#john swain

John Swain

ME: How would you describe your own poetry?

JS: Poetry is like a painted stone or the illumination of shed animal skin.

ME: Your poetry is lyrical in nature. Why do you take this approach?

JS: Style is not an approach necessarily, but a natural uncovering of voice. The lyric seeks to distill responses to world and body.

ME: Do you start poems with a specific structure in mind?

JS: Structure develops following the shape and impulse of the words that originated the poem.

ME: A writer can, obviously, make biblical allusions without being religious. That said, what is the purpose of the biblical allusions in your work?

JS: Allusions serve the same purpose as any other part of a poem: to compare, describe, or evoke. The significance of an allusion is a matter of interpretation rather than creation. Words and images are alive and immediate as they enter consciousness. Each poem is self-contained where reference to another text is not necessary to achieve understanding.

ME: WHITE VASES is rife with striking imagery from nature. I’m curious– are all of these images ones you have personally observed, or are some invented? The sea urchins in “Immerses,” for example. I’ve been to the sea many times but never seen an urchin, so I’m wondering if perhaps you must be a poet to notice these things– or for them to approach you.

JS: Poetry arises from the generative combination of observation and imagination. The word and thing are equally actual. However, a great richness and depth exists in the unnoticed. Investigation comprises a major function of the poet. Ultimately, the observed gifts its revelation.

ME: What advice would you give to a young poet wanting to begin their career?

JS: Read widely. Always carry pen and paper. Cultivate resilience. Avoid the advice of poets.

ME: The explosion of literary presence on the internet has undoubtably led to greater amounts of interaction both between poets, and between readers and poetry. How do you utilize the internet to connect with other poets and readers?

JS: The internet is a useful tool to connect and share work. If I read something I like and become interested, I will often send the writer a note.

ME: Ok, what about the fleshworld. What types of literary communities do you participate in?

JS: I read publicly on occasion.

ME: Everyone has their own definition of success. What’s yours?

JS: Sustaining action upon curiosity and interest in one’s own life within the greater life.

ME: What’s the most beautiful thing you’ve ever seen?

JS: Beauty exceeds understanding. One aspect of beauty occurs when an entity inhabits and fulfills its own nature. The result can be ennobling or terrifying, quiet or rapturous, depending. Every beauty is beautiful in a unique way beyond conceptions of ranking. The most beautiful thing lives in the unknown potential of tomorrow.

ME: Are there any questions you wish I’d asked that I haven’t yet?

JOHN SWAIN

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White thread separates

on the knife

to retie

edges torn at the collar of my shirt.

Gentleness of mending

alone at home

in the evening

like when mother sang

at the window.

The vessel on the table

holds a flower of snow

to remember

close warmth

like blood on the cloth

for the appearance

I feign together

with a thimbleful.

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