John Barton
John Barton
time
You can never step into the same book twice, because you are different each time you read it.
cannot engaging fact happened notion personally point stop time
We are comfortable with the fact that we cannot know personally what happened in the world before we were born, yet we are uncomfortable with the notion that we will stop engaging with time at some point in the future.
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.
benefits companies compete offers package pick whoever
These companies will compete to be picked, and we'll pick whoever offers the package that better benefits the patient.
cannot poems tinker
I sometimes like to tinker with poems that have failed, ones that I have sent aside. Even years afterward, I will revisit them if there is something about them that I cannot give up on.
conversation entered poetry
Sometimes poetry is inspired by the conversation entered into by reading other poems.
poems
To me many short poems read and write like beginnings that simply whet my appetite; I want to get over that.
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.
absurd amused became colours decides hot intrigued
I became intrigued with colour theory. The absurd pronouncements of the Colour Institute, a group that decides what colours are hot each year or season, amused me.
obvious outset poems unfold
I have been told my poems unfold in such a way that it is not at all obvious from the outset where they are going or how they will end.
board caused deal great literary magazines member prominent submission
I have been told by a member of the board of one of Canada's most prominent literary magazines that a submission of mine once caused a great deal of controversy.
audience censor others poets realise sensitive
Poets have to be sensitive to their audience, but it does not mean that they censor themselves. I realise my audience is diverse. Some will read with empathy and curiosity while others will take offense.
inevitably lives pull
Poets can't resist the dramatic pull of their lives and so inevitably write autobiographical verse.