To be honest, I don't know that many writers these days, on a personal level. Times have changed, at least, for me. Let’s face it, COVID didn’t help, and it seems like many people are remaining more cocooned in their dwellings; in their computers, rather than involved in the community, live and in person. During the 1990’s there was a vibrant group I hung out with, partied with, put on events with, but this group has (sadly) long since dispersed. I thought it might be worthwhile to re-create some of that old-time camaraderie and "the interview" format seemed a nice, relaxed entry. I also wanted to interview poets who contributed to the literary community in broader ways, not only as writers, but as publishers, editors, event organizers, and such. I met Karl several years ago, though, at a distance, through his readings and publishing efforts. It’s only in more recent years that we’ve gotten to know each other on a more personal level. That, despite the fact I’m in Toronto and he’s in Windsor, kilometers, if not worlds apart.
I was aware that Karl had stopped publishing Rampike magazine, and that he’d retired from U of Windsor, and didn’t seem to be doing much in the way of organizing literary events anymore. Suddenly, he had a collection of short stories appear, The Razor’s Edge, told me of readings he’d set up — including a salon series in his home — and, most importantly (since my intention is to interview poets), he was about to publish his first poetry collection. The timing seemed perfect. Ladies and gentlemen, I present Karl Jirgens, resurrected and rejuvenated.
1. Will the real Karl Jirgens please stand up! Meaning, give our readers an overview as to who you are, what you do, and why you do it.
Ok, thanks for asking. I’m the former English Dept. Head and Chair of the Creative Writing Program (U Windsor), author of six books (Coach House, Mercury, ECW, The Porcupine’s Quill & Exile). My newest book, Travesties (my first book of poetry) is due this autumn from Exile Editions (Toronto). I edited two books (on Jack Bush, and Christopher Dewdney), plus, an issue of Open Letter magazine with Beatriz Hausner on collaborative creations. My scholarly and creative texts are published globally (most recently, in Japan). My poetry was selected for the anthology Best Poetry of Canada, 2023. I founded, edited & published Rampike magazine, my short-fiction collection, The Razor’s Edge (The Porcupine’s Quill Press), won minor prizes and was published in 2022. And, I’m a Grandmaster of Korean Martial Art (TKD; (8th Degree). Who knows why I did those things? I guess I enjoy those things.
2. You edited and published Rampike magazine for many years. Can you give us some history, and why did you stop publication?
Yeah, I founded Rampike and ran it for 36 years. Rampike featured celebrated international artists, writers, and theorists (e.g.; Paul Auster, William Burroughs, Julia Kristeva, Nourbese Philip, Robert Mapplethorpe, Jacques Derrida, Daphne Odjig, Dennis Oppenheim, Chris Burden, Norval Morrisseau, Leonard Cohen, Judith Fitzgerald, Stan Rogal, rob mclennan, among many others). Rampike’s print archive is located at the Thomas Fisher Rare Books Library (Toronto). And Rampike’s digital archive is at the University of Windsor (Leddy Library - Free and searchable:
https://scholar.uwindsor.ca/rampike/about.html). The magazine was my gift to the world. It offers a slice of arts history from 1979 to 2016; a very interesting period! I stopped publishing it because it was a drag which included grant applications, distribution, rounding up talent, and income tax, etc. Sometimes I wanted to change the publication’s name to Rumpache.
3. As a former university professor, you also organized many literary events. Any that stand out for you? What does this mean to you in terms of creating a community? What impact do these involvements have on you and your writing?
Wherever I’ve gone, I’ve tried to build a creative community (and yes, also literary). I tried to build arts throughout Ontario (visual art, theatre, music, writing, etc.). I started many publications, Rampike, Algoma Ink, Windsor Salt, and guest edited mags such as Open Letter and Hamilton Arts Literary. I organized dozens of literary events including those for my students. I worked for 10 years organizing BookFest Windsor. Lenore Langs was the Director during that period. I’m unsure of the overall impact of those events. I keep learning and writing. I think Chaucer said it best: “The life so short, the craft so long to learn" (Parlement of Foules).
4. You held literary events in Sault Ste. Marie where the locals would show up just because they knew it would be a wild and crazy experience. I was part of one of those events. A sold-out crowd. There was a bar set up, the audience sat at tables, and you had students perform Heiner Müller’s Hamletmachine throughout the space. Can you elaborate on the audience response to all this madness?
Sure, those events were free by the way. And audiences loved those shows. You did a great presentation at that event! I remember! The students who performed Hamletmachine rehearsed for many weeks. I asked them to present the play amongst the audience. It was a fabulous performance that included in-house large-screen video, acoustics, and blood pouring out of refrigerator on stage, 3 television sets, and a person on a swing moving back and forth over the heads of the audience! My events included music, theatre, and writing and were held in a “black box” theatre (very flexible). I’ve found that venues elsewhere are more confining. I did shows with you, Beatriz Hausner, & Gary Barwin in Toronto, and Windsor. You and I are due for another show with Peter Hrastovec (Windsor’s Poet Laureate) for an upcoming show/book-launch at Biblioasis Bookstore (Windsor, April 24th, 7 pm; free). I’ll tell you a little story about one of my shows. There was a hippy dude who wanted to read at one of my events. I asked if he was a writer. He said no, but he liked to recite musical lyrics. So, I thought of Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Leonard Cohen, and I said ok. On the night of the event he recited TV show lyrics, and intoned “Batman, Batman, Batman, Batman, na-na-na-na-nah, Batman!” The audience loved it!
5. Although you’ve stopped publishing Rampike and have retired from university, are you still involved with the Windsor live literary scene in any way?
Of course, and all over Ontario too! And I hope, soon across Canada. I’ve got publications all over the place. I’ve got writing forthcoming in Jacket 2, and Guernica editions. I just participated in a Writers Union of Canada reading (online), and I’ve organized readings at my house with roughly 2 dozen guests featuring writers such as Stuart Ross, Andre Narbonne, Jade Wallace, & artists like Collette Broeders and Iain Baxter&, plus musicians including professional musicians such as Nicholas Jirgens. I want to integrate arts presentations (music, visual art, writing, etc). I’m planning a series of shows at Villa 92 (in Windsor) with artist, Chris McNamara. So, I’m as busy as ever. This autumn, I plan on a series of book launches, so if someone wants to invite me, then please email me (jirgens@uwindsor.ca).
6. Have you noticed a change in the live literary scene, pre- and post-COVID?
Yep. COVID pretty much killed live literary scenes, but now they’re making a come-back. So, I think we’ll see more hybrid events; live and digital (Zoom). COVID was rough but it inspired Zoom readings, so that’s an unexpected benefit. Writers and artists are a resilient bunch.
7. I know that your fiction has been published in book form, but you’re also a poet, though you’ve never had a collection published, which I find sadly surprising. This is about to change. Can you tell us something about your book coming out this year with Exile? Feel free to advertise.
Thanks. My book is a collection of poems that I wrote over 20 years. It’s kind of a “collected.” Exile will release it this autumn. I’ll read from it and will have books for sale this spring, at the Biblioasis event in April (poetry month). The book is divided into 5 sections: Travesties (covert irony), Homages (gentle humility), Lingo (language play), Raptures (eco-rap & oceanic pieces), plus Dreamscapes (embracing Surrealism). It’s a lot of fun with some serious stuff too. Here’s the CIP (Cataloguing in Publication) from Exile: “Travesties is a brilliantly crafted collection of poems about the world we live in and fundamental questions about ourselves, life, and death. Karl Jirgens, through his range of innovative and experimental literary expressions and passionate demonstrations of delight for shifts in perception/altered states/eco-poetics, powerfully reminds readers of the bond between every individual, all living things, and the world that continuously shapes us.” I am very grateful to Beatriz Hausner (editor) and Michael Callaghan (publisher), who both worked very hard on this book.
8. What keeps you writing poetry given there are fewer poetry publishers and even fewer poetry books being sold? Or am I wrong in this evaluation?
To be frank, my next book is a novel (covering family history). The working title is Cold War Blues. Then, I want to work on a book about how people are obsessed with money$. Maybe I’ll call it “Ka-Ching!” I’ll keep writing poetry, but yes, there are fewer publishers, and fewer books of poetry sold. So, I will pursue fiction for a while, but I’ll make it beautiful and poetic.
9. Poets deal in words. What is your favourite word? What about another word that maybe strikes your funny bone or makes you feel uneasy/awkward for no particular reason when you say/use it? Why?
I want to be remembered as someone who restored the word “groovy.” It’s a great word that’s almost forgotten. The word “tariff” makes me feel uneasy. Why? Because there’s absolutely no point to a trade war. It benefits no one. Many words are a drag and make me uncomfortable (e.g.: “51st state,” “occupy,” “war,” “invasion,” “nukes,” etc.)
10. What other sources influence your poetry, i.e., music, movies, sports…?
I’ve read a lot of books. I write poems to honour other writers, while pointing to twists of mind. And, I write about eco-culture. I guess my big themes are sex and death. But I won’t reveal my “sources.” Journalists know why one shouldn’t disclose information that identifies a “source.” I think Leonard Cohen once said that revealing a source of inspiration is like revealing your gambit. So, I won’t directly answer that question.
11. Do you feel that poetry has the power to end war, hunger, discrimination, and environmental destruction in the world?
Probably not. Yvgeny Yevtushenko used to be able to pack sports stadiums in Russia (don’t get me wrong, I strongly disagree with Russian politics). But until we can pack forty thousand people into a sport stadium to listen to poetry, I don’t think poetry has the power to change the world.
12. Do you have any advice for anyone who’d like to be(come) a poet?
Use your wits to find gainful employment. You can write poems on the side. Look at the history of some of the world’s top poets, Wallace Stevens worked as an insurance lawyer, T.S. Eliot worked as a bank clerk, a schoolteacher, and a literary critic, and later on he was an editor, and then a publisher. William Carlos Williams served as a doctor, and Charles Bukowski worked as a postal clerk. Tomas Transtromer was a psychologist. Heck, even Lewis Caroll had a job teaching math at Oxford. So, forget about earning a living through poetry. The world isn’t ready. Wordsworth said; “The world is too much with us.” So, don’t squander your time.
13. Please add any additional comments of your own choosing. Manifestos included.
Good question, thanks! I will only add the golden rule; “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” Which ought to be the rule for everybody and is embedded in most global belief systems. Here’s my “manifesto”; “Art is art, everything else isn’t.”
Karl Jirgens, former English Dept. Head and Chair of the Creative Writing Program (U Windsor), is author of six books (Coach House, Mercury, ECW, The Porcupine’s Quill & Exile Editions). Jirgens edited two books (on painter, Jack Bush, and poet, Christopher Dewdney), plus, an issue of Open Letter magazine with Beatriz Hausner. His scholarly and creative texts are published globally (most recently in Japan). His poetry was selected for the anthology Best Poetry of Canada, 2023. Jirgens founded, edited, published Rampike magazine, featuring celebrated international artists, writers, and theorists. Rampike’s print archive is at the Thomas Fisher Rare books library U of Toronto, & digitally archived (free: https://scholar.uwindsor.ca/rampike/about.html). His prize winning short-fiction collection, The Razor’s Edge (The Porcupine’s Quill Press), was published in 2022 (See: https://www.jirgens.org/ ). Jirgens is a Grandmaster of Tae Kwon Do (8th Degree Black Belt).
Stan Rogal lives and writes in Toronto along with his artist partner Jacquie Jacobs and their pet jackabee. His work has appeared almost magically in numerous magazines and anthologies. The author of several books, plus a handful of chapbooks, a 13th poetry collection was published in March 2025 with ecw press. Co-founder of Bald Ego Theatre and former coordinator of the popular Idler Pub Reading Series.
