Hello, poets and readers, I’m Owen Bullock, welcome to the Poetry in Process podcast.
Have you ever wanted to be a better poet? More original, more moving, more incisive? I have.
Over the course of my 30-odd years of writing, I have tried many things to improve my poetry. I tried free verse. I tried experimental and language poetry, haiku, tanka, haibun, sonnets, pantoums, villanelles, prose poetry, found poetry and cut-ups. I tried writing fast and writing slow, whilst half awake, in the middle of the night, from other personas. I tried writing in totally different genres to improve my writing generally. I tried performing. I tried giving up. I tried hiding away. Now I am on a quest to find out how the most innovative poets write. I’m going be asking poets from Australia and elsewhere about their poetry, and especially the process of their writing. I want to find out what sets these poets apart and what we can learn from them.
Very soon we will podcast the first interview in what we hope will be a substantial series on the Poetry in Process website. By asking some deep questions about their process, I’m hoping to elicit responses which help us get a sense of what’s possible in poetry, and how we can use this to improve our own writing. As writers we can get into habits, but how do we break them, and what range of choices do we have? I think these poets will give us a lot of clues.
Along the way, I’ll be introducing you to the poets’ work and sharing some examples of their writing. The blog posts will discuss some examples of what other poets have said about their process in the past. So please join the email list on the right side of the Poetry in Process page to let you know what’s coming up. The first interview with Canberra-based poet Melinda Smith will be posted soon.
I hope you’ll find this project inspiring and enriching, and I hope you’ll share it with your friends who are fans of poetry.
Poetry in Process 