Poet Questionnaire #8 : Allan Briesmaster answering Stan Rogal

 

 

 

 

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 Allan several years ago, probably through the Idler Pub Reading series which I coordinated and hosted for ten years, though maybe through Jill Battson, who was always setting up some poetry event or other, or maybe through the Art Bar Series, I can’t remember anymore.

While the Idler Pub is defunct, and Jill Battson has long since left the country, Allan has maintained a steady vital presence in the local Toronto (and surrounding area) poetry scene. I thought it was high time to celebrate that fact. Ladies and gentlemen, I present someone I do know on a personal level, the hard-working and always affable, always approachable, Allan Briesmaster.

1.     Will the real Allan Briesmaster please stand up! Meaning, please give our readers some history and an overview of who you are and why you do what you do, as a long-time, multi-faceted, and creative force in the Toronto literary scene.

I only started to hit my stride with poetry in my thirties, when the demands of my second I.T. job eased up. At about that time, I got the chance to lead Phoenix, Toronto’s longest-running open workshop. Later I became the director of the weekly Art Bar Poetry Series, expanding it so that it reflected the full range of ways of writing poetry plus Spoken Word, with both distinguished and emerging poets. By then I’d seen how poetry thrives in “community” situations where poets offer each other appreciative listening, constructive feedback on the crafting of their texts, and moral support. My writing life and social life intertwined, and fellow poets were close friends.

2.    You’ve hosted readings, were a founding partner in the now-defunct Quattro Books, and run your own literary press, Aeolus House. Can you elaborate somewhat on these activities?

My nine years with the Art Bar plus workshopping created opportunities to edit manuscripts and eventually publish books of poetry for which I had high regard. Early retirement from the 9 to 5 freed me up to engage in those activities full-time. I joined three friends in forming Quattro and stayed with the company from 2006 to 2017. I also did volunteer work at the “professional” level for the League of Canadian Poets, while continuing to value the grass roots. Over the years I gave editorial assistance to many poets toward their first or subsequent books. My micro press, Aeolus House, had its start a few years before Quattro and continued as a sideline, then expanded into bringing out an average of 10 custom-designed, limited-edition books of poetry annually. I don’t keep track but have had a hand in the production of more than 300 books since the late 90s. And then, there were and are launches and readings to arrange and host, and plenty to attend. 

3.    You’re also a published poet in your own right. How do these extra-curricular communal activities affect your writing?

I’ve never felt that my work in the poetry community encroached on my own writing space. Travel and self-promotion may have been limited but that was a trade-off. The stimulus of exposure to and close connection with a wide variety of voices, personalities and divergent poetics seems actually to have been conducive to building my own body of work at a measured pace. As far as I can tell, my writing style wasn’t impacted a whole lot by my associates’ aesthetics, but my output definitely gets an energy boost from the kinds of attention I pay. 

4.    Are you involved with any other literary activities at the moment, apart from the aforementioned?

I’m in a small group in York Region, north of Toronto, that started a reading series featuring fellow writers there. Our inaugural four-author event in Richmond Hill was very successful and we now plan to have at least one each season. Another recent development I was behind is the formation of the Senior Poets Caucus within The League of Canadian Poets. Its mission, among other things, is to resist the prevalent ageism in our literary culture, for the benefit of all members of the organization – and beyond. Meanwhile, I’ve written about half of what I hope will be my eleventh full-length book.   

5.    Have you noticed a change in the live literary scene, pre- and post-COVID?

There are fewer live events such as poetry readings and reading series. That’s a shame, because writers who were active pre-COVID keep on creating, and many new writers are emerging, some of whom have a limited grasp of what live events can do. I continue to host occasional Zoom events myself, but they can hardly be a substitute.

6.    What drives you to write/promote poetry given there are fewer poetry publishers and even fewer poetry books being sold? Or am I wrong in this evaluation?

The dual difficulty of good poetry finding a worthy publisher and of worthy books reaching readers is troubling to contemplate. One has to believe that writing well and connecting with at least a small readership that appreciates one’s work justifies the effort taken – but most of us keep on anyway, out of a sheer stubborn compulsion. Despite the chronic frustrations of seeing poetry underappreciated, especially in our social media-saturated culture, I’m not about to give up trying to expand the audience hearing it live and reading it on the page. Well-written poetry deserves many more, not fewer hearers and readers.

7.    Poets deal in words. What is your favourite word and why? What about another word that maybe strikes your funny bone or makes you feel uneasy/awkward for no particular reason when you say it?

I like “confluence” for its implication of flowing-together. I even made Confluences the title of one of my books. The word “serendipity” always sounds, well, rather “dippy” to me.

8.    What other sources influence your poetry, i.e., music, movies, sports…?

Music, especially jazz and classical, is a lifelong influence. I like to feel I’m emulating both spontaneity (improvisation) and traditional principles of form: conveying rhythms and sounds in verbal gestures and structures unlike anything prose can deliver. I’ve also written about visual art, which is vital to me as well, while with other artforms, and sports, I’m mainly just a big fan. Game of chess, anyone?

9.    Do you feel that poetry has the power to end war, hunger, discrimination and environmental destruction in the world?

Not directly. I wish it could help bring peace and justice and ease physical suffering, but realistically, only ethical action – supported by powerful words – can make headway in those directions. Poetry that preaches or lectures us on how to improve our conduct, etc. is unlikely to have durable artistic merit. Of course, those who appreciate poetry know how it enhances awareness and is otherwise precious and life-sustaining (despite the fraught aspects). It is interesting that fascists and virtue-signallers try to censor our work or cancel some of us.  

10. Do you have any advice for anyone who’d like to be(come) a poet?

Be wary of all advice. But I would cautiously tell an aspiring poet that if they want their work to be any good, they ought to read widely, and not just the kinds of poems they think they want to write themselves. Read and learn from the classics and poems from different cultures in other languages. Read works in other genres too, and get intimate with a variety of artforms and performing arts. And beyond. Encompass (without turning dilettantish).

11.  What question is it that you’ve always wished an interviewer would ask, and hasn’t?

Of all the places where you once lived (like Alaska) and traveled to (Britain, Chile, Bermuda), which ones had the strongest effect on your writing? 

12. Add any additional comments of your own choosing. Manifestos included.

Poems: Give me pleasure, but not of a lulling kind. Don’t align too cosily with my biases or current fashions. And don’t hesitate to scare me at times. Or make me laugh. Open out ways to be more awake and in touch. Induce, and challenge, the whole of me to think, feel and imagine at least somewhat, and maybe radically, otherwise than what I’m easy and straight-laced about. Show me myself and others in harder light. Harder shade. Reveal. With that, you may console, lament, and also unsettle – preferably all at once. Inform me, too; instruct without patronizing. Freshen the commonplace and/or enlarge my frontiers. Recharge dull language. Then, together with long staying-power – change.        

 

 

 

 

Allan Briesmaster is a poet, freelance literary editor and publisher who has been active on the Toronto-area literary scene for many years. He has been a workshop leader and reading series organizer and was a partner in Quattro Books in 2006-2017. He currently operates his own small, independent press, Aeolus House. The most recent of Allan’s ten poetry collections is Later Findings (Ekstasis Editions, 2024). He has read his poetry, given talks, been on panels, and hosted events at venues from Victoria to St. John’s. He lives in Thornhill, Ontario.

 

 

 

  

Stan Rogal lives and writes in Toronto along with his artist partner Jacquie Jacobs. 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.

Poet Questionnaire #7 : Karl Jirgens answering Stan Rogal

 

 

 

 

 

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.

 

 

Poet Questionnaire #6 : rob mclennan answering Stan Rogal

 

 

 

 

 

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. 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 writers who contributed to the literary community in broader ways, not only as writers, but as publishers, editors, event organizers, and such. I met rob more than several years ago, when he was helping to set up readings at Carleton University and I’d get invited on occasion, having been published in The Carleton Arts Review. Over the years, we’ve gotten to know each other on a more personal level, even given the distance between Ottawa and Toronto. He really is the hardest working promoter and writer of all things poetry (PLUS having an oar in fiction) in the country and I’d like to thank him for allowing me the opportunity to sometimes play in his sandbox.

1. Will the real rob mclennan please stand up! Meaning, give our readers an overview as to who you are, what you do, and why you do it.

I write full-time, and have since the early 1990s, having published some forty or so trade books of poetry, fiction and non-fiction over them years, as well as over a hundred and fifty chapbooks. I’ve been producing chapbooks through above/ground press since July 1993, and produce the quarterly Touch the Donkey [a small poetry journal], occasional G U E S T [a journal of guest editors] and monthly online journal periodicities: a journal of poetry and poetics. Between Touch the Donkey, my ‘12 or 20 questions’ series and other venues, I’ve probably conducted and posted some two thousand interviews online since 2007, which seems akin to madness. I’ve been running events through The Factory Reading Series since January 1993, and co-founded and organize the semi-annual ottawa small press book fair, which celebrates thirty years this fall. I’m also an active reviewer, posting some one hundred and fifty book reviews online a year. I’m the current Artistic Director of VERSeFest: Ottawa’s International Poetry Festival, and President of the Board of VERSe Ottawa, which oversees both the festival and the poet laureate program, which recently announced David O’Meara (English) and Véronique Sylvain (French) as our latest two laureates for the City of Ottawa.

I’m currently working on a couple of non-fiction manuscripts/book-length essays, including “the green notebook” and “the genealogy book,” have completed a further manuscript of short stories, and am in-progress through a novel and at least two if not three poetry manuscripts. I’ve a few other schemes in the back of my head, but those aren’t quite ready to begin, as of yet.

Over the past decade, I’ve been home full-time with the two young ladies I share with Christine McNair, and both Christine and I have new books out this season—she, a hybrid memoir, Toxemia, with Book*hug Press, and I, a collection of short stories, On Beauty, with the University of Alberta Press—which is pretty exciting. We’re about to begin an array of readings in various corners of the country, whether together or separately, or at least as much as childcare might allow.

Why do I do it? Somewhere during my teen years, I found myself playing guitar and piano, and attempting drawing and painting, writing poems and short stories, floating across different genres and structures as what sparked my interest. It was only once my first daughter, Kate, was born in 1991 that I thought I should attend to writing properly, and not simply a poem every month or two or three. Why poems, over anything else? I really don’t know, but I knew I didn’t have to purchase supplies for writing in a way required for visual art. There was also a line I read around that time by Margaret Atwood, suggesting that if you want full time out of it, you have to put full time into it. So (even beyond the boundaries of running a home daycare until Kate was four or so) I did that. At this point, writing is how I best work out my thinking. And I think there are times I’m quite good at it.

2. Your poetic practice has sometimes been placed under the heading “Field Theory,” stemming from Williams’ notion of a poem as a “field of action” and, later, developed by Olson as “composition by field.” Is this an accurate account or totally off base? Perhaps you can expand on your writing style and influences.

Oh, curious. I hadn’t heard those first two terms prior, although I’m aware of the third. I first came to these structures not through Olson or Williams, but through George Bowering, which I suppose is an indirect kind of influence. There are lots of structural elements I learned in my twenties through my reading of the baffles of George Bowering, moving out from him into the concentric circles of Jack Spicer, bpNichol, Daphne Marlatt, Barry McKinnon, Leonard Cohen, Gwendolyn MacEwen, John Newlove, David Donnell, Sharon Thesen, Dennis Cooley, D.G. Jones, Robert Creeley, Andrew Suknaski and plenty of others, all of whom I absorbed different lessons from. I’ve still read very little in the way of Olson or Williams, but I suspect those writers exist as an underlay of where and what I’ve developed. I spent my twenties and into my thirties exploring the long poem and the book as my unit of composition. My compositions aimed for expansiveness, the fragment and the extended lyric.

By my thirties and into my forties I was paying more attention to the lyric sentence, leaning into prose poems, prompted through my reading of Rosmarie Waldrop, Etel Adnan, Julie Carr, Pattie McCarthy, Sarah Manguso, Cole Swensen, Lisa Robertson, Sarah Mangold, Sandra Ridley, Susan Howe, Robert Kroetsch and multiple others. The shifts have been interesting. I would think my ‘composition by field’ has evolved into something more compact, more pointed. I still work on books over individual poems, utilizing my current shapes determined in part through rhythm, sound and language. I still want to see where I’m going, where I might eventually land.

3. You live in Ottawa and participate in the larger literary scene as a publisher, editor, reviewer, and coordinator of book fairs and reading events. What does this mean to you in terms of creating a community? What impact do these involvements have on you and your writing?

Had I not had a child when I was twenty, I might have made different choices, but there was a deliberate choice to remain here for her sake (and mine as well, through maintaining the connection). I might have easily ended up instead in Montreal, or Toronto. Because I had made such a choice for my writing-self to remain in Ottawa, I was determined to make the city “liveable” by working to assist with a literary infrastructure I considered lacking, including organizing readings, a small press fair, writing reviews, publishing chapbooks and journals, supporting other writers in their work and simply being out in the world as someone who was doing the thing other folk said they wanted to do. The 1990s saw numerous writers leave town, which was enormously frustrating, and led to some rather thin periods of literary activity across the city.

I think had I moved to a more active city (I was accepted into the Creative Writing Program at Concordia when I was nineteen, but was missing an OAC credit, so couldn’t get into the school), I might have been more influenced by the writing and the activity around me. I wouldn’t have necessarily worked so hard to do some of this organizing, wouldn’t have worked so hard to seek out writers and writing and activity and influence from different parts of the country. I might not have spent so much time seeing what else was out there. I think in the long run it was far better for my writing to seek out influence, and not be otherwise shaped due to proximity.

4. Have you noticed a change in the “live” literary scene, pre- and post-COVID?

It took a while for audiences to warm up to events again, certainly. Not that I’ve been to as many events as I could be, hampered by my own momentum. Given we’re home with small children, it is often less complicated to remain home after a long day. We also lost a couple of events during the Covid-era, including The TREE Reading Series, which had a history back to 1980 or so. In certain ways, I’ve had the feeling that there’s been a scattering of activity, and no central point at which we all meet. Perhaps there already is one, and I simply don’t understand where that is.

5. I was once asked by a poet in the US if I was a “career poet,” which had me scratching my head. What is your interpretation of the term career poet and how do you believe you might qualify?

That is a good question. What does that even mean? I write, I send poems to journals and do readings, I publish books. I worry less about terminology than simply getting the work done.

I’m aware that there are American poets that have booking agents for readings and reading fees. We might have a more consistent and stable array of tiered government funding for the arts in Canada, which the United States really doesn’t, but their private funding is all over the place, whether funded readings through universities, or organizations such as the Guggenheim or the MacArthur. I wonder if the difference of private funding determines that approach, that terminology?

6. 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?

How I process and articulate the world shouldn’t be determined by anything as external and as unstable as the market.

I’ve been doing this long enough to know that short-term gains or losses are as fickle as the winds (although a good navigator knows to attend to the movement of the wind). I’m in this for the long haul.

7. After years of publishing numerous poetry collections with several different publishers — not to mention poems appearing in many magazines and anthologies — do you find that your track record has made it easier to get your work in print, or are you still having to knock on doors?

Oh, I still have to knock on many doors. I’ve worked hard to seek out new doors because of it, and even create my own. I had a good run across the aughts, as I was getting multiple books published through Bev Daurio at The Mercury Press, Karl Siegler at Talonbooks and Joe Blades at Broken Jaw Press. I’d rather be producing everything through only a couple of repeated, ongoing relationships with fewer presses, but haven’t quite managed to get back to that, although losing Talonbooks as a publisher forced me to rethink a particular trajectory of my work. It is good to stop and take stock every so often, after all. Am I doing this because it is interesting or because this is simply what I’ve been doing? Each manuscript needs to prove itself on its own merit.

I have a contemporary who claims that most of their many, many books were solicited by publishers, and I’ve only had that a single time, from Marty Gervais at Black Moss; ironically (and very fortunate for me), he offered this mere days after I’d already mailed a manuscript to him (which hadn’t landed yet on his end). My new short story collection went through about twenty rejections before it found a home at University of Alberta Press, and I’m very pleased to return to the fold, especially one that works to keep Robert Kroetsch in print. I’ve a handful of other manuscripts that have been rejected repeatedly, and still can’t find ground. Although, with forty or so published books, I’m certainly in no position to complain. If I never published again, I’d still consider myself incredibly fortunate, having produced work I’m still rather proud of, and opportunities to interact with writers and writing and the world that I might never have had. I think the difficulty provides another measure of checks and balance; the regular reminder to reconsider.

There are a couple of editors that I can at least send something to and I know the work will eventually get read, and get read well, although that doesn’t necessarily lead to publication either. I just have to keep working at it, I suppose.

8. Highly regarded as the uncrowned Kingpin of the Canadian poetry scene, and having several fingers in several pies, I’m sure our readers would like to know what the profitability margin is in such a venture — including the lucrative merch market, ie: T-shirts, fridge magnets, beer mugs, pens, ball caps, dead poet notepads, etc — perhaps, say, to the nearest million?

I will divulge nothing about my secret, illegal bank accounts in the Cayman Islands.

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?

When my eldest was a preschooler, she declared “unction” was the name of the meal between lunch and dinner. We’ve no idea where she picked up the word. Recently, I was impressed that my youngest, our eight-year old, not only used the word “persnickety,” but used it correctly.

10. When do you have time to sleep?

When I am tired, if I must. There is much still to do.

11. Do you feel that poetry has the power to end war, hunger, discrimination, and environmental destruction in the world?

Not directly, but one always hopes a poem might move any reader enough to attempt to work on those things. Literature is part of the larger human conversation of how we live in the world, document and articulate ourselves and our surroundings. Poetry is part of the world, and has value; it shouldn’t be so regularly forced to justify itself. Is painting ever asked if it has the power to end war? Have TikTok videos ever been asked if they have the power to end environmental destruction? Poetry books don’t sell, nor do they end wars, therefore, where is the value?

Reading allows for both empathy and comprehension, the ability to imagine beyond ourselves; one would think that these are the qualities that would prompt any civilization to push to end war, hunger, discrimination and environmental destruction. A poem has value beyond requiring it to attend to tasks beyond it, and yet, prompting the imagination is exactly what is required for those tasks to be levied.

12. What other sources influence your poetry, i.e., music, movies, sports…?

I’m sports-neutral, but elements of all sorts of other things interweave through my lines regularly, including references to pop culture, what I might read in the newspaper or a particular action or activity by one of the children. Back in the days of Mad Men, each new episode prompted me to think deeper about prose narrative; I always got further work done on fiction after watching that.

13. Do you have any advice for anyone who’d like to be(come) a poet?

Read everything. Writing is both muscle and study: the more time you spend doing it, the better your work will be. Pay attention to your contemporaries. Go out and interact with others attempting the same things. When working early drafts, don’t worry about being wrong or the poem not working. Worry more about the work than about naming.

14. Add any additional comments of your own choosing. Manifestos included.

Manifesto? I haven’t any of those. Although, in a recent issue of The Believer (Vol. 21, No. 2; Summer 2024), I was struck by an interview with Devon Price, an American social psychologist, blogger and author focusing on autism, on how community is so often approached in the wrong direction, as a colonial force. “Your approach is often colonialist, if that’s all you’ve ever known.” The mistake, as Price articulates, of asking yourself what you can take instead of what you can bring. I like the clarity of this, and the reminder. I have rarely heard such an idea articulated so clearly, and so well.

 

 

 

 

 

Born in Ottawa, Canada’s glorious capital city, rob mclennan [image credit: Aoife McLennan] currently lives in Ottawa, where he is home full-time with the two wee girls he shares with Christine McNair. The author of more than thirty trade books of poetry, fiction and non-fiction, he won the John Newlove Poetry Award in 2010, the Council for the Arts in Ottawa Mid-Career Award in 2014, and was longlisted for the CBC Poetry Prize in 2012 and 2017. In March, 2016, he was inducted into the VERSe Ottawa Hall of Honour. His most recent titles include On Beauty: stories (University of Alberta Press, 2024), the poetry collection World’s End, (ARP Books, 2023), a suite of pandemic essays, essays in the face of uncertainties (Mansfield Press, 2022) and the anthology groundworks: the best of the third decade of above/ground press 2013-2023 (Invisible Publishing, 2023). An editor and publisher, he runs above/ground press, periodicities: a journal of poetry and poetics and Touch the Donkey. He is editor of my (small press) writing day, and an editor/managing editor of many gendered mothers. The current Artistic Director of VERSeFest: Ottawa’s International Poetry Festival, he spent the 2007-8 academic year in Edmonton as writer-in-residence at the University of Alberta, and regularly posts reviews, essays, interviews and other notices at robmclennan.blogspot.com

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. Currently seeking a new publisher: anyone??? Co-founder of Bald Ego Theatre and former coordinator of the popular Idler Pub Reading Series.