Interview With a Vampire

[vampiredust]

hi, Christian. I've thoroughly enjoyed your poetry. As with your poems, I always consider reading a good poem as an honor that the poet has bestowed on the public.

I have a question about preparing chapbooks. Do you decide on a theme and write poems specifically for the chapbook? Do you look at what you have and select poems based on a theme, perhaps adding new poems to the collection?

Thank you for taking the time to answer questions. And, thank you to the moderators for this thread.

-Sheila

Glad you've enjoyed my poetry, Sheila, and thanks for the question.

I don't decide on a theme with chapbooks. I try to gather a group of what I think are the strongest poems (up to around 15 for smaller chapbooks, 40 for larger ones) and arrange them into a chapbook.

I'll sift through my selection carefully, weeding out any poems which I consider weak.

Hope this answers your question.

 

[Angeline]

hi, Christian. I've thoroughly enjoyed your poetry. As with your poems, I always consider reading a good poem as an honor that the poet has bestowed on the public.

I have a question about preparing chapbooks. Do you decide on a theme and write poems specifically for the chapbook? Do you look at what you have and select poems based on a theme, perhaps adding new poems to the collection?

Thank you for taking the time to answer questions. And, thank you to the moderators for this thread.

-Sheila

I know you didn't ask me, Sheila, but it's an interesting question, and I'll bet others here have varying opinions/suggestions on chapbooks as well (which I'd love to hear). I haven't published chapbooks yet--a long personal story explains why and I won't get into it here--but I've put a few together. Two of them are theme-based that I figured out myself: one is jazz poetry and another is sonnets. Then I have a third that I never thought of myself, but a friend here said "you have all these poems about your childhood. If you put them together and you can do so in an interesting order, you have a chapbook." So I guess I'm saying that sometimes you don't even realize a group of poems fits together thematically until you start thinking about how to tie them together that way. And when you do, you may be surprised at what you find.

 

[annaswirls]

Vampiredust, does receiving a blowjob from your girl really resemble: "a cow wolfing down clover."
?

hmmm they do really get their tongue involved in swooping up long blades of grass (shiver) ... but the verb "wolfed" makes me think of something more carnivorous! Eek!

Hey Christian, it has been fun watching you write these years. You spend an incredible amount of time writing and are very disciplined, which I admire.

What are your aspirations as a writer?

 

[vampiredust]

hmmm they do really get their tongue involved in swooping up long blades of grass (shiver) ... but the verb "wolfed" makes me think of something more carnivorous! Eek!

Hey Christian, it has been fun watching you write these years. You spend an incredible amount of time writing and are very disciplined, which I admire.

What are your aspirations as a writer?

Thanks for question, Jenn, and it's going seeing you here again. I've missed you.

I'd like to put out a collection of my poetry at some point and would like to try writing a novel.

I think that would be a rewarding experience.

 

[Epmd607]

Vampire, I clicked on your link for your chapbook Grammarian... and the link was bad. what up wit dat?

 

[vampiredust]

Vampire, I clicked on your link for your chapbook Grammarian... and the link was bad. what up wit dat?

The original publisher of the chapbook, Lily Press, is now defunct, so I tried creating a version in Lulu. Didn't quite work out the way I wanted, so I deleted it.

I'm going to look at other ways of making the original PDF available online.

p.s I've edited my sig to avoid any more confusion

 

[vampiredust]

The Grammarian and Other Poems is now available here

You can download the pdf for free

 

[Epmd607]

Your first poem is synchronous with another I've just read. I'd like to show you but I don't think I have the permission. Maybe I'll just email it to you and we'll keep it our secret.

I read your chapbook. It's nice but only took maybe ten minutes to read and I don't think I have to go back and re-read because I don't think there's much hidden. I like lots of info, images, sounds, even in a group of short poems. Anyway, good work sailor.

In "The Kite Maker" I would've went with 'while' instead of 'whilst'.

"Seaside tales" good sounds.

"Mr Kurtz" is my favorite.

"Sentimental Fascism" would of been my favorite if the second line was different.

 

[vampiredust]

Your first poem is synchronous with another I've just read. I'd like to show you but I don't think I have the permission. Maybe I'll just email it to you and we'll keep it our secret.

I read your chapbook. It's nice but only took maybe ten minutes to read and I don't think I have to go back and re-read because I don't think there's much hidden. I like lots of info, images, sounds, even in a group of short poems. Anyway, good work sailor.

In "The Kite Maker" I would've went with 'while' instead of 'whilst'.

"Seaside tales" good sounds.

"Mr Kurtz" is my favorite.

"Sentimental Fascism" would of been my favorite if the second line was different.

Glad you liked it

 

[WickedEve]

The Poets: And now from the sublime to the ridiculous: Do you have any funny or naughty experiences related to your poetry that you can share with us?

Vampiredust: Erm...no. Sorry.


The Poets: Ever written poetry in the nude or sitting on the toilet

Vampiredust: Erm... No


The Poets: How about broken a date or skipped out on something so you could write?

Vampiredust: I don’t think so, lol

The Poets: Something tells me this would be a good place to stop asking you questions! Thank you so much for giving freely of your time to share your poetry and thoughts with us. I know we all wish you the best and expect to be reading much, much more of your wonderful poetry here and elsewhere. I know you'll be checking on this thread for about a week, so others here should feel free to join in the conversation with their questions or comments.

Hey, the toilet question was mine. (I think the date question was too.) And all I get is an Erm, no?
Enjoyed the thread!