Matthew King: “This poem refers to a bit of graffiti I saw many years ago, but the question it posed ironically—obviously, the real question is what’s it all worth with an open free and fair election?—is, for now, as pertinent as ever. This is what your open free and fair elections get you. What do you make of that?” (web)
Preston Woodruff: “I loved performing, but the road wore me out, and anyway, job, family, money—you know the familiar story. I kept playing close to home, though: bass in a jazz trio, pit bands, and chamber orchestra; lute in a Renaissance consort, lounge-lizard solo guitar in restaurants and bars, lots of wedding receptions and one funeral. All fun. Some days I miss it.”
Alison Luterman: “I don’t have to explain why this moment is so fraught right now. I’m feeling a lot of tenderness for all of us who are suffering anxiety this week, and trying to hold each other up.” (web)
Chen Xue: “I love writing poetry because it brings me solace. When I encounter setbacks in life, I turn to poets from around the world. Though I may not fully grasp their language, their verses always move me to tears. I aspire for my own poetry to be read by more people.”
Charles Harper Webb: “I was a professional rock singer/guitarist from the age of 15 to 30, playing in Texas, Louisiana, and all over the Northwest. I think my poems have rock-and-roll attitude and energy, and that the same musicianship I showed on stage permeates my poems. In all the clubs and concerts that I played, I tried to excite and entertain my audience, and never to bore them. I bring that same attitude to poetry.” (web)
Greg Schwartz: “Most of the poetry I read goes over my head, but haiku is something that tends to stick with me. The compactness of a haiku fits my attention span nicely, though the good ones have an impact much larger than their words. This poem resulted from that day’s #haikuhorrorprompt prompt on Twitter, which was ‘kerosene.’ It took a while to come up with something, but the vampire shapeshifting into a bat trope seemed to fit well with the Dracula-era setting conjured up by the prompt.” (web)
Ken Waldman: “In the early ’80s, I lived near Chapel Hill, North Carolina, with two musicians, a banjo player, and a guitarist. I was the boring housemate who worked in a bookstore and didn’t play music. My housemates had parties. The musicians who came were good then, and they’re good now. One guy who wasn’t so good abandoned his fiddle after a party, along with bow and case, and was selling them for $100. I bought that fiddle. My talent was stubbornness. Several years later, beginning to write poems in grad school, one of my subjects was the old-time fiddle tunes I was struggling with. Fast forward and for almost thirty years now I’ve made a living combining Appalachian-style string-band music with original poetry and Alaska-set storytelling. Musically, I have decent rhythm, and play fiddle tunes pretty plainly, but well enough to appear on stage with highest-level musicians (when I’m the band leader, calling the shots). I’ve been told my fiddling is distinctive, and has energy and depth. One strength is I know my limitations. My poetry is pretty plain too, I think, though I’ve taken a liking to forms, which makes the work easier to contain, or at least finish.” (web)
