William Doreski Blowback 34 Questions Interview 1.  Why do you write poetry? To make sense of the world and where I stand in it. And because poetry makes more sense to me than ordinary conversation. 2.  What audience do you hope to reach in    Your poems, if any? People who get my silly jokes. Unfortunately, most people think my poetry is grim. I have a few friends scattered around the country who sometimes get some of my jokes, but hardly anyone who gets them all. That doesn’t bode well for any future hopes of immortality (see next question, however). 3.  Is it important for you to one day achieve    Poetic fame, or win prizes of any variety? I’m long past worrying about that sort of thing. I’m too old to attain any fame or win prizes, too tired to enjoy them if they came. What good is poetic fame? You still die, and if anyone still reads you they’re doctoral candidates looking to advance their careers at your expense. I think academia has cured me of any desire for a huge audience—you end up being mauled by nitwits, and what good is that? 4.  If you said no to the above question, is    That really the truth? It wouldn’t have been when I was thirty, but at sixty-one it’s very true, alas. Of course it’s better to maintain some ambition than to give up on such matters, but really, I just don’t see what good fame would do me now. 5.  How significant is poetry in the world    Today in your opinion? In some nations it retains considerable significance. People still go to jail for writing poetry. Not in the US, where people are getting more illiterate daily, and proud of it. Mass entertainment and electronic gizmos now addle young minds that once might have tuned into poetry. Of course, a few still read poetry, but even those sturdy individuals don’t see it as significant except in the most superficial emotional way. 6.  Does poetry have any impact in the    World beyond tiny little pleasures to    The few that read it? No, as I said above. Not in the English-speaking world, anyway. 7.  If you think poetry has tiny impact in    The world, do you think that could ever    Go beyond a kind of  elitist / underground/    Hallmark silly populist prism it exists in now? I’m not sure that’s where poetry actually exists. I don’t see poetry as elitist—it’s still one of the most popular arts in the nation, with well over a million people writing it. If all these people actually read poetry, it might have considerable impact. But it’s like Sunday painting—cute little watercolors that anyone can do and no one need take seriously. Or else it’s fake working-class tough-guy talk in a world that doesn’t care about tough guys anymore. Or it’s overwrought intellectualism (Language Poetry). Or it’s a lot of other things. It’s too atomized to accurately characterize. Too many kinds of poetry get written by too many people. Some of it is good, most of it is bad because written with too little understanding and knowledge behind it. 8.  Do you think it is important to write    Frequently or only when in the mood? Sit down every day. You may not come up with anything, but you have to give yourself the opportunity. If you wait until you’re in the mood—whatever that means—you may wait forever. 9.  How do you go about determining if    Your poetry is any good? I think I have some ideal poem way in the back of my brain, and I try to get my poems to approximate the ideal. Unluckily, I can’t focus all that clearly on that ideal. The poems I write that I like best never get published, so whatever I think, editors don’t agree with me. 10. How often do you ask somebody else    To give you a reaction to your poetry? Frequently. I show them to several other writers or friends whose opinions I value. 11. If you do solicit an opinion is it    Other poets, critics, teachers, friends,    Or someone else you seek? See above. 12. How often do you go back and edit    Your poetry? Endlessly. I don’t think I’ve ever actually finished a poem. 13. How often do you go back and read    A poem you have written and think    Either this is really great or this is    Terrible? Every day. More often terrible. 14. How did you first get exposed to    Poetry and what prompted you to    Delve more deeply into it? I read Robert Lowell and Alan Dugan’s work when I was a senior in high school, and they revealed that poetry could be much more interesting and immediate than I’d realized. Then I met a rather good young poet working in a bookstore and I liked his work and wanted to do as well. 15. Did you ever take formal courses    Of poetry or literature and what    Are your thoughts on how this    Impacted you? Since I have a doctorate in English the answer to this would constitute a full-length autobiography. However, I studied with Robert Lowell, and his personal example, as much as his work, had considerable impact on the way I came to understand that poetry and life could intersect in vital ways. 16. Do you think it is important to    Independently study poetry outside    Of any formal context? Of course. Poets are always largely self-taught, even those with MFAs. Shakespeare did pretty well without going to university. As did Keats, Rimbaud and Whitman. 17. Do you think it is important for a    Poet to have a wide knowledge of    The history of poetry? Absolutely necessary. Otherwise the results will lack resonance and depth, which come from the echoes of the past as well as the exigencies of the present. The language has a history and we have to understand and honor it. 18.  Do you think that it is important     To read contemporary poetry and     If you do, how much contemporary     Poetry do you actually read? Yes. Loads of it. I do a lot of reviewing. Doesn’t every poet want to know what every other poet is doing? You should. 19.  How many poets actually bother to     Read poems other than their own     At websites they are posted on?     (editor comment, site statistics     heavily indicate a pattern of     Egocentric poet viewing habits) I don’t know. I do occasionally receive comments from people who’ ve read my work on websites (or in print journals). I read as much as I can, which may not be every poem on a website since I tire of the computer screen, but I like to see what other people are doing. 20.  Do you think the poetry world has     Been tribalized between academic     And non academic worlds that do     Not frequently intersect? This is a phony distinction, largely perpetuated nowadays by the Bukowski tough-guy crowd and perhaps by certain elements in extremely selective universities (see below). Poetry is a complex emotional / intellectual construction. Neither academics nor anyone else has monopolies on the poetic sensibility. And classifying poetry is a pernicious activity. 21.  Do you believe that academic poets     And institutions tend to have a superiority complex     Relating to outsiders? I don’t know. Maybe at Harvard. Not at Keene State, where I teach. If anything, we feel inferior to outsiders! But I don’t believe in “academic poets.” There are just poets out there. 22.  Do “insider” “little circle” “asskisser”     “flatter my back, I’ll flatter yours”       Networks exist in the poetry world and     How negative a truth is it if so? Well, they certainly do, and they’re one reason I’ve given up on “poetic fame,” prizes, etc. I’ve never been good at any of these tactics. 23.  Is a creative writing degree necessary     To write poetry that could be historically     Significant? Absolutely not. A degree in biochemistry or astronomy or history might be more useful. 24.  Are the undergraduate/graduate creative     Writing programs mostly a business     Enterprise to make money for educational     Institutions or are they an oasis for           Creativity and vital for making future poets? Alas, they exist to provide jobs for MFAs. But they do help some budding poets. I’ve seen good work come out of these programs, and I’ve seen dreck. 25.  What are your feelings regarding the     Presence of online poetry magazines and     Their significance in the poetry universe? I don’t know how significant they are. I prefer work on paper, but I appreciate the universal access online offers. 26.  Do you think printed poetry magazines     Are anything more than novelties heading     Towards oblivion in the internet era, or     Are they vital still? I think they are far more important. Online stuff is too ephemeral, and the format is too awkward. What will happen when the world exhausts its oil reserves, the power plants die, and we have no more electricity to run the Internet? Where will all the poetry go? 27.  What poets most influenced you in any way? Wallace Stevens, Robert Lowell, Alan Dugan, and about 1000 others. 28.  How did you determine what form of poetry     That you write in?   My clumsy handwriting limits my line length, so I tend to write poems that fill the page as best I can. From Stevens, I learned to respect but not overvalue the more superficial aspects of form and to concentrate more on the flux of syntax and rhythm. 29.  Do you ever identify yourself as a “poet” to     Others? Not at airport security checkpoints, certainly! 30.  If you do identify yourself as a poet, does this     Ever make you feel silly, or pretentious,     Or embarrassed? Or useless, impotent, impoverished…. 31.  What kind of events or moments ever bring     About any sort of “poetic inspiration” for you? Almost anything. Dreams, conversations, phrases that rattle into my little brain. Landscapes, photographs, whatever I read. 32.  How often do you ever feel creative or     Poetic and are too lazy to actually go and     Write anything? I never feel creative or poetic. It’s just something that is so much a part of my life that I go about it as part of my routine. But maybe I never feel NOT creative or poetic; I’m not sure. 33.  Do you feel there is sort of a “lost” history     of important poetry that is never found in     Emily Dickinson’s drawer, or never written     But could have been? Very possibly. But Dickinson’s work has such a specific history both in the writing and the eventual presentation that it’s hard to imagine anything all that comparable. Gerard Manley Hopkins might be a more typical case. Or Rimbaud, whose work was published by Verlaine and others after he disappeared into Africa. Who can say what has been lost? By definition, we just don’t know. 34.  Do you have any comments you’d like to     Make outside of these questions? No. These were more questions than I’ve answered since the last time I got arrested.