The Habitual Poet: Patricia Fargnoli
Installment #27
: : :
The Habitual Poet is an ongoing series of contributor interviews. If you are a Poemeleon contributor and would like to participate download the questions, input your answers, and e-mail it to: editor@poemeleon.org.
: : :
Reading:
Q: Where do you prefer to get your books?
A: I'd like to buy them all from Spring Church or The Groliers. But mostly I buy them from Amazon and Tupelo Press (which I support because the books are beautiful and they're my publisher).
Q: How many poetry books do you think you own, and what percentage of these have you actually read?
A: I don't know but as many as I can fit in my 7 bookcases (3 floor to ceiling) and on the tops of every table. And I read all of them.
Q: When, where and how do you usually read? (i.e. at bedtime under the covers, cover to cover, etc.)
A: first choice: in bed; but also in the big blue plushy recliner and in the bathroom (of course). Also on the Internet. I read Poetry Daily and Verse Daily first thing every morning.
Q: What books of poetry have you read this month?
A: Stupid Hope, Jason Shindler; The Us, Joan Houlihan, Orpheus, Ted Deppe, All of it Singing, Linda Gregg, and the current issues of several literary journals
Q: What other books/magazines/backs of cereal boxes have you read recently?
A: The New Yorker, The Woman in the Mountain (Kate Winter, ed), Raison Bran and Oatmeal
: : :
Writing:
Q: When, where, how do you write, and why?(i.e. at dusk on a dock, longhand in a notebook, because...)
A: I do most of my writing directly on the computer…and most all of my revising that way. But sometimes, especially when I'm stuck, I write with a Precise fine line pen in those orange graph paper Rhodia pads, which I love because the surface of the paper makes the ink, flow easily and there is something about all those little boxes that seems to access creative thinking. I write almost totally in the morning before 10 am. After that, my poetic brain goes on blink.
Q: How many first drafts do you think you complete in a week? A month?
A: This varies a great deal. I wrote three last week, none so far this week (but it's only Tuesday). And before that, I'd written only a few poems since last September….maybe 8 or 9 decent ones in all over the last year…and a bunch of undecent ones. A new book (Then, Something) just came out and I've found that when I've finished a book and it's in the process of being published, there is always a dry period while I try to figure out what to do next. It's as if my psyche is regrouping. That's always a scary time because then I don't know if I'll ever be able to write again. Poetry is constantly on my mind, though, and I am always trying to write..
Q: How long do you wait before revising a poem?
A: I revise several times right away, then put it away for a day or so, then revise more. I keep a file of “working poems” and go back to it constantly continuing to revise….often over years.
Q: When do you know a poem is “done”?
A: I never know. It's more “released” than finished. It helps when someone else in a workshop or a poet/friend tells me it feels “done.” I am a terrible judge of my own work.
Q: Have you ever given up an invitation so you could stay home and write?
A: I don't think so. I manage to distract myself or allow myself to be distracted very easily.
: : :
Publishing:
Q: What is your system for sending out work?
A: I send out usually once in the fall and once in January or February. Perhaps once more to journals that read through the summer. I don't have a huge surplus of poems I consider finished (especially right after a book comes out). At the moment I have 4 groups of poems out.
Q: What have you more recently received: a rejection notice or an acceptance? Was it what you expected?
A: Two acceptances within the last couple of weeks: Poemeleon : and The Florida Review. I never expect acceptances; I just rejoice.
Q: Where do you generally publish: online, in print, or a mix, and do you have a preference?
A: I publish both online and in print. I still prefer in print because I love receiving contributor copies and having something solid to hold in my hands and read. I don't read on the screen very easily (and one can't read a computer screen in bed).
Q: What is the worst (or weirdest, or best) experience you’ve had with a journal/magazine/press & its editor(s)? (No names, please!)
A: Years ago, I accidentally submitted a poem to more than one journal (this was before the days simultaneous submissions were ever acceptable). I only discovered it because two weeks after I sent it to the 2nd journal, it was accepted by the 1st. I immediately told journal #2 who wrote me a venom-filled letter implying that I was lying about it being an accident and saying they were “no longer interested in reading my work.” This upset me badly and still does when I think of it. Needless to say, I've never submitted to that journal again.
Q: Have you ever received any fan (or hate) mail? If so, what was that like?
A: I have two thick folders full of fan mail. And I love it when I hear that a poem of mine, or a book of them has moved someone. That kind of human connection is why I write! Sometimes, when I feel most “down” about not being able to live up to my own standards of poetry, I reread some of these just to remind me that I am making a difference or just giving enjoyment, even if just for a moment, to some other human being.
: : :
Practical considerations:
Q: What is your day job, and how does it affect your writing?
A: I'm a retired clinical social worker/psychotherapist and I've been retired many years now. Currently, I occasionally teach a small private poetry class and/or do poetry critiques. My background as a social worker has given me a broad understanding of human nature and a large degree of tolerance for other cultures, belief systems, etc. Naturally, this informs my work.
Q: How does your significant other’s occupation affect your writing life?
A: N/A
Q: Have there been periods in your life when you couldn't write?
A: Yes…usually when a book is in production and right after it comes out.
Q: Do you have a “poetry budget”?
A: No, because if I had one, I'd break it.
Q: Have you ever suffered (or made someone else suffer) in the name of your art? (i.e. picked up your kids late from school
A: I hope not.
: : :
Random nonsense:
Q: Do you have any superhuman abilities? (i.e. can you tie a cherry stem in a knot with your tongue, or write a double sestina with both hands tied behind your back?)
A: I can recite the Greek alphabet by heart because when I was in the 8th grade and in a summer camp, my cabin mate was an astronomer's daughter…and she made everyone learn it because (she said) if you didn't know the Greek alphabet, you couldn't know about stars. I never forgot it.
Q: You write a scathing poem about your mother and she learns about it. You:
a.) Move to South America and leave no forwarding address
b.) Delete the poem and insist it never existed
c.) Show it to her (she’s already written you out of the will anyway)
d.) Do none of the above; instead you: _____
My mother died when I was 5, so she never got a chance to become less than an angel in my eyes.
Q: If the best medical specialists in the world told you that if you didn’t give up your poetry habit today you would die in six months, would you get your affairs in order or would you leave that up to your family?
A: What a difficult question; I can't imagine living without poetry…I wouldn't know what to do with myself.
Q: If you could be a vowel, which one would you be and why?
A: “O” for “oh” for awe which is, I think, the proper stance toward the world.
Q: Finally write a couplet for a collaborative ghazal using the following kaafiyaa and radif: “said the poet”.
I wonder if there is a land of words
that one can pick off trees, something like birds, said the poet.
________________________________________________________________________________________
Patricia Fargnoli, the NH Poet Laureate from 12/06-3/09, is the author of 4 books and 2 chapbooks of poetry. Her latest book is, Then, Something , Tupelo Press, 2009. Her first book, Necessary Light won the 2000 May Swenson Award and Duties of the Spirit won the NH Jane Kenyon Literary Award. A retired social worker, she's published recently in Ploughshares, Nimrod, Massachusetts Review, Cimarron Review et. al. She teaches poetry privately and lives in Walpole, NH.
Tuesday, August 24, 2010 at 08:41AM
Reader Comments (1)