John Barton
John Barton
certain happen hard hold informs lives obsession poetry summarize time
My obsession with time informs my poetry so completely it is hard for me to summarize it. We want time to pass, for new things to happen to us, we want to hold on to certain moments, we don't want our lives to end.
agency attorney defend strongly
Our attorney will strongly defend the agency in this case,
I feel very connected to poets across the country.
administer exhausting
I find it exhausting to administer a magazine without an office or paid staff.
chose poems relative
I would not say I chose to write long poems on a conscious level. The long poem has been a relative constant.
deep nice people three worry
Jake has done a nice job, but all three of our receivers have, but people worry about Jake on the deep ball.
arrive deliver disprove experiment prove reveals
The point of an experiment is not to arrive at a predetermined end point, to prove or disprove anything, but to deliver a poem that reveals much about the process taken.
impose poet
The poet must decide not to impose his feelings in order to write without sentimentality.
competition patient ultimately wins
With this competition the patient ultimately wins out,
engaged few readers remove respect steps
Writing can sometimes be exploitative. I like to take a few steps of remove in order to respect the privacy of the subject. If readers make the link, they have engaged with the poem.
handle kid surprised
We anticipated it. We were not surprised by it. We were set up to handle the fake, but the kid made a play. He is a playmaker.
people
We have to have people in the right position, we have to do something to get in straight.
god ideal
Who is the ideal reader? God only knows.
draw experiment replicate
The reader's challenge is to replicate the experiment by reading the poem and to draw their own conclusions.