"The Next Big Thing” is an international game in which writers share the news of their latest project. Pat Fahrenfort tagged me recently.
What is your working title of your
new poetry collection?
#specialcharacters. The title refers to the hashtags and ampersands of the
experimental work in the collection as well as to the personae, such as Mary
Magdalene, a dominatrix, a few vociferous madwomen, and a writer manquée named Ritar, that populate the
work.
Where did the idea come from for the
book?
I cut my teeth in poetry in spoken
word. I have several narrative and performance poems from that period in this
collection. More recently, I have been exploring so-called experimental forms,
including vispo, flash, and language poetry. I wondered how I could include these
disparate works in one book, and came up with the idea of a mixed genre
manuscript with a story at the end that married all the forms. So I included my
story in single sentences, “Mirror.”
What genre does your book fall
under?
It’s all poetry, but from a wide
range of poetics. “Mirror” is a send-up of many prose and poetic forms, even as
it creates a new one. For example, I do the exposition in footnotes and use the
names of real living people (who might sue me if they find out) in my
protagonist’s memoirs. And Ritar (my heroine’s name) shares her memoirs more
than a little with me.
Which actors would you choose to
play your characters in a movie rendition?
Kathleen Turner for Mary Magdalene
and the dominatrix. Johnny Depp as Ritar (he could do a female part.)
What is the one-sentence synopsis of
your book?
New form, old traum(ata).
Will your book be self-published or
represented by an agency?
The book is seeking a good home with
a press with a brilliant list and a sense of humor and adventure–I will change
the names of the villains to avoid lawsuit upon request.
How long did it take you to write
the first draft of your manuscript?
Some of the work in the book is over
ten years old, but most has been written in the past few years.
What other books would you compare
this story to within your genre?
Since I have hit almost all genres
in this book, I can only say that the genre-mixing of Ulysses was a huge influence.
Who or what inspired you to write
this book?
Joyce, as above; Nabokov; my friends
at the Facebook Otherstream writing group; Carol Novack with her genre-defying pieces.
What else about your book might
pique the reader’s interest?
I rank out the Paris Review in one poem; Mary Magdalene is a biker chick in
another. This book received an honorable mention in the Coconut Poetry Elizabeth P. Braddock Prize.
And now the blog rolls on to Annie Pluto, poet and professor of literature and drama at Lesley University.
