Better Than Starbucks!

Vera:  Although you are known for formal poetry, and especially sonnets, you also write free verse. Aside from your obvious talent for meter and rhyme, do you have a preference between the two, or does each form make its own demands, and if so what do you think they are?

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Anna:  I do have a preference for meter and/or rhyme, but free verse poems occasionally ‘seize’ me, so yes, that ‘form’ makes its demands. Those poems of mine are typically the discursive ones, with long lines that are difficult to accommodate in iambic pentameter. As for distinguishing between the demands of the various received forms, the sonnet is perfect for a certain kind of succinct argument. Meanwhile, I have a sense for when a topic will benefit from the various kinds of repetition involved in a villanelle, or a rondeau. And of course I have invented a few forms myself, like the haikoum (a series of haiku that is also a pantoum.)

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Vera: With your use of colloquial language, and with never a sign of inverted syntax in your poems, you are making a contribution to a 'modern' formal poetry. If poetry isn’t ‘dead’, there are those who believe formal poetry is. What do you think?

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Anna: It’s not dead, but it isn't currently very trendy to write formal poetry. When I was studying for my MFA in Creative Writing at Bennington (which IS a trendy program), I used to bring my sonnets to workshop and the other students would criticize them heavily for being an outmoded form of writing. I tried to write differently for a while, but then I gave up. This is what I do. The pendulum may swing back, or not. But there will always be a few people who enjoy the kind of poetry I enjoy (and am good at) writing.

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Vera:  You write about experiences many share, such as parenting, sex, relationships. Do you think that poetry has a social purpose beyond entertainment?

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Anna: Oh absolutely! Aside from the obvious role of political poetry in highlighting social injustices (Blake) or bearing witness to cataclysmic world events (World War I and Holocaust poets), poetry is about communicating experiences. Sometimes, that’s a shared experience and the purpose is to make those suffering through something like parenting feel less alone; other times, it’s a unique experience that benefits the reader by giving them the chance to inhabit feelings and sensations they might not otherwise have the opportunity to know.

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Vera: How do you see the internet, and the way it is making poetry available to many without cost, affecting poets and poetry publishers?

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Anna: The Internet has its pros and cons. It’s a venue with very low barriers to entry, which means that pretty much anyone can set themselves up as an online publisher. On the one hand, that means more people are sharing and reading poetry than ever before; on the other hand, some of it simply isn’t that good. But there are some excellent sites and resources out there, and I do love the fact that these days you can find almost any poem you’re searching for online (with the exception of contemporary poets who keep a stricter eye on their copyrights.)

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Vera: What future plans, if any, do you have for The Raintown Review, aside from continuing to produce this impressive semi-annual journal?

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Anna: The Raintown Review, like many poetry journals, is a labor of love. I don’t get paid for it, and it doesn’t make money. I am grateful to all those who continue to send me their work in the confidence that there will be another issue, and I don’t look too far beyond that.

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Vera: Tell us about your political aspirations

Anna: This fall I am running for the second time for my local Township Committee in Hainesport, New Jersey, having lost narrowly in 2016. It’s an intense process and does take away from the time I have available for poetry and related projects. On the plus side, I have written a number of poems both not only about the experience, but also about the state of the nation generally at this fractured time in our history. I am planning to bring out a chapbook called “The Unacknowledged Legislator” (after the famous Shelley quote) collecting all these poems, but of course, I won’t have time until after the election!

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Vera: How did your British heritage influence your relationship with poetry. Have you melded the 2 cultures in your work and your life, or do you consider yourself bi or multi cultural?

Anna: I think the main influence my British heritage had on my craft is that it underpins my love of meter and rhyme. I don’t believe that English poets broke with tradition quite as decisively as their American counterparts, and if you look at poets like former Poet Laureate Andrew Motion, they are just as comfortable working in form as in free verse. I’ve lived in New Jersey now for seventeen years and I became a citizen in 2009, but I’m told I still have a pronounced English accent, especially when I’m reading my poetry, so I guess I’m bi-cultural, like many Americans. One thing, though, is that I do drink a great deal of tea, especially when I’m writing!