or thereabouts. Moved from a whole lifetime in Vancouver. Context, whether it be gender or geography, hugely impacts on my work. Longing for the ineffable, may it be mountains/ocean or freedom from the constraints of sexual demarcation, haunt my books.

3 - Where does a poem usually begin for you? Are you an author of short pieces that end up combining into a larger project, or are you working on a "book" from the very beginning?

A poem begins with a word that slides into the blood. At times eyes provoke language, epiphanic research, slicings of conversation. I rarely write miscellaneous pieces. Even when i think work is random it ends up flowing into a pattern quite quickly. Love the notion of the book as a channel for an encompassing vision, rather than a containment for fragments.

4 - Are public readings part of or counter to your creative process?

Essential to hear the voice resonating outside of the page. Not always so crucial to listen to response/reaction from the public. Poetry, being word-music though, does require performance to fully enflesh its intent.

5 - Do you find the process of working with an outside editor difficult or essential (or both)?

Both difficult as translation is not always possible and essential as the eyes/ears cannot honour all the poem's facets. One mentor at least is crucial and perhaps multiplicitous and unafeard respondents too.

6 - After having published more than a couple of titles over the years, do you find the process of book-making harder or easier?

Harder. I was all flood and now I am tricklings through a cheese cloth. This is not necessarily problematic, just painful. To be expected after a tremendous surge of text.

7 - When was the last time you ate a pear?

During the Fringe Festival in August 2007. My parents were in town from Vancouver and we dropped by Planet Organic where they have lovely Bartletts with just a humiliation of blush on them and the juiciest innards.

8 - What is the best piece of advice you've heard (not necessarily given to you directly)?

Marilyn Bowering told me to never expect my partners to understand my need for Muses but to be kind and silent with them in their incapacity.

9 - How easy has it been for you to move between your own work to collaborative pieces? What do you see as the appeal?

I am not naturally a team player. Working with one other artist i enjoy, a band i endure at times, a theatrical group i flee from. My most productive collaborations, apart from one triumphantly ongoing musical endeavor, have been with photographers and artists. The appeal is the intermeshing of visions with disparate materials, the fusion of modes of approach and the leaps one is compelled to take outside of one's own strictures.

10 - What kind of writing routine do you tend to keep, or do you even have one? How does a typical day (for you) begin?

There is no typical day beyond the coffee. I am a freelancer in multiple ways, thus every day wears a new mask. Before i got a dog, I often wrote on waking. She, having ruined this routine, now sees me scrambling for language at various points of the day, often when i can lunge into the hammock. At times at night when i have eluded invitations to watch movies. I often write while traveling, especially in planes, on buses. Anywhere suspended.

11 - When your writing gets stalled, where do you turn or return for (for lack of a better word) inspiration?

I read the greats: Shakespeare, Tennyson, Byron, Lowell, Celan, Jeffers and many many others....and watch poppies fading or finches snapping at berries in the mountain ash. I rarely get stalled in the sense of utter desert though...there have to be times in which imagery or language is slowly composting, and this is not a halting but a waiting.

12 - How does your most recent book compare to your previous work? How does it feel different?

Trobairitz has emerged out of an obsession. In that way, it is similar to previous books, though their passions are of different calibres or intensities. I suppose it feels more historical, scholarly, an attempt to explain the metal culture of the present through a framework of past tropes. And I am fighting against my own resistence to the very culture I seek to represent. And angering all sorts of early readers in the process. It's all complexifying I think....I hope not to the point where I eradicate my own volition.

13 - David W. McFadden once said that books come from books, but are there any other forms that influence your work, whether nature, music, science or visual art?

O so much more than texts. Geology, classical and metal music, the history of troubadours, the art of Egon Schiele, the photographs of Mattie Gunterman...to name a few.

14 - What would you like to do that you haven't yet done?

I would like to fulfill my travel plans in the Fall, especially the trips to France and Turkey. Perhaps be a writer in residence. Perform all over the world.

15 - If you could pick any other occupation to attempt, what would it be? Or, alternately, what do you think you would have ended up doing had you not been a writer?

Writing poetry is not an occupation. It is a vocation. Thus, one does not have a choice. I have known nothing else so i suppose i would choose death instead.

16 - What made you write, as opposed to doing something else?

This seems similar to the previous question. So ditto.

17 - What was the last great book you read? What was the last great film?

Great book, hmmmmmm, great can operate on so many divergent levels. I would have to say Marie Claire Blais's The Three Travelers as I've re-read it so many times...but i read multiple genres at once and there's a terrific book in each i'm sure. Great film...harder...i'm going to go with Maelstrom, a French Canadian gem with a talking fish on the chopping block.

18 - What are you currently working on?

Along with Trobairitz, I'm finishing up a book called Seeing Lessons on female photographers, one called Interstice - that's my Alberta book, and a collection of essays known as Intimate Industries. Also editing Dog - my sonnet collaboration with Joe Rosenblatt - for the press.

12 or 20 questions archive