I had decided to retire the literary Would You Rather series, but didn't want to stop interviews on the site all together. Instead, I've pulled together 40ish questions - some bookish, some silly - and have asked authors to limit...
I had decided to retire the literary Would You Rather series, but didn't want to stop interviews on the site all together. Instead, I've pulled together 40ish questions - some bookish, some silly - and have asked authors to limit themselves to answering only 10 of them. That way, it keeps the interviews fresh and connectable for all of us!
Joining us today is James Dickson, Poet, teacher, eater of too much food, Author of Some Sweet Vandal, available from Kelsay Books.
Why do you write?
I can’t help it. It’s like biting my fingernails.
What do you do when you’re not writing?
My day job is teaching high school English, which I’ve done for 22 years.
What’s your kryptonite as a writer?
Fatigue.
Describe your book poorly.
Dead teenagers.
If you could spend the day with another author, who would you choose and why?
Langston Hughes. He was my gateway poet, and I’d like to cook him dinner to show my gratitude.
What are you currently reading?
Volume 1 of Blyth’s haiku anthology and student essays. Always student essays.
What’s the one book someone else wrote that you wish you had written?
Most of the books I’ve read fall into this category, but one title in particular is CD Wright’s The Poet, the Lion. . . The wildness of that book is awe-inspiring. Rita Dove is another poet who induces both great admiration and jealousy from me.
What’s the single best line you’ve ever read?
“Small, close sounds, and coolness touched her.” From Eudora Welty’s short story “A Curtain of Green.” I’ve never heard a better description of incoming rain.
You have to choose an animal or cartoon character that best represents you. Which is it and why?
I’ve been compared to Uncle Iroh from Avatar: The Last Airbender, and I’m ok with this. I drink a lot of tea, am generally laid back, and truly enjoy a good meal.
If you were stuck on a deserted island, what’s the one book you wish you had with you?
Paradise Lost. There’s always something new when I read it. It’s so pretty, so layered, so lovely.
Too often, contemporary poetry presents itself as a document of truth and beauty, but here in James Dickson’s excellent collection Some Sweet Vandal, we’re treated to a more realistic and nuanced worldview: the landscape described by an eye that sees the entire panorama and understands that scars and broken flowers can be as beautiful as any pastoral setting. If beauty is the beginning of terror, these intricately crafted poems remind us of what happens when angels open their mouths to speak, that poetry can be the place where healing begins, and that sometimes it is our words that bind our experiences together into a slender yet elegant ray of longing and melancholy that makes art out of our darkest experiences.
https://kelsaybooks.com/products/some-sweet-vandal