- I had no interest in poetry until I accidentally signed up for the only all-poetry introductory creative writing workshop my freshman year at the University of Wisconsin.
- I barely squeaked through my undergraduate education, but ended up at University of Arizona for grad school, as grades don’t really factor in to acceptance decisions for most MFA programs.
- The community that formed among my friends in grad school has really shaped my experience of the poetry world at large.
- Getting to teach writing at Arizona was way helpful, not just because it’s an okay way to make money to support the bare essentials of life, but because in explaining my ideas of art to students I was forced to refine them further, and because I was forced to appreciate a wide range of approaches and aesthetics.
- Similarly, I edited poetry for the Sonora Review while I was in school there, which gave me some understanding of the inner workings of a lit journal.
- The most important step I took towards actually becoming a poet was taking some time away from the world after school. I went and lived in a cottage by myself for three months, during which I had to ask myself why I write, and what I want out of it.
- After going broke trying to live in Europe, I moved to Portland and I started meeting poets around here, especially though If Not For Kidnap, a reading series I founded with a friend.
- In Portland I’ve been involved with a number of projects and organizations; journals, reading series, arts coordination organizations, smaller events, etc.
- Also, a huge step for my “career” was getting my book taken by a press that had published a bunch of books I love.
- Since then, I’ve kept writing and publishing poems, I’ve started writing essays, and I’ve generally said yes to every non-exploitative query I’ve received. The work is for the most part completely enjoyable. It’s rare I get paid any meaningful amount for it, but doing stuff leads to more offers to do stuff, and at least until I’m providing for kids or something, the people I meet, the places I visit, and the fun I have writing are well worth the budgeting.
Recommended Organizations
The only organizations worth being a part of are things you can help run, things that are local, or things that give money away. The larger professional organizations can be cool if you’re in a city where they have a large footprint and are hosting events regularly, but otherwise your money would be better spent on a subscription to a press or a journal. For networking, nothing beats poetry readings, especially as they don’t feel like networking.
On whether or not he recommends a formal education
The MFA in Poetry is probably the best degree, provided the school will pay for it. If you’ve got few external obligations, and you’re not generally mean to people, two or three years of taking a couple classes, teaching a couple classes, and drinking a lot of beers with people who are nerdy about the same thing you’re nerdy about is pretty paradisiacal. However, getting a Ph.D is not worth it.
Cultivate a lot of interests
Not only will your other skills be handy for paying the bills, they will inform your writing in surprising ways. I know poets who are statisticians, musicians, painters, programmers, biotech engineers, baristas, weed farmers, booksellers, and cooks, and the language and the forms of thought they learned from their other interests are for sure things that make their poetry more their own and more unique.
Learn to read with judgment
And then learn to read without it. It’s important to feel strongly about how art should be to figure out what you should be doing with it, but after you’ve got some idea, learning how to access the spaces that other artists are creating is necessary for learning how to expand your own. It’s fine to hate most poetry when you’ve been writing for under a decade – maybe it’s actually good to – but after a decade you’re just being close-minded.
Protect your writing time
But get involved with a poetry community, not because it will give you opportunity – though it will – but because that’s the end-game for poets. There’s no million-dollar book deal. There’s no real fame – ask the next person you see to name three living poets. There’s no realistic job prospects for those who want to live above the poverty line. But if you love the work, and you do the work your whole life, you will have spent your life doing something you love. And that’s more than 99% of people you know can say.
Advice on getting your foot in the door
Write a bunch. Go to poetry readings. Buy poetry books. Write more. Get friends who write. Read their writing. Write more. Eventually let your friends read your writing. Buy more books. Re-read the books you bought three years ago. Write more, more, more. Introduce yourself to people at readings and buy their books from them. Ask them how to get involved with things. Get involved with things. Become a reader for a journal, or host a reading series. Get rid of all your old writing and write stuff that’s completely different. But especially: live in a major metropolitan area with an arts scene. Becoming a poet is something only Emily Dickinson could do alone. Understand that you are not Emily Dickinson, though you may be differently great.