LULU YOUTUBE (OMG)


This is ridiculous, but it might help nonetheless.

CLASS INTERVIEW WITH JOHN GALLAHER

The below interview took place via email a few weeks ago. Thank you to all who participated. And thanks to John G. for agreeing to do this interview. Many of the questions are about JG's newest book, In a Landscape, which we had just read together in class.

 

The interviewers here are Jennifer Jones, Stevy Erdman, Lucas J. Burkett, Niall Garvin, Jessica Johnson, Austin Veldman, David Dodd Lee, and Nicholas Arzola, all members of our publishing and editing class this spring.

posted on 4/14/15

Jennifer Jones

JJ: 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. 

JG: I think you're right about the G.C. book leading to this. It's interesting, G.C.'s new book, Testament, that's coming out in a couple months, is ALSO a book-length poem (kind of), that is personal and touches on his "real" communicative voice (or something like that). 

I think we were both stuck after YFOTTOG . . . what does one do after spending the better part of a year writing WITH someone else? For me, I just wanted to get as far away from YOU and WE statements. And a "letter" to my kids, or something like that, is what I first imagined In a Landscape being, was how I reacted. I ran away from YOU and WE to try to not make anything up, to say what I thought, what I really thought, about things.  And then, once I did that, and I decided not to make anything up, my imagination turned to memories.  It all happened mostly by accident. 

 

JJ. 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.)

JG: Yes. I'm a big baby that way. But they don't bother me, negative comments, so much as I find most people don't really comment much at all. We--even people who supposedly love poetry and read poetry--don't seem to want to talk about it much. Just things like "It's Great!" or something, where nothing really happens. that goes for a lot of workshops as well as online things, like on Facebook. I don't feel any pressure at all when writing. I do, though, feel some when sending it out hoping it will be published.  I get a lot of rejections!  I got a weird rejection once, where the editor said "there's too much of someone's family reunion in your work." That once made me laugh. Someone else took issue with the "negative philosophy" in the poems. But mostly it's just NO and that's it. 

 JJ. 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?

 

JG: OK, this is sweet. Huh. I'll go with The Future Is a Line of Trees. But only because it really doesn't mean much but it sounds like it does. 

 ***

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


JG: I guess it's important because it's something I do a lot of, listening to music, walking around with it... I'm always searching for something in music like I'm always searching for something in the other arts, and in life in general. Music, when it's really good, alleviates the pressure of questions without answering them. I like that.


NG: 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?


JG: I really liked pairing the three quotes, Ashbery, Cage, and Wallace Stevens (which is part of the acknowledgements on pg. 122). They're all a form of empathy, I think. This way we conceive of home. Half recollected, half imagined... or half encountered and half presumed.  That's too many halves.  Maybe each of those is a quarter. I think reality is also an act of imagination, absolutely, as we have to make something of it.


NG: Do either of these ideas connect (as I read them to) with time as a “hallucination” (in “LXV”) rather than a linear movement?


JG: Yeah, absolutely. This is all perception. It's fundamental and it's imagined! It's a wonder any two people can ever agree on anything!


NG: What do you find the most difficult part of assembling a manuscript? The most enjoyable?


JG: I like making titles and I like putting the document in order. I like thinking about the first page and the last page. All the other pages are much less enjoyable. I can really get myself trapped in a LOT of second guessing in the middle part. 

***

 

LJB: 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?

 

JG: I wish there was a voice somewhere that could explain it all. I just really feel, in the end, that there isn’t. So, I think I’d pair up with a poet who was interesting, at least to my guess, since I don’t really know if that poet would turn out to be interesting or not. Today, I’d pick Wallace Stevens, because his descriptions of things were so florid.  

 

LJB: With the epistemological lack of certainty of the speaker In a Landscape, do you think that such a lack is universal for everyone?

 

JG: My guess would be YES, but I know that a lot of people are certain of things, even if they are things I don’t think they should be so certain of.

 

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

 

JG: I DO! I listen to music a lot.  It’s never a playlist, though. At least not a “Things To Listen To While Writing” list. Sometimes I’ll just choose a band (Radiohead or whatever), or a year, 2015, say. Like this year already we have new things from Father John Misty, Modest Mouse, Waxahatchee…

LJB: What’s your favorite Neil Young album? What’s your favorite Neil Young song?

 

JG: He was ON FIRE from about 1968 – 1978. Any of those albums would do for favorite, but I’ll go with Rust Never Sleeps, which was released in 1979, but which was sourced mostly from tapes recorded in late 1978. For favorite song, it would have to be “Like a Hurricane” especially for that second solo. Amazing stuff.

*** 

AV: 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? 

 

JG: You know, this is a great question. It's great because I'd say there's NO separation between the me/voice of this book and the me who is right here waving at the computer screen.  But who knows, really.  I'm sure someone else would disagree, saying that I'm heightening some aspect of myself or downplaying some aspect. I do swear now and then, and I don't think I swear in the book. But, you know what, to go out on a limb (because the weather's nice), I'll say it's all just the regular me.  I want that to be the case.  

 

AV: 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 that's 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?

 

JG: This form was all a lucky accident. I think it's a ghost of a sonnet (declaration, volta, resolution) or a ghost of a Rae Armantrout three-stanza form... but that's all because the first section I wrote just kind of ended up that way and then I thought I might as well keep that up, so once I caught myself going off on some random thought, I'd think, how can I bring this back to an event or something more concrete... likewise, when I caught myself being flat reporting or something, I thought, well, what's the larger issue behind these things? And it kind of fell into place. 

 

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

 

JG: I liked one of his poems and because it had a ghost in it (I think) I read it to my daughter Natalie who really liked it (I think she was six or seven at the time?), so, out of the blue, I emailed him to say my daughter and I liked his poem. I think that's how it happened. He's an excellent poet and visual artist. I really love these collages he's been doing. Top shelf stuff. I want him to do a book cover for me someday. I'd REALLY like that. 

***

SE: Did editing and writing this book length poem (In a Landscape) feel different or require a different approach than what you would use for a collection of shorter poems? 

JG: The writing was just the same as ever. I just kind of bumped along, in a next thing next kind of way. But the editing, THAT was very different, because now I had quotes from songs and things to get right. I had to look stuff up! I've never had to do that before. 

 

SE: How was that process helped/hindered by the chronological structure and the inclusion of your editor voice (by this I ungracefully mean the interruptive speaker who brings the reader back to the process of writing and back into the "now")? 

JG: Sure, yeah, absolutely. The structure just kind of happened, so that was that, but the editing felt weird, the way I wanted to add things... that's why I kept interrupting it. It felt wrong to change something when I was trying to simply write what came next, so when I did change things, I felt I had the obligation to mention that. I've never felt that obligation before. It was an odd feeling. 

 

SE: I was also interested in any negative feedback you had gotten from people in your life because you chose to portray people and past events without fictionalizing them. Were you reticent to share this book with some people because of how they might react to their portrayal?

JG: I haven't gotten much feedback at all about this approach. It's interesting how we change over time. It's the same whenever we change. Some people love it, some don't, most don't react much at all. This is my fifth book, and no one in my family has ever said anything to me about any of my books before, so I didn't think much about publishing this one. Now, probably because of the ubiquity of Facebook, they all suddenly are interested. That has me a little freaked, but none of them have said anything tome about it past things like hitting LIKE buttons, you know? I did change one of the names of a guy from high school. I changed [ R E D A C T E D] to Vic Vinnuci. I can't remember how I spelled it. I didn't want him to sue me, I guess.  I guess I was hoping everyone else wouldn't care. Again, none of them have said anything to me. That's the good thing about poetry. You can say what you want because no one reads it! Hah!  Thanks for these questions. This was a lot of fun. And good luck on your thesis (book of poems).  Putting a book together is a weird thing, what you're going through. I remember it well, that first one. Mine didn't go anywhere, thankfully, I think now. But then! Jeez... I stressed so much. I think about that a lot. Trying to find ways to remain cool toward putting the work together. 

***

 

JG: Hi Jessica,  I love this stained-glass house picture. If you're going to live in a glass house, this is the one I'd choose.

 

J Johnson: What you conjured up in LXI was way more beautiful than ^these, Mr. Gallaher! The word numeral totally sounds like a candy. 

JG: Thanks!

J Johnson: Do you have a watch that you wear? Does it have Roman numerals on it? When you look at a clock with Roman numerals, do you know exactly what time it is or does it take you a minute to work it out? 

JG: I used to wear a watch years ago with Roman on it, but these days I go timeless. I used to wish I had a pocket watch, so I could make a little production of looking at the time. I never did get one, but, come to think of it, my cellphone is kind of like a pocket watch...

J Johnson: LXIX sounds like what it is, which is so fun. I hope everyone who needs one gets one, or more than one. Your whole poem feels like an eye-smile; no teeth, but not gummy. I'm soothed by the way you carve out space around your given opinions, to make room for other viewpoints. There are teeth but the edges are even. Your pieces would leave even bite marks. Love how you express yourself so clearly and simply and gently. The sentences are so well aerated it doesn't feel at all like suffocating under piles of someone's opinions. 1/6: so you came here when most of the plants in middle America were sleeping! I believe it! This book makes me believe it. You can feel it in the waiting. I can feel it. The pause in the good car-sit; I felt like that the whole way through, even during talk of prognoses. Questions 3 almost ended without a question. Worst talk show host ever. Ooh. Ok. Thom Yorke is waiting for you with a gun and pack of sandwiches. Two sandwiches. One you hate, one you love. What's on the one you hate, and what's on the one you love? 

 

JG: LICKS! (LXIX!) Ha! I like that you mention opinions here. It's always been important to me not to push my opinions on others, not to tell others what to do... First off, I'm worried what Thom Yorke is going to do with the gun. I'd happily take most sandwiches, especially when a gun is involved. I like peanut butter and honey, turkey, clubs, Rubens, really most anything. Probably, I'd try to avoid some sort of fish sandwich, even though I do rather like tartar sauce. 

J Johnson: XXVI: Do you have a go-to cookie recipe? And what goes into your spaghetti sauce? 

 

JG: I would rather a cake or ice cream than cookies, really. German chocolate cake!!! 

J Johnson: I'm duty-bound to ask you these questions but you are not duty-bound to answer. 

 JG: They're fun. I'm cool with it! 

J Johnson: What was your favorite breakfast when you were little? 

 

JG: I would rather have two eggs over easy, hash browns, bacon, wheat toast, and coffee than anything ever. Even when I was young, maybe then without the coffee, depending on how young we're talking. 

J Johnson: Can you [would you please] describe the hair of your favorite teacher? 

JG: Albert Einstein. 

J Johnson: The non-violence in your delivery suggests your liver qi is fairly excellent and not stagnating much at all. The overall sense of calm suggests to me that you chew your food well. You listen to music when you write but do you eat when you write? Will you eat? Or does it feel like the wrong thing to do, ingestion during elimination//as many don't seem to favor taking snacks into the bathroom as they worry about the poop molecules I guess. It seems like you could be a great chewer of seeds. 

 

JG: I listen to music a lot. Right now, while typing this I'm listening to a band from the 80s, The Church. I think they were Australian. I forget. I will often drink while writing, coffee usually. I don't eat much then, yeah. Food's messy. I'd rather eat when I eat, and not while doing other things. It's not wrong, just messy. I've wondered what septic tank workers think about having a lunch break. You know? How they get used to the smell, and immune, I guess?

J Johnson: I would be thrilled to learn answers to these questions, but really, I really wanted to tell you how much I loved XLII in particular, airports = the big Romance!!!! You so captured the not unpleasant ache and unknowing and the lovely soft feelings evocative of those places where people go between being thousands of feet off the ground. Deep Red Bells is a wonderful airport song!! But for you it is really the flying. So beautiful. 

 

JG: Thanks! My father was a private pilot. I grew up in airplanes and airports, mostly small regional, local, airports. 

 

J Johnson: Would also like to pass along commendations to Armin Muhsam and Sandy Knight. The binding is creamy and gorgeous and so well suited to the insides. 

 

JG: Armin is a friend of mine. It was important that he, being local, was involved, as well, having my daughter Natalie take my picture. I thought this local book needed to stay local. Sandy did a great job helping with that. 

 

***

 

NA: 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?

 

JG: This was a difficult moment for me, the revision moment. You have it, yeah. The banal thoughts and observations! Our days are filled with them and I wanted to catch that, to leave that in, but the editor in me kept saying get that stuff out, tighten, make these "sing" or whatever. But I didn't want to sing. I just wanted to sit and talk. I still do. So, in the end, in revising, I only changed things for meaning or concision, never to "fix", I guess. When I did feel I had to add something, I usually dated my addition. There was one part, where the new husband of a friend died where I just added the death at the end of the section after he died, rather than say "it's four years later and he's dead now." So I had to make some compromises with myself. I probably added more things like that than I remember. But I cut very little. It was revision by accretion!  

 

NA: 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" or simply "not working"? Have there been other such "projects" you began and then abruptly discontinued because you either did not like the results or felt uncomfortable (or whatever) with the results?

 

JG: I felt that way constantly, and here and there, I might even mention that kind of thought. If I didn't I should have. Whenever I'd have that thought, that would cause me to swerve into saying it another way, kind of how we do in conversation. I REALLY wanted to try to replicate that conversational way we have. WHY I'd want to do that I'm not sure, but that's what I was going with.... 

 

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

 

JG: Good question. Yikes. I guess I'd say that what I'm always working against is final thoughts, while at the same time wanting to work with the material of final thoughts. So, I guess I hope that's what people would see in my work. A person trying to talk about real things without being reductive or taking the easy way out.

 

Here are a couple more, or two questions sort of about the same thing:

 

DDL: Are you tempted to repeat this exercise / sequence, in order to mark time, or to continue the autobiographical "arc" put into motion in In a Landscape? The book does want a sequel, does it not? (this reader would certainly enjoy more). Or if not, how will you continue, having embarked on this new way of going about things. Can you go back to the freer, slightly more surreal, less "factual" (or at least not "not true") sorts of poems that populate your previous books, before My Father in a Train of Ghosts?

 

JG: Oh, it DOES want a sequel. But I can't imagine it yet. I'm attaching the chapbook of new work I've put together to send out to chapbook places this spring. I'm still in this conversational mode, mostly, but now each one is occasional, rather than sequential. There are returns to the thinking of In a Landscape there, I guess, but the range of "what's happening right now" is much less a part of it. 

 

I'd love to be able to get back to the way I used to write, as well. To be able to "do anything!" But--do you feel this way as well?--once you've done something, made a turn, it's really hard to imagine the way you used to imagine. Your books, you know? Could you go back to the fish houses? As much as I want to, I can't imagine what I'd say, or how I was able to say those things. It's weird. I've not talked with anyone about this. We should talk! 

 

DDL: In a Landscape is as much about process as anything else. In writing In a Landscape is there any specific content that revealed itself (surprisingly or not), content that you find you will use later on--any threads you will pick up and run with, so to speak . . .?

 

JG: Yeah, things I thought I'd never say about real people, you know? My mother's Alzheimer's, which was already in full swing when I was writing the book, is now in its late stages. There are things to say about what a person is, in such moments. I didn't follow that in the book and I've done a little since then. 

 

DDL: You've been obsessed with the prose poem lately, devoting an entire issue of The Laurel Review to it and editing a book by a poet who wrote a lot of prose poems (Michael Benedikt). In a Landscape is close to prose itself in many respects. Can we expect books of prose poems from you in the future?

 

JG: In a Landscape, at one point, I was going to take the line breaks out. In the end I resisted, because I thought that too big a revision from the original impulse, but I got pretty close to doing it. I think it's a prose poem... in the way that most prose poems look like prose but "read" more like poems, I'm currently enjoying the edge of how I maybe can make a think that looks like a poem read like prose. The other side of prose poem... as well, in the newer work, I'm trying to get those lines to be the same length down the page. I like the look of it. What it means for the future, I don't know. I really don't have a clue. 

 

 

 

POST ON MONDAY, APRIL 13



So I got back late yesterday (well, last night)--non-stop
from Tuesday morning through midnight about 16 hours
ago. I'll talk about the experience, and so will Stevy (who
helped enormously with 42 Miles Press stuff). Interesting
conference. One of the best I've been to in a while. John
Gallaher was present--many folks were present. Some
people attended panels. I had a very successful book
signing. Etc.

But we need to get ready to interview Clayton AND to
talk through the process of making books via Lulu.
So I want you to 1. Read Clayton's book exhaustively
and read his poems at these links as well:

A Monster Poem is Here.

And a Monster Poem is Here.

Get to class BEFORE 5:30 (get your coffee, etc) so we can
talk about this work, the stuff in the book, the long
poems linked to. But before that even . . .

You will write THREE questions for Clayton. One
can be somewhat generic--questions you could ask any
poet--and two others should be specific, about process,
about a certain poem or poems, about style, accessibility,
meaning or non-meaning. Whatever.

We will meet and talk at 5:25. Clayton will come into
class at 6 pm. We will talk for 50 mins (about). We will
break at 6:50 (or 7). Then we will discuss how our books
are coming along and provide helpful comments to others
having trouble with the process. Bring your cover image
(print copies or email it to me).

Nick, were you going to bring an additional poem? You could
send me the completed ms.

We'll talk a bit about AWP during this FINAL hour of class
as well. Because the first half hour I want to devote to Clayton's
poems . . .

WED. April 1



It feels like a no-man's land of wandering in fields of fog
lately. Spring break always signals something--a sense
that what needed to be accomplished has been mostly
accomplished, because, God knows, everyone is ready
to absorb some free time and let loose . . . Still, we forge
ahead.

Here is what's up:

1. Read Clayton's book and come to class IN TWO WEEKS
with at least two questions (yes, again). Clayton will come
to class at about 6 pm (so we can talk a bit about the work
first).

2. Bring your cover image (or a couple possible cover images)
print it, or copy it to your blog (and I may print it).

3. Have a substantial amount of work done downloading your
book and print some evidence of this (hell, screen shots work
for me). I won't say HOW MUCH you need to prove--let's
just proceed using THE HONOR SYSTEM, with an
understanding moving forward that you will get this process
well under way. The idea is to come to class and share your
experience (and help each other with all the logistics of this
process).

As you know (many of you) I will be in Minneapolis next week,
for AWP. So we meet again on 4/15/15.

See you in a bit . . .

ANOTHER POST



Despite my post last night, you may be wondering how to
proceed. This is A LOT of work. My concern at this point
is not to communicate, via small essay, the aesthetic aspects
of the work that are most striking, etc. Pretty much everyone
(and I mean EVERYONE) has continued to improve since
stage 2 of the workshop process. The mss. are very much what
they were on their way to becoming then, and I'm amazed
by the hard maturity and consistency evident in the work. So
I think what we want to do is be prepared to state in class
how we feel about each--know the work--but you don't need
to write anything out. I would mark up and edit the manuscripts
as needed. In each case envision the manuscript as going off
to press next. Is it ready for that? We will go alphabetically
through the mss (each poet reading about five pieces) and
discuss each. I want us to leave tomorrow's session with
each of you confident about moving forward to the next phase.
So, simply read the manuscripts, mark them as needed, and
come to class with any advice you might have for THE NEXT
STEP. In many cases, I'm simply finding, poem after poem,
nothing to correct. This is probably the most talented group
of poets I've ever met with in one place over the long haul
of a semester.

POST AT THE END OF MARCH



Ok, so we've hit the busy part of the year. We've all been
in a class of some sort since last August. But here we are--
close to publishing our books. And here we have in our
possession copies (looking somewhat close to how they will
look once published) of the manuscripts that will become
the books (chapbooks). Now, I'd really LIKE to talk about
all of them--that's right. One long class devoted to nothing
but our manuscripts. But I realize that entails a lot of read-
ing. But you can do it. For one thing, no need to read deeply
any of the older poems--the ones we've all seen. Best
to give the book the once over (and correct any typos or
any other errors you happen to notice) and then focus more
deeply on the new poems the poet has added. Either way,
how does it all hold up as a book. Give any advice you can
on formatting. I've breezed through a few of the mss. and
they are very much ready to appear between more permanent
covers. So let's celebrate these books, give a little advice,
a little feedback, and let the process begin . . .

Remember, I will be in Minneapolis net week--so no
class--unless you all want to meet on your own--and then
in two weeks we interview Clayton . . .

Man, where has the time gone?

Oh, and btw--Nick's poems are in the wallbox outside
my office, and I have a all the poems in a packet for you,
Tom . . .

THURSDAY, MARCH 19


Note: Live Nude Girl looks at the differences between Nudity
and Nakedness, historically, philosophically . . . The opening
chapter is mostly the story of how Rooney began to model . . .
For me the book takes off when it begins to examine ideas related
to the so-called exhibitionistic act of modeling in the second
chapter . . . Robinson Alone is a book of poems in which Rooney
borrows the figure of Robinson, conjured up by Weldon Kees,
to examine Kees work. Kees is famous for his mysterious end,
in which he either committed suicide by jumping from the Golden
Gate Bridge, or he simply vanished, perhaps into the landscape
of Mexico . . .

So I'm posting again--time to get back at it. I cut and pasted
your Qs and JG's answers to a Word Doc and will edit it. It
might take a little while to get it posted. (By the way, Nick,
your Qs are included).

Now I am going to IMPLORE you to please take the
trouble to visit school before Wednesday evening in order
to pick up copies I made of prose from Kathleen Rooney's
memoir (Live Nude Girl: My Life as an Object), as well as
excerpts from her books of poems Robinson Alone and One-
iromance (an epithalamion). We have a great opportunity to
learn a lot from this writer / publisher and it makes sense to f
familiarize yourself with some of the work. The copies are
in the wall box outside my office door as of now (3/19--
5:30 pm). Read the interview I handed out, and feel free to
search the web. She's everywhere. Rooney is a poet, a novelist
and an essayist as well as founding editor of Rose Metal Press . . .

More on her here. Keep watching this blog.

Getting back into things . . .

By the way, congratulations to Jennifer Jones! Her poem,
"Tornado Alley," was chosen as an honorable mention
selection, by Allan Peterson, for this year's Student CW
Awards. Email her an congratulate her!

See the post below as well . . .

POST DURING SPRING BREAK



So, thanks everyone, for the interview questions. We've got
quite a document here. I'll edit it soon and post it here. Feel
free to post your sections on your blog.

Hope break is proceeding in a lovely way. So, remember, you
bring your manuscript in next Wednesday, and try to get
it ready for "processing" -- we want it to look as close to
the book it will become as is possible. Log on to Lulu and get
that whole process started.

Remember, we will talk to Kathleen Rooney in class
on Wednesday. To help us with that I am going to Xerox
some stuff and hope that you can pick it up from outside
my office. Some of her poems, an essay or two. You already
are in possession of that interview I handed out. Please read
it.

Those copies will be there at the latest on Friday, late afternoon.

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?

 

THURSDAY


Here's an interesting link Austin sent me, in which journals
are classified by beginner and "career" tags . . . looks to be
genuine to me (correct, etc.).

Remember to send me your questions soon (today).

Obviously, my hope is to be able to post a really good
interview in the end, and be part of the conversation, one
of the things people go to online when they want to know
more about this book . . .

MONDAY NIGHT

So here we are, in the "otherwhere," with our accumulating
books of verse and improvisational W280 schedule. Just to
reiterate: Courtney, I saw (sadly) dropped the class (I think
she had a lot of extra stuff going on) so we'll look, first thing
on Wednesday, at the manuscripts by Tom, first, then the
conceptual poetry by the man known as Christopher Jack
Williams. Remember, we're bringing our last versions of
our book mss. on March 25, which is also the day Kathleen
Rooney will visit our class. PLUS I want to schedule an in-class
interview with Clayton, so start reading Watermark (or
re-reading, if you've read it). I'm thinking we'll do this
on April 1. I will go over the anthology stuff this week.
As far as questions for JG, we'll talk about his work in class
in two days, AFTER you have read the interviews and
reviews (or "review") I posted on the blog, because, shit,
let's be really informed this time. Let's know enough going
in, in order that we may ask brilliantly mind-numbing
questions. Just what is this project Gallaher has undertaken,
influenced by both Ashbery and John Cage, a work that is
so transparently autobiographical (is it a memoir?) but that
is also slightly slippery, surreal in those spots where we
rub up against fact?  This poetry DOES have PATHOS,
but the subject matter--sometimes, shocking as it is--
never feels melodramatic or sentimental: why is that?
The poem on page 76-77 is reported very casually, for
instance, but the reader is not exactly casual reading this
information . . . So we'll talk about JG's book after break,
after I go over the details for the anthology. BRING your
questions, questions we may modify, as we all become
expert interviewers. Understand: many poets interview
other poets (and artists, etc) and publish those interviews.
It is one way to add to your publications (also, write book
reviews). We may also look at some book cover designs
Austin is playing around with (if he'd like to do that).

SO

with God (or god (for Austin)) as my witness, I've
backtracked on the emailing a bit. Unless you really
have to, just wait to email until after class next Wed-
nesday, and we'll get a plan together. I'd planned on say-
ing a few things about JG's work, but I went over a couple
other things (including vanity presses (or one example
of such)), and then we read your great poems . . . This left
no time for IAL.

Now, the more I read the book the more the opportunity
that presents itself here becomes apparent. So just hold up
a bit. I like the idea of reading all this prose on a poet
as well, THEN discussing the work (I'm mean the
interviews, and reviews). Let's get to know what's up
with this work so we can get dig a bit deeper with our
questions . . .

Check out JG's playlist (link on blog) as well. There is
a lot about process (and questions about process are
encouraged) in the interviews . . . I'll be posting even
more links by and by . . .

Tonight is the last frigid night. Fifties by next Wednesday!

MR GALLAHER


read the rest of In a Landscape for next week. I really did get
swept away in the quality of the poetry manuscripts (yours)
tonight. We should have talked a bit about JG's work, because
it is a fascinating project, and his work in general is interesting
and, from book to book, he takes risks. I'll relax the deadline
for asking the question, because I'd rather it be interesting and
informed rather than rushed so I can watch you merely meet
a deadline . . . No one's in a huge rush. So we can make the dead-
line NEXT Wednesday, at midnight, in case you want to
ask your question after we talk a bit about the work. So, like,
we have a week for this. Still, do it early if you so desire,
but run the questions by me, as I requested in my email.

Read the rest of JG's book, of course, because it just gets better . . .
and, of course, it is one long poem . . .

Poem packets (#3) is due March 25. Not next week. More details
next week.

(before I continue, we finish up by looking at Tom's manuscript
(revised, Tom?) and Chris's . . . Courtney's, I guess, though she
keeps vanishing in the end-of-winter fog . . . (?))

Do some reading on John's work in general and In a Landscape
(the book itself) in particular:

Some interviews. Here's an older one.

Here is another (self interview).

Here is a third (piece) of one.

A very new interview here.

Here is yet another interview.

Interview from John's blog (a meme?)

I think this is interesting. A playlist of all the songs mentioned
in In a Landscape. A question about music and it's importance
to his poetry might be interesting . . .

John's Wikipedia page, for a short broad overview.

Here is a short review of In a Landscape (the tile, btw, of this
book is taken from John Cage, the Avant-Garde composer).

Excerpt from an interview:

Where did the idea come from for the book?

There was no idea, really, not at first.  I sat down one day after having written a lot of poems where I didn’t use the first person, and I thought it might be nice to try a direct address to the reader, a kind of pretend conversation or something.  Something about what was happening that day, full of the names and places and dates, and what I thought about, what my views were on all manner of subjects. 

That’s what I thought over time, but on day one, I just sat down to write in the first person, and I’d just finished re-reading John Cage’s SILENCE, so I put on an album of his compositions, titled In a Landscape.  I titled my poem that, out of convenience, and when I felt like that poem was over, I started another, and used the same title, just to keep things simple.  I was several poems/sections in before I realized what I was doing. 

In the final say, it’s a book-length poem in 71 discrete sections, each titled “In a Landscape,” and numbered and presented in compositional order (with a couple shufflings due to bad book-keeping), and each composed while listening to that album.  I wrote mostly in the mornings, and then added to and tinkered with them here and there over the last couple years.  When I add something, I usually go ahead and put in the new date. 

What genre does your book fall under?

Poetry (though one could call it memoir, or diary or essay, if one felt like thinking of it that way).

Page Layout Chapbook

MORE LINKS



Some links to chapbook publishers.

I want to discuss this as well. (Ethics, etc).

Some links to small press publishers.

EVERYTHIING I KNOW UP UNTIL NOW

by Jennifer Jones

I’d build you a home in poetry

if I could find your box on the storage shelves  
in my memory. You are like a fog that roots
itself on top of the grass blades

in the witching hours, blanketing

my face, obscuring all edges. So thick and
opaque it could swaddle the whispers of a mockingbird
forever. Funny the word forever. Just when you

think it the sun breaks through and the mist

was never really there. And I’m left standing
in a well worn bathrobe with Jack on my breath.
I’m there in the wet grass, watching the world

watching me. And I’m stuck.

I’m all tangled up in metaphors.

DON'T FORGET


Remember this assignment. I'll change the due date
to Friday, March 6, because that's the kind of flexible
dude I am . . .

Check out the posts. Two or three today . . .

RANKINGS


Hicok
Lockwood
Szybist
Dickman    J Jones

Hicok
Dickman
Lockwood
Szybist    J Johnson

Dickman
Lockwood
Szybist
Hicok     SE

Lockwood
Hicok
Dickman
Szybist    NG

Hicok
Lockwood
Dickman
Szybist      CW

Dickman
Hicok
Lockwood
Szybist       TJ

Dickman
Lockwood
Hicok
Szybist      LB

URP


So, I just bumped into this interview site. Maybe
reading interviews will help with questions you might
ask Mr. Gallaher . . .

Bring two (2) questions to class--yes, written, on a piece
of paper. The old fashioned way . . .

ASSIGNMENTS

Have you read through page 63? Good stuff. But also:
we're going over the packets alphabetically, but we only
got through three last week! I'd like to start off with the
packets on Wednesday. Let's get five done: the poems by
Niall, Jessica's, Jennifer, Thomas, and Austin. . . .

Read through page 63 in In a Landscape. More on this
book next week, but for now, I want you to come up
with two (2) fascinating questions for Mr. Gallaher. Don't
be shy, and ask anything at all. Including Qs about process
or writing habits; certainly many Qs about the book--
the poems, the epigraphs (John Cage) or all the references
to Neil Young. So read our class poems and John's
poems. I'll figure out how we'll go about asking these
Qs . . .