Mr. Burkett asks:

1). Assuming there is an afterlife, and there are poetic guides to show you around,  and these guides explain everything in their own way, who would you pick as your guide (living or dead)? Would you pick a poet who shares a thoughtful yet skeptical approach to knowledge like the speaker in In  A Landscape? Or would you want someone who could explain it all?

2). With the epistemological lack of certainty of the speaker In A Landscape, do you think that such a lack is universal for everyone? 

3). When you write, do you listen to music? If so, do you make a playlist to help you conjure up certain feelings and ideas?

4). What's your favorite Neil Young album? What's your favorite Neil Young song?

Austin:

1. The persona of these poems is so accessible. I felt I was getting to know you as I read "In a Landscape". You seem to speak of common truths and I found myself agreeing with the poems. They feel true, feel right. How close to YOU is this persona? Is this light and casual stream of consciousness a look inside your head? 

 

2. The chosen form of these was very interesting to me. How did this come to be, these blocks of words. It is interesting because the wall of text might seem imposing, yet this feeling dissolves instantly when you start reading. I think thats why it is successful. Was this form what just 'what happened' when you sat down and wrote the first poem? Did it then feel natural or 'right' to keep with that same form? Did you play around with other forms before landing on this one?

3. How did you meet DDL? because he can't seem to remember...

Jenni:

1). I have had the chance to read some of the work you did before In a Landscape, I am curious as to how you think your collaborative experience with G.C. Waldrep has shifted your style of writing or guided your process in its evolution? In The Little Book Of Guesses I still feel your smooth confessional style (interwoven with very palatable bits of universally human observations) but I am wondering if the sense of immediacy of your poem In a Landscape was a result of the work you did in Your Father on the Train of Ghosts.

2). As a yet to be published writer, I fear that I have let submitting my work become somewhat of a personal Mt. Everest. It seems to me (at this wet behind the ears moment in my “career”) that facing criticism of your work is something that could be very paralyzing. Given your “tell the truth” style, is getting a nasty review or an ugly criticism still something that you worry about? How do you push those reviews off of your shoulder when you are sitting down to write a poem like In a Landscape, which is so different from your previous pieces? Also, along that vein, have you ever been given a nasty critique that you found to be more entertaining than hurtful? (If so, please do tell.)

3). Disclaimer: this question is just for fun! If you absolutely HAD to get a tattoo of a few lines of your work (No way out of it…you weren’t leaving the parlor until you had ink…no way.. no how), which lines would they be? And where would you get them?

Nick:

. Because of the nature of the book, with it's inclusion of seemingly banal thoughts and observations, what was the revision process like? Did you intend to include it all with only light edits, or was there extensive editing and cutting?

2. As a sort of follow-up to this question, did you ever write something, and think "this isn't essential to what I'm trying to say"? In other words, you're writing this daily journal sort of thing, so was there ever a day/period where you thought "This is totally missing the target"?

3. What defines a John Gallaher poem, in your mind? What do you want your poems to be defined by?

 

Niall:

 

XXVIII says music is “a space within which/we participate with our bodies.” Why is this important to you and your writing?

How is In a Landscape about “the dream of home” as mentioned in the epigraph from John Ashbery? Is this different from a reality of home?

What do you find the most difficult part of assembling a manuscript?


Stevy? Chris? Jessica? Tom?