The 2 week trip from Maryland to Minnesota and back is set. The following poets are on the schedule:
Jim Harms, Morgantown, WV
David Citino, Columbus, OH
Martha Collins, Oberlin, OH
Jim Cummins, Cincinnati, OH
Carl Phillips, St. Louis, MO
Miller Williams, Fayeteville, AR
Scott Cairns, Columbia MO
Marvin Bell, Iowa City, IA
Michael Dennis Browne, Minneapolis, MN
Lisa Samuels, Milwaukee, WI
Orlando Menes, South Bend, IN
Linda Gregerson, Ann Arbor, MI
They each have my tremendous appreciation. Results of this first trip will be posted during the 9/1-9/15 period. Keep checking here and at the main page.
Tales from W.T. Pfefferle's year-long journey around the country assembling material for Poets on Place (Utah State University Press 2005)
Wednesday, August 27, 2003
Monday, August 25, 2003
Pre-Interview Instructions for 9/1-9/15 trip
Here are the instructions I'm sending folks who I will interview on this first, pre-RV trip through the Midwest:
I’m juggling 12 visits on this first, pre-RV trip, so I’ve done my best to meet the scheduling requests of all of you who have been so gracious to allow me this opportunity.
Let me run through some information about my visit and my plan to allow you as much lead time as necessary to prepare for this intrusion…haha.
I’m requesting just an hour of your time to do the following:
• Ask you some questions about how “place” has influenced/impacted your own work as a poet. (I’ll record our conversation on a small recorder.) It would be very helpful to me if you could reference specific poems or books of yours that you think relate to this idea. I would like your permission to republish in the finished book a single piece of your work that we discuss. I am several months away, obviously, of pitching the book, securing permissions, etc., but this will help me edit the book and your section in particular. Should you have a paper copy of the work in question, that will also save me a lot of time and energy.
• Shoot 10-20 photos of you - and/or you in your space - some with a digital camera, some with a 35mm. (I also have a handheld light to fill in light in any indoor locations.) I am very keen on taking photos that don’t look like the typical “author” photo. I’m hoping that the photos in this book (not just of authors, but of places, highways, towns, etc.) will be extraordinary and striking. I imagine that the best photos might show you in a natural habitat: at the computer, in the back yard, reading a book, twirling a yo-yo, anything that is really singular to your experience as a poet. A book full of normal headshots will rob the venture of a valuable insight. So, I imagine a certain quirky collection of shots. In the end, however, I will do my best to defer to you when the choice comes many months from now.
• Ask you to sign a release giving me permission to use this interview for a book project called The Poetry of Places that I will write and edit over the next several months, and then try to sell to a publisher in 2004.
• Leave you with an assignment to provide for this anthology a new poem, one born – perhaps – because of our discussion and your own thoughts about the role place has played/plays in your writing life. This is something that I wouldn’t need until early next year, but obviously I would be pleased to see it any time.
I’ll be alone on this trip, as my wife is staying behind in Maryland to babysit our house that just went on the market. As noted in my earlier communiqué, this is a quick trip to the Midwest and back to do some interviews that really couldn’t be done in late Sept or Oct when the real RV driving begins in earnest. I will be neat and clean, in and out in a hurry, and I’m almost sure not to leave any of my equipment behind.
I’m hoping to do the interview wherever you feel the most comfortable. Quiet is much preferred – for recording and later transcription, and a single uninterrupted portion of time will be necessary for me to keep to my schedule. Also, some flexibility of start time might be necessary, as some days I will be driving upwards of 300 miles to reach you from a previous stop.
What I’d ask at this point is a reply from you with an address, any directions, etc. as well as a good telephone number to reach you on the day prior to and the day of the interview. In most cases, I want to do the interview at any time that fits your own schedule. I’ve arranged my travel a little tightly, but if you say 8 am, that’s okay. If you say 8 pm, that’s okay, too.
What else can I tell you? If there’s anything in my plan that you’re not sure of, please know that I will amend my visit in nearly any way to secure your thoughts about the role place has in your work as a poet. One writer recently was unable to keep a date we had set up, so we’re going to do the interview via email, collect the poems later,, and somehow try to shoot a photo later in the year. It’s not ideal, obviously, but I wanted to be as amenable as possible.
I’m juggling 12 visits on this first, pre-RV trip, so I’ve done my best to meet the scheduling requests of all of you who have been so gracious to allow me this opportunity.
Let me run through some information about my visit and my plan to allow you as much lead time as necessary to prepare for this intrusion…haha.
I’m requesting just an hour of your time to do the following:
• Ask you some questions about how “place” has influenced/impacted your own work as a poet. (I’ll record our conversation on a small recorder.) It would be very helpful to me if you could reference specific poems or books of yours that you think relate to this idea. I would like your permission to republish in the finished book a single piece of your work that we discuss. I am several months away, obviously, of pitching the book, securing permissions, etc., but this will help me edit the book and your section in particular. Should you have a paper copy of the work in question, that will also save me a lot of time and energy.
• Shoot 10-20 photos of you - and/or you in your space - some with a digital camera, some with a 35mm. (I also have a handheld light to fill in light in any indoor locations.) I am very keen on taking photos that don’t look like the typical “author” photo. I’m hoping that the photos in this book (not just of authors, but of places, highways, towns, etc.) will be extraordinary and striking. I imagine that the best photos might show you in a natural habitat: at the computer, in the back yard, reading a book, twirling a yo-yo, anything that is really singular to your experience as a poet. A book full of normal headshots will rob the venture of a valuable insight. So, I imagine a certain quirky collection of shots. In the end, however, I will do my best to defer to you when the choice comes many months from now.
• Ask you to sign a release giving me permission to use this interview for a book project called The Poetry of Places that I will write and edit over the next several months, and then try to sell to a publisher in 2004.
• Leave you with an assignment to provide for this anthology a new poem, one born – perhaps – because of our discussion and your own thoughts about the role place has played/plays in your writing life. This is something that I wouldn’t need until early next year, but obviously I would be pleased to see it any time.
I’ll be alone on this trip, as my wife is staying behind in Maryland to babysit our house that just went on the market. As noted in my earlier communiqué, this is a quick trip to the Midwest and back to do some interviews that really couldn’t be done in late Sept or Oct when the real RV driving begins in earnest. I will be neat and clean, in and out in a hurry, and I’m almost sure not to leave any of my equipment behind.
I’m hoping to do the interview wherever you feel the most comfortable. Quiet is much preferred – for recording and later transcription, and a single uninterrupted portion of time will be necessary for me to keep to my schedule. Also, some flexibility of start time might be necessary, as some days I will be driving upwards of 300 miles to reach you from a previous stop.
What I’d ask at this point is a reply from you with an address, any directions, etc. as well as a good telephone number to reach you on the day prior to and the day of the interview. In most cases, I want to do the interview at any time that fits your own schedule. I’ve arranged my travel a little tightly, but if you say 8 am, that’s okay. If you say 8 pm, that’s okay, too.
What else can I tell you? If there’s anything in my plan that you’re not sure of, please know that I will amend my visit in nearly any way to secure your thoughts about the role place has in your work as a poet. One writer recently was unable to keep a date we had set up, so we’re going to do the interview via email, collect the poems later,, and somehow try to shoot a photo later in the year. It’s not ideal, obviously, but I wanted to be as amenable as possible.
Wednesday, August 20, 2003
September's Quick Pre-RV Trip
While our house is still on the market, I'm going to make a solo trip from Maryland to the Midwest and back from September 1st to 15th. I'll be interviewing nearly a dozen poets in this pre-RV trip, among them, Carl Phillips, Jim Cummins, Michael Dennis Browne, and Martha Collins.
Wednesday, August 13, 2003
Just Waiting for the House
With our September start date looming, we're still in the manic process of putting all of Maryland affairs in order. We have the big house on the market, and we're frantically making the place look as good as possible for buyers coming to an open house next weekend. It's stressful. Is this room the right color? Do we really need some more fluffy pillows? Candles? We're supposed to have vanilla candles everywhere? Do we stink that much?
The project has yet to begin, but we've already been able to secure a number of interviews for Sept.-Dec., and now we're ready to get out on the highway and start pulling in the information for this new book.
Miller Williams and Mary Jo Bang are among the folks we hope to see in September, as we will start from Arkansas and head - roughly - north and west toward Washington state. You can watch this spot, or keep checking the main page.
The project has yet to begin, but we've already been able to secure a number of interviews for Sept.-Dec., and now we're ready to get out on the highway and start pulling in the information for this new book.
Miller Williams and Mary Jo Bang are among the folks we hope to see in September, as we will start from Arkansas and head - roughly - north and west toward Washington state. You can watch this spot, or keep checking the main page.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)