Questions for Q&A

From the Fishouse is designed to be, in part, a resource for teachers and students of contemporary poetry. What better way to learn about poetry than from the mouths of those who practice the art?

Please record your answers to a few of the following questions:

• —Discuss the formal strategy you employed in a particular poem you have
  submitted to the Fishouse.
• —How do you determine what form a poem will take? For instance, do you sit
  down to write a cento? Do you sit down to write long lines, or does the poem
  itself dictate that to you?
• —Discuss the genesis of a particular poem you have submitted to the Fishouse.
• —Discuss a particular poetry project on which you’re currently working.
• —What poem do you wish you’d written? Why? and/or What line of poetry do you wish you’d written?
• —How did you become interested in poetry? In writing poetry?
• —Do recall the first poem you wrote?
• —What has been the most difficult obstacle for you becoming a poet?
• —What is the most pleasurable aspect about writing for you?
  and/or What is the most painful/difficult?
• —Do you have a special writing time, a certain writing ritual?
• —Do you have a piece of advice for young writers, aspiring poets?
• —Please suggest two other poets whose work Fishouse visitors might explore.
• —Please read your favorite poem and talk about why it is your favorite.
• —Do you read your work out loud when you write?
• —Do you experience a poem differently hearing it and reading it?
• —What is the literary value of the spoken word?