James Richardson talks about determining what form a poem will take: I feel like I’m at least a semi-formalist poet—my line is often within hearing distance of iambic, I like the shapings of (usually half-) rhyme, I’m attracted to quatrains (though I also write prose aphorisms and several kinds of free verse). But I’d never, […]
James Richardson on what he finds to be the most difficult obstacle to being a poet: I’m fortunate enough (one has to say in these times) to be over-employed, so time and peace have often eluded me. How do we sit down and engage in the vast waste of time, the slaughter of hours and […]
James Richardson on what he finds to be the most pleasurable aspect of writing: Sometimes the things I’m writing out of (grief, shame) are unpleasant, but it seems to me that writing itself is almost always a pleasure. Or rather that when it isn’t, when I’m bored, I quit. That’s necessary—seems to me any hint […]
James Richardson on his writing time, on having a writing ritual: I call it “drifting and gazing” and 90% of the time it happens in my study, sitting by a window with a cup of coffee and a book, in the morning. Trains and airports also work.
James Richardson on reading his work aloud when he writes: The sound, and more specifically the voice or speakability, of a poem is incredibly important to me. My interest in rhythm, pacing, tone, syntax, sound patterning is borderline crazed (e.g., I teach prosody and have scanned a bazillion poems, toted up 3rd vs. 4th -beat […]
Peter Kline talks about the genesis of his poem, “Lines for Robinson Jeffers at Carmel Point.”
Peter Kline talks about determining the form a poem will take.
Brittany Perham talks about the title poem of her collection, “The Curiosities.”