TORONTO POETS - 5 QUESTIONS SERIES - ALEXANDRA OLIVER!!!

Alexandra Oliver was born in Vancouver, B.C. in 1970. She attended the University of Toronto and received an M.A. in Drama in 1994. Her poems have appeared in numerous journals and publications worldwide, including Orbis Rhyme International, Nexus, The Raintown Review, Mezzo Cammin, Future Cycle Poetry, The Atlanta Review, The Toronto Quarterly and The Vancouver Sun, as well as About.Com's Poems After The Attack anthology, a collection discussing and reflecting upon the aftermath of 9/11. Her first book, Where the English Housewife Shines (Tin Press, London, UK) was released in May, 2007. A second manuscript, The Hand of Scheveningen, was shortlisted for the 2010 CBC Literary Awards. She has performed her work at venues as diverse as Lollapalooza, The Festival of Original Theatre, The Word On the Street Festival, The Bowery Poetry Club and The National Poetry Slam as well as for CBC Radio One and National Public Radio in the U.S. She was also a featured performer and interviewee in Paul Devlin's 1998 documentary film Slam Nation.

In addition to writing, Oliver is a past director of the Edgewise Electrolit Centre, a seminal Vancouver-based arts organization with a mandate to aid and promote Canadian poets through the use of new media. She has also taught poetry to elementary and secondary school students, as well as in colleges and in prisons. At present, Oliver lives with her husband and son just outside of Toronto, where she continues to write poems and art criticism. She is an MFA candidate in the Stonecoast Program at the University of Southern Maine.

Alexandra Oliver will be reading at LIVEWORDS at The Black Swanclick (154 Danforth @ Broadview Station) in downtown Toronto on August 26, 2010. For more information visit her blog (here).

TTQ- You emerged on the Vancouver poetry scene back in the early 90's. What was is it like for you starting out as a poet back then, and what are the major differences between the Vancouver and Toronto poetry scenes? Do you remember the first poetry reading you were apart of and what was that experience like?

AO- I started writing and performing poetry in Vancouver in 1992. At the time, it was frankly like a big party; performing poetry wasn’t really a literary endeavour for us, at least at that moment. We were wild and crazy kids experimenting with how far we could push the envelope, especially in public. Vancouver had a terrific punk rock legacy that lingered in the early part of the 90’s; that energy was very real and seemed to inspire a lot of what was going on. I don’t recall hip hop influences being a strong factor until the mid-90’s. Anyhow, I had a hilarious group of friends who included folks like Robert Dayton (formerly of Canned Hamm) and these two very arch Greek-Canadian sisters, Kelly and Robin Konstabaris. It was the Konstabaris sisters who put on the first reading I ever read at, at a Jimmy Cummins show somewhere. I read a poem called “Phone Sex”; at the time I had a miserable job at the Bay (selling antique silver), and the poem was sort of a youthful nose-thumbing towards what I perceived to be the hypocrisy of the service industry. Anyhow, there was a keen and supportive audience that night; I felt emboldened by the experience and started to do more and more readings, as well as coordinating my own series. I got a lot of press very early on in my career, and I think that it was a mixed blessing. It’s always nice to have positive reinforcement, but I tended to gear my work towards performance effect, rather than craft. Not a good thing. I’ve been really lucky in my work in that the people in my life—family, friends, my husband—have been so supportive and encouraging. It’s a weird calling, poetry, and it feels good to have the important people in your corner.

As for the difference between the Toronto scene and the Vancouver scene, well…that’s a tough one. Both have their “camps”; there’s the slam crowd and then the language poetry crowd and then the academic crowd. There are some great venues in Toronto—I love the Art Bar and James Dewar’s Livewords is always a good time. Festivals tend to bring everyone together, which is why I enjoy them so much.

TTQ- Would you label your style of writing poetry as being either spoken word, performance poetry or slam poetry? Is there any real overt difference between these styles of poetry or is poetry simply poetry at the end of the day?

AO- I think divisions and factions are silly but they invariably arise, don’t they? I remember a particularly dramatic face-off a while ago between the then-poet laureate and a guy on the performance scene. I think there are differences, but poetry is such a marginalized endeavour that it doesn’t help anyone to encourage prejudices and snobbism. I see brilliance in all camps and tiresome unbroken habits in all camps. I think awareness and cross-pollination is the key. As for me, well, I don’t think of myself as a slam poet or a performance poet per se. I think I’m just a poet who’s an enthusiastic reader. I think I’ve become, as I get older, an eccentric aunt who’s a bit of a ham after a few whiskies.

TTQ- You wrote your first poetry book Where the English Housewife Shines (Tin Press 2007, London, UK). Do you have any plans to write another book of poetry or possibly record a poetry CD? What projects are you currently working on?

AO- A second book, called The Hand of Scheveningen, is in the works. It’s a lot different from Housewife, more of a gentle book. I’m going to be editing an anthology with the poet and formalist scholar Annie Finch in the second half of this year. Annie is brilliant and such a nice person to work with, so I’m stoked about that. I’ll also be launching a translation project in the near future. I’d love to do a CD and will do a CD, but I have to come up with the right vision and adequate funding.

TTQ- How much value and importance do you place on poetry workshops? Do you find they have helped you in becoming a better poet?

AO- I went to a rather ridiculous one when I was in high school, led by a rather famous Canadian female poet who shall remain nameless, I went to one in the early 90’s at someone’s house and it dissolved into a fist fight.(I kid you not) I stayed away from workshops until I started going to the West Chester Poetry Conference. That was worth it. If you’re a form junkie, West Chester is Mecca. Now I’m in the midst of my M.F.A., at the University of Southern Maine. I used to be vociferously opposed to M.F.A. programs; I thought they were indulgent and unnecessary, and didn’t produce better poets, but my mind has since been changed. Stonecoast doesn’t pooh-pooh the practice of writing in form, and I’ve learned so much from studying with Annie Finch, Charles Martin and others. My advice would be to anyone thinking about an M.F.A. to choose a program with people you actually admire as poets. I’m 500% more of an adequate craftsperson now than I was before.

TTQ- Who are some of your favourite poets and why? What's on your summer poetry reading list?

AO- There are so many! Hmm…James Merrill is a great favorite of mine right now. I think of him as a kind of spiritual uncle. His poems are very mysterious and cerebral, but they’re so tender at the same time. Carolyn Kizer is as sharp as a tack, and I’m really enjoying her collected works, Cool, Calm and Collected. Larkin’s a big favorite of mine; a lot of people write him off as a nihilist, but I think his poems have a lot of hope. They aren’t so much about nothing as the something on the way to nothing. I thrill to how Robert Browning describes marginalized personalities—he spins a good forensic yarn. As for contemporary poets, I’m really loving Leslie Monsour. She lives in Los Angeles, and writes about nature in a way that’s very personal and very ironic without pontificating. She’s also fun as a person, which makes a difference. My big project this summer is to dip my toe into translation; to this end I’ve just finished Charles Simic’s anthology of Serbian poetry The Horse Has Six Legs. I’m about to read Robert Lowell’s Imitations, and I’ve just ordered a hefty tome called Theories of Translation. Party time!


Alexandra Oliver reads one of her poems from the Slam Nation DVD:




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MAX LAYTON INTERVIEW WITH TTQ APPEARS IN THE GLOBE AND MAIL!!

I want to thank Judith Fitzgerald at the Globe and Mail newspaper for publishing my interview with Max Layton on the Globe's In Other Words page. Click on the link:(read)








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TORONTO POETS - 5 QUESTIONS SERIES - MYNA WALLIN!!

Myna Wallin is an author and editor living in Toronto. She has her Master's degree in English Literature from the University of Toronto. Her first poetry collection, A Thousand Profane Pieces, was published in 2006 by Tightrope Books. Her poetry and prose have appeared in numerous literary journals and anthologies, including Contemporary Verse 2, Existere, Eye Weekly, Kiss Machine, the Literary Review of Canada, Matrix, Misunderstandings Magazine, Nod, Taddle Creek, and Rampike. She received an Honourary Mention in the 2010 Winston Collins/Descant Prize for Best Canadian Poem. Her first novel Confessions of a Reluctant Cougar was launched in June 2010 by Tightrope Books. For more information, visit her website at www.mynawallin.comhere


TTQ- Your first novel Confessions of a Reluctant Cougar was recently published through Tightrope Books. What was your primary premise for writing the book and would you consider it an accurate depiction of the dating scene for middle-aged women today? Should we expect another book of poetry from you anytime soon?

MW- I didn’t start with a primary premise at all. I had a collection of short stories about dating/relationships featuring different male characters—a veritable revolving door of men—which all centered on a single female. It was my publisher and editor, Halli Villegas, who showed me that what I really had was connecting stories that could be channeled into a novel. It’s not meant to be an accurate depiction of the dating scene. I deliberately set it up, emphasizing some of the more outrageous, sad and funny things that happen to my protagonist. And yet, I have heard quite a few women—of varying ages—who said that I got it exactly right, that they identified totally. I have also heard from men who have enjoyed this book, too!

Oh yes, I certainly expect I will put together another collection of poetry. Soon, I promise! It’s hard when you love to do so many things: I enjoy writing prose, poetry, and also editing. One project gets centre stage while another waits in the wings.

TTQ- What are your opinions on the current state of poetry in the city of Toronto? Would you describe the poetry community to be more apathetic or pro-active when it comes to writing about social issues within the city?

MW- If anything, poetry on the whole has become even more popular, with more and more reading series cropping up, more online sites, and blogs devoted to poetry, writing groups, classes, and more presses, too. There’s a diversification when it comes to styles, and some might say a fragmentation between those differing styles.

Before I answer the second question, Darryl, I have to say that I consider the word “community” a misnomer. Getting back to that idea of fragmentation, there are several communities under the umbrella term of poets, and they don’t always share the same aesthetic or poetic sensibilities: the lyric or narrative poets, the spoken word poets, and the language or sound poets.

When it comes to social issues, it really depends. If someone usually writes about nature, then their work might veer into ecological issues. Since I write about relationships, my interests collide with sexual politics. It really depends on a person’s orientation and their individual fascination. I attended a wonderful lecture given by A. F. Moritz once; he claimed that the personal and the political were almost always intersecting or resonating in some fashion, and that one cannot function without first acknowledging the other.

TTQ- How important is it for you to read your poetry in front of a live audience? Is it integral to your writing process, and tell us about some of your favourite venues to read at?

MW- Reading in front of an audience has been a decisive part of my learning curve as a writer, for both poetry and prose. You discover a great deal about your writing in an immediate fashion, what works and what doesn’t. I find it invaluable. I’ve rarely met a venue to read at that I don’t like: Plasticine Poetry at the Central is a lot of fun; the Art Bar at its various locations over the years; livewords and also Hot-Sauced Words, both at the Black Swan; Strong Words, now at the Free Times; the Rowers Pub Reading Series is a favourite; and I had a blast at my recent reading at the Box Summer Salon that Louise Bak runs at the Rivoli. And so many others that have come and gone, too!

TTQ- You have also been a host of CKLN's radio show In Other Words since 2004. What's that experience been like and tell us about some of the more interesting guests you have had the opportunity of interviewing?

MW- I love hosting radio; it’s totally addictive and like nothing else I’ve done before. Meeting other writers whom I admire and getting to ask them anything I felt curious about has been a tremendous privilege. In fact, I have gone on to become good friends with some of them, like Dennis E. Bolen from Vancouver, who I met for the first time when I interviewed him about his novel, Toy Gun. My last show with Alexandra Leggat was a pleasure—it’s nearly impossible to pick favourites. I had the opportunity to chat with Jacob Scheier, Catherine Graham, David McGimpsey, Molly Peacock, Rhea Tregebov, to name but a few. I’ve interviewed probably seventy poets, novelists, short-story writers, and the occasional screenwriter, playwright, or lyric writer. I would have continued but felt it was time to give someone else a chance and thought it was time to move on. One thing I did learn was that no two writers have the same approach or philosophy of writing; no two writers have the same writing schedule; and no two writers have had the same trajectory in their writing lives.

TTQ- What are your thoughts on the recent G20 Summit protests that where held in Toronto this past June? Do you feel that the riot police got out of hand concerning how they dealt with protesters and bystanders in the downtown streets? Should the poets of Toronto be banging the drums of freedom and human rights a little louder concerning what went down at the G20?

MW- The riot police are flat out crazy. The Conservatives spent over a billion dollars and yet it appears no one briefed the police on how to handle a demonstration. They sat back and did nothing when the so-called anarchists damaged property. The next day they went power-crazy, arresting people blowing bubbles and peacefully protesting. It’s sickening. I think poets are doing what we can—disseminating information by sharing videos online, signing protests, writing letters, and also participating in follow-up marches against the human rights violations.

Unfortunately, the Conservatives are in bed with the police and vice-versa. I smell a conspiracy: Someone gave the order to let police cars burn, let glass windows get smashed, and then that was what was plastered all over the media. So the government fired back, “See, we had to spend over a billion dollars, there was a real threat to public safety!”





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TORONTO POETS - 5 QUESTIONS SERIES - ELISABETH DE MARIAFFI

Elisabeth de Mariaffi grew up in Toronto and has recently moved back to the city after residing in a small town for a long stretch. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Guelph-Humber, and in 2007 received the Lina Chartrand Award for Poetry from CV2 magazine. Her poetry and fiction have been regularly published in magazines across Canada including the current issue of CV2, and the forthcoming issues of Descant and The New Quarterly. Her first chapbook Letter on St. Valentine's Day was published in late 2009, by The Emergency Response Unit. She is currently working on a new collection of short stories, and is sitting on a poetry manuscript that she feels is not quite ready for publication.

She has most recently served as writer-in-residence with Now Hear This!, where she organizes creative writing workshops for fourteen and fifteen-year-old girls at a Toronto High School. She is one of the wild minds behind Toronto Poetry Vendors, a new small press that sells poetry broadsides from vending machines that are located in the best independent bookstores and coffee houses in Toronto, including This Ain't the Rosedale Library, Type, and Ezra's Pound. She is also a member of the Meet the Presses team, an all-volunteer collective devoted to promoting micro, small, and independent literary presses, within the Greater Toronto Area.


TTQ- How did poetry first come into your life, and when did you realize you could actually write a decent poem that had the potential of being published?

EdM- The first poem I can remember writing, as a class assignment when I was in grade six, was published in the Toronto Board of Education’s annual anthology. (This probably gave me a false sense of accessibility where publishing was concerned.) It was a slow build. I wasn’t reading anything particularly interesting in high school, but I did go to one of the same schools that Margaret Atwood attended. She wrote an essay once about crossing the football field and feeling the thumb of poetry push down into her skull. (Or something like that.) So we crossed that field, too, and we also wrote poems, and a friend of mine showed me the essay. Then I went off to university and didn’t write poetry at all, I was very involved with student journalism and activism, and generally being a good comrade, but at the end of that degree I fell back into it, and published a poem in The Fiddlehead pretty much right away. I was about twenty-two then. This added to the false sense of accessibility, to be sure, and I think as a result I’ve never been afraid of submitting, despite all the subsequent rejections; that’s the point, really.

TTQ- What are your opinions on the current state of poetry in Canada, and is poetry on the rise or in serious decline in terms of its popularity with the reading public? Who is reading poetry?

EdM- I don’t know how easy it is for me to answer these questions. I’m not sure I really have my finger on the pulse of the reading public, whoever that is. The majority of people I have contact with are poetry-readers, and have opinions on poetry. So if the question is, Who do I think is reading poetry these days, my answer is, All my friends. Who tend to be poets. To be serious, I think poetry is no more in crisis now than it was fifteen years ago, or fifty years ago. Poetry, like any underground movement, is always changing and everyone always thinks it’s threatened. That’s a good thing. If we didn’t think it was threatened, we might get lazy and stop working.

TTQ- You're involved with a couple of different poetry initiatives, a new small-press project called Toronto Poetry Vendors, and you're a member of the Meet The Presses team. What's your personal involvement with these initiatives been like, and do you feel more activism from the Toronto poetry community to help projects like these get off the ground is needed?

EdM- Both Toronto Poetry Vendors and Meet the Presses have had a tremendously positive reception within the literary and greater communities here. I signed on with Meet the Presses last year; as an organization it already had great momentum. We held our 2nd Indie Lit Market at Clinton’s earlier this month, and it was packed. Everyone involved with the collective is fabulous, and all the presses have been enthusiastic. I can’t say enough good things about it.

Toronto Poetry Vendors is a small press I co-founded with the lovely and talented Carey Toane. It’s something that came together very quickly: we started talking about it in January, and by April we had the first two machines up and running, loaded with poems by a roster of fine Toronto writers. We’ve got three machines in place now (This Ain’t the Rosedale Library in Kensington Market, Type on Queen, and Ezra’s Pound on Dupont) plus a traveler that will make the rounds to festivals and press fairs. It’s been a high-energy venture from the get-go: we’ve been amazed by the consistently positive reaction from the community. I could probably place five more machines today; it seems like everyone I talk to wants in.

Aside from my own projects, there’s plenty going on in the scene. Of note, The Toronto New School of Writing opened up in March of this year, sharing space at College and Spadina with indie bookstore and literary hub Of Swallows, Their Deeds, & the Winter Below. Event-wise, things really haven’t slowed down since poetry month in April. Poets are always activists.

TTQ- How important have poetry workshops been to you personally in developing your own style of writing, and do you recommend other aspiring poets consider attending them, and why?

EdM- A good workshop is really valuable. I find that both in formal and informal environments, what matters most is the group. More than guidance, the workshop I think offers permission to play around with form and provides a social framework that’s really important, especially for new writers. It offers community, recourse, discussion.

TTQ- Who are some of your favourite Toronto poets that you find inspiring in some way, and recommend others read, or get out to see read their work live at poetry readings, and in what ways have they inspired you personally? Are you an active participant in some of the local Toronto poetry readings, and is reading your poetry in front of a live audience important to you?

EdM- I just did a reading with Angela Szczepaniak and Natalie Zina Walschots, and both of them were just awesome, highly recommended. There’s a group of poets I feel indebted to as sort of indentured-readers: you’re always influenced by those with whom you exchange work. That’s a long list, but it might include Jacob McArthur Mooney, Jeff Latosik, Leigh Nash, Andrew Faulkner, Angela Hibbs. Stuart Ross and Paul Vermeersch are both really, really fine poets. If you have a chance to listen to Jenny Sampirisi or a. rawlings, you should take it. I think reading in front of a live audience is a bit of a litmus test: if I don’t want to read a poem, that’s a pretty sharp indicator that the work isn’t done.



For more information about Meet the Presses click here

For more information about Toronto Poetry Vendors click here










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