酷我-北美枫

[anna]

Pat Connors: chapbook, Scarborough Songs, was released by LYRICALMYRICAL Press on June 13. He has also recently had work published in Belgium, India, and the U.S.A. In celebration of National Poetry Month, he was featured on the blogs of The Toronto Quarterly and the League of Canadian Poets. He is a manager for the Toronto chapter of 100,000 Poets for Change.

Here follows Pat Connors’s Epic poem which was the last poem in my book, Scarborough Songs, and was previously published in Word Salad Poetry Magazine in their Summer 2010 edition.

Epic


My feet
Set squarely in
The present
My eyes
Firmly focused on
The future

The narrow way
Seems dangerous and hard
Wrought with strife
And lonely
But, when not absorbed in
Seeming circumstances
Or caught up in
wavering from
Side
to
side
It merely becomes
The surest, shortest distance
Between two points

The past has passed
The present
Is
But a fleeting gift

I will hold out for
The future
And trust in
What it brings




Here are Pat Connor’s answers to my interviewing questions:

1. When did you start writing and why did you start?

I have been writing since I was a young boy. I have always had a vivid imagination, and writing gave me an outlet for this, as well as a sense of control over the elements which always captured my attention. Then, I discovered poetry is great for expressing deep feelings in a very succinct way which can’t be connoted as effectively in prose. I was hooked!
2. When did you get your first poem published? When did you first know that you would become a writer?

The first poem which I had formally published was “Me With You”, which appeared in The Toronto Quarterly 4, cover date September 2009. However, I knew I would become a writer when I was 17, after reading Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby and Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms during a family vacation. The vocation of being a writer has always spoken to me, not only as a rugged individualist, but also in how I wanted to portray myself to other people.

3. Who are some of the poets you admire? What is great poetry in your view?

I have always admired the work of Irving Layton and Milton Acorn. Lately, I have been reading the work of Bruce Meyer and Robert Priest, each of whom will become as integral to the Canadian literary canon as Layton and Acorn, if they haven’t already. Great poetry is written and spoken in an authentic voice which doesn’t seek to exclude but rather to include, to be shared with anyone who cares to pay attention to what has been written or said.

4. You have organized many poetry events; do you think poetry is becoming more popular or is fading out? In what ways do you think poetry can be made more popular?

Poetry will always be popular in its niche market, its individuated community. For poetry to become a truly popular art form (whatever that means as it applies to poetry), it has to include literary poets of a variety of voices, as well as spoken word poets, recognizing the value all these people have to give, in an effort to create a dialogue.

5. What inspired poems that you have put together as your first chapbook?

My first chapbook of poetry, Scarborough Songs, was released by Lyricalmyrical Press this past Spring. I am very proud of this, and forever indebted to Luciano Iacobelli, the force behind the press.

I wanted to write poems which captured the essence of Scarborough, the part of Toronto where I grew up. I aspired to write poetry to be heard by those with highly honed literary tastes, but also to speak to people who may not otherwise appreciate the poetic form.

6. Some people say that all writing is autobiographical. What is your view of your writing? Is it autobiographical?

Much of my writing is autobiographical. All of it is something I can relate to intensely. However, if you can only see the world through the eyes you use everyday, you aren’t much of a poet, or thinker, for that matter.

7. What’s next for you?

I am working on a full manuscript with a professional editor. I hope to have it done in 2015, and then shop it around to a number of publishers. Like I said, I am very proud of what I have accomplished so far, but I am not satisfied. I have only just begun!
_________________
---------------------

Anna Yin

《爱的灯塔-星子安娜双语诗选》
<Nightlights> <Seven Nights with the Chinese Zodiac> ...

http://annapoetry.com

[[星子安娜]]

Pat Connors: chapbook, Scarborough Songs, was released by LYRICALMYRICAL Press on June 13. He has also recently had work published in Belgium, India, and the U.S.A. In celebration of National Poetry Month, he was featured on the blogs of The Toronto Quarterly and the League of Canadian Poets. He is a manager for the Toronto chapter of 100,000 Poets for Change.

Here follows Pat Connors’s Epic poem which was the last poem in my book, Scarborough Songs, and was previously published in Word Salad Poetry Magazine in their Summer 2010 edition.

Epic


My feet
Set squarely in
The present
My eyes
Firmly focused on
The future

The narrow way
Seems dangerous and hard
Wrought with strife
And lonely
But, when not absorbed in
Seeming circumstances
Or caught up in
wavering from
Side
to
side
It merely becomes
The surest, shortest distance
Between two points

The past has passed
The present
Is
But a fleeting gift

I will hold out for
The future
And trust in
What it brings




Here are Pat Connor’s answers to my interviewing questions:

1. When did you start writing and why did you start?

I have been writing since I was a young boy. I have always had a vivid imagination, and writing gave me an outlet for this, as well as a sense of control over the elements which always captured my attention. Then, I discovered poetry is great for expressing deep feelings in a very succinct way which can’t be connoted as effectively in prose. I was hooked!
2. When did you get your first poem published? When did you first know that you would become a writer?

The first poem which I had formally published was “Me With You”, which appeared in The Toronto Quarterly 4, cover date September 2009. However, I knew I would become a writer when I was 17, after reading Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby and Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms during a family vacation. The vocation of being a writer has always spoken to me, not only as a rugged individualist, but also in how I wanted to portray myself to other people.

3. Who are some of the poets you admire? What is great poetry in your view?

I have always admired the work of Irving Layton and Milton Acorn. Lately, I have been reading the work of Bruce Meyer and Robert Priest, each of whom will become as integral to the Canadian literary canon as Layton and Acorn, if they haven’t already. Great poetry is written and spoken in an authentic voice which doesn’t seek to exclude but rather to include, to be shared with anyone who cares to pay attention to what has been written or said.

4. You have organized many poetry events; do you think poetry is becoming more popular or is fading out? In what ways do you think poetry can be made more popular?

Poetry will always be popular in its niche market, its individuated community. For poetry to become a truly popular art form (whatever that means as it applies to poetry), it has to include literary poets of a variety of voices, as well as spoken word poets, recognizing the value all these people have to give, in an effort to create a dialogue.

5. What inspired poems that you have put together as your first chapbook?

My first chapbook of poetry, Scarborough Songs, was released by Lyricalmyrical Press this past Spring. I am very proud of this, and forever indebted to Luciano Iacobelli, the force behind the press.

I wanted to write poems which captured the essence of Scarborough, the part of Toronto where I grew up. I aspired to write poetry to be heard by those with highly honed literary tastes, but also to speak to people who may not otherwise appreciate the poetic form.

6. Some people say that all writing is autobiographical. What is your view of your writing? Is it autobiographical?

Much of my writing is autobiographical. All of it is something I can relate to intensely. However, if you can only see the world through the eyes you use everyday, you aren’t much of a poet, or thinker, for that matter.

7. What’s next for you?

I am working on a full manuscript with a professional editor. I hope to have it done in 2015, and then shop it around to a number of publishers. Like I said, I am very proud of what I have accomplished so far, but I am not satisfied. I have only just begun!
_________________
---------------------

Anna Yin

《爱的灯塔-星子安娜双语诗选》
<Nightlights> <Seven Nights with the Chinese Zodiac> ...

http://annapoetry.com

[coviews]

Pat's Review



http://riffsandripplesfromzenrivergardens.blogspot.ca/2014/03/robert-priests-new-book-review-and.html

[[来喝茶喽]]

Pat's Review



http://riffsandripplesfromzenrivergardens.blogspot.ca/2014/03/robert-priests-new-book-review-and.html

[coviews]

http://www.coviews.com/viewtopic.php?t=66826

[[来喝茶喽]]

http://www.coviews.com/viewtopic.php?t=66826