Where did the
idea come from for the book?
The title alludes to Roland Barthes’s essay called “The Grain of the
Voice.” In it, Barthes discusses what
excites him in certain opera performances:
“… the grain, the grain of the
voice when the latter is in a dual posture, a dual production—of language and
of music.”
I’ve tried to locate that liminal “grain” by writing short poems that
are influenced by the sonnet tradition--and that host spectral lines from pop
songs and from poets like Milton and Shakespeare .
What genre does
your book fall under?
Lyric poetry. In particular: poems
that are influenced by, or “ghosts” of, the sonnet tradition.
Which actors
would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?
They’d be musicians rather than actors: Neil Young, Emmylou Harris, Mark Kozelek, Duran
Duran, Mono (the Japanese post-rock band).
Not that there are really any characters as such.
What is the one-sentence synopsis of your
book?
From the book’s back cover: “The
human voice, musical instruments, the sounds produced by the natural and
man-made worlds—all serve at one time or another as both the framework of poems
and the occasion for their lightning-quick changes of direction, of tone, of
point of reference.”
Will your book
be self-published or represented by an agency?
The book has just been published by Northwestern University Press
(TriQuarterly Books).
How long did it
take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?
I don’t number drafts, and I don’t tend to time things in quite that
way. But the entire process took several
years from start to finish.
What other books
would you compare this book to within your genre?
David Biespiel’s Wild Civility;
Eamon Grennan’s The Quick of It; Josh
Corey’s Severance Songs.
Who or what
inspired you to write this book?
The eternally prismatic sonnet tradition in English poetry,
especially Milton’s “On His Blindness.”
The enduring inspiration of singers like Young and Harris. And just the rapture of musicality in the
everyday--something I’m always trying to preserve.
What else about
your book might pique the reader's interest?
There’s a cross-dressing lotus flower, mascara spilled on the beach,
and cameo appearances by Thomas Jefferson and Jacques Derrida.
I was tagged by Daniel Bosch. I hereby tag: Chris Green
Click on the names above to read about these writers' Next Big Things.
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