TBR [to be read] is a
semi-regular, invitation-only interview series with authors of newly
released/forthcoming, interesting books who will tell us about their new work
as well as offer tips on writing, stories about the publishing biz, and from
time to time, a recipe!
We don’t expect an elevator pitch from a poet, but can you tell us about
your work in 2-3 sentences?
Radiation King takes us to the beginning and the possible futures
of the atomic world we created at the start of the twentieth century. In a time
when the Cold War has heated back up, these poems engage a past filled with
Civil Defense and radioactive quack cures and a future that could bring a
radioactive wasteland or limitless energy. The poems explore the world from the
smallest atom of hydrogen to the giant Pillars of Creation in the Eagle Nebula
and find that the only thing that will save us is love for one another.
Which poem/s did you most enjoy writing? Why? And, which poem/s gave
you the most trouble, and why?
The “Atoms” poems—I’d say I
enjoyed those the most. I wrote them in in February 2014, one a day, as a part
of the Tupelo Press 30/30 Project. I had not written much in the two years
before, so the group as a whole brought me out of a slump, but writing each
one, looking at the properties of individual atoms and then trying to shape a
tiny poem that both called to those properties but then also went somewhere
else—yes that was fun.
The “Color Is an Event” sequence
was perhaps the hardest—it certainly took the longest to complete. I had the
idea maybe a decade ago, and started working. Some came easy, but others took
some hammering. I wanted them all to have different shapes, forms, etc. I tried
to work into each poem where the pigments came from—I was working from a
wonderful book, Color, by Victoria
Finlay—but in some cases that was jettisoned as a quasi-narrative began to
form, about a husband and wife and their children.
Tell us a bit about the highs and lows of your book’s road to
publication.
The high is that it is being
published; there was a lot of rejection before that, and a long period between
this book and my first book. I wondered if I’d ever publish another. My first
book came and went with little attention; I didn’t write much after it, but
then I began to write the poems for this book and another manuscript
concurrently (All Hail Our Lord and
Savior, Grizzly Bear is the other, as yet unpublished ms.). It was
difficult to watch my cohort of poets publish their second and third and maybe
even fourth books in the time it took for my second to get picked up. Of
course, many others aren’t even as lucky as I have been. I am very excited to
share the book with the world now that it’s published. I’ve been
dreaming up and working on companion pieces to go along with the book for a
couple years, including two short films I made (viewable here: http://www.radiation-king.com).
I feel like I made a little world, one I’ve been living in a long time.
What’s your favorite piece of writing advice?
Write. Whatever you like,
however you like, write.
Also: from John Berryman via
W.S. Merwin: “if you have to be sure don’t write.”
My favorite writing advice is “write until something surprises you.”
What surprised you in the writing of this book?
I was surprised by what made the
cut. I began several poems about various concepts in nuclear/quantum physics,
things that seemed ready-made for poems, but many of them had to be abandoned.
I’m fascinated by quantum entanglement, for instance, but my attempts to write
about it were not good enough.
How did you find the title of your book?
The title Radiation King has a couple of roots: this is the name of the brand
of TV Homer Simpson watches when he is growing up (seen in Season 6, Episode
10, “Grandpa vs. Sexual Inadequacy”). It was also used as a TV brand in the
video game Fallout 3—whether or not
the creators of the game knew of its previous use I don’t know. Neither of
those things or TVs in general are referenced in the book—the phrase just took
on a new life for me as I was writing the poems. I originally conceived of a
narrative poem about the Radiation King, who was this imaginary figure in my
head, a mythical figure that people in a distant future would say caused the
nuclear war that had devastated the planet. Part-tyrannical leader, part-mad
scientist, I imagined a future us telling stories about this person, conflating
several factors into one person who could be blamed for the situation we found
ourselves in. And though, in the end, no poem ever was written about the
figure, I was always taken with the idea of writing poems from the
future—warnings to the present about potential disasters.
Inquiring foodies and hungry book clubs want to know: Any food/s associated
with your book? (Any recipes I might
share?)
There is also the Atomic
Cocktail. I’m sorry to say that I have yet to try it.
Esquire’s recipe:
1 1/2 ounces vodka
1 1/2 ounces brandy
1 teaspoon sherry
1 1/2 ounces Brut champagne
cocktail glass
“Stir the vodka, brandy, and
sherry well with cracked ice, then strain into a chilled cocktail glass and add
1 1/2 to 2 ounces cold brut champagne. Garnish with plastic three-eyed fish
from Simpsons playset….”
*****
READ MORE ABOUT THIS BOOK &
AUTHOR:
ORDER THIS BOOK FOR YOUR TBR
PILE:
READ TWO POEMS, “Able Archers”
and “U.S. Radium’s Finest Personnel Man to the New Recruits”: http://www.theamericanjournalofpoetry.com/v5-gray.html
