There’s no such thing as an absolutely flawless book of poetry. So, for me, the goal is to find the balance between bringing the manuscript to as complete a realization as possible while also knowing when to say “it’s time to let go and release this into the world.
You probably have 44 minutes right now to watch this brilliant documentary about Leonard Cohen, Ladies and Gentlemen… Mr. Leonard Cohen, which was filmed in 1965 and is on the NFB (National Film Board) of Canada website. Initially supposed to be about three poets on tour across the country, it was edited down to just one poet. It’s fascinating. He’s wonderful. See a young writer at the cusp of things…
There is a strange and abiding prestige, a strange and abiding cultural juice that comes from being a writer. Having seen the reality of it, it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me.
Porter Fox has published two essays in the Believer: “The Long Good-Bye Man,” on the “abstract-expressionist fiction writer” Fielding Dawson, and “The Last Stand of Free Town,” a dispatch from the tiny sovereign community of Christiania, in Copenhagen, which was included in Best…
I don’t think the book made me a better writer, but I did need to be a better writer before I could write the book. I tried to write it back in 2005 and couldn’t. I tried again in 2008 and couldn’t stop crying. It wasn’t until late 2010 that I was actually able to write the book. I feel as if I had to get ready, both as a writer and a person.
