ETHAN PAQUIN is the author of Accumulus (Salt, 2003) and TheMakeshift (UK: Stride, 2002). His third book, The Violence, is forthcoming from Ahsahta Press in 2005. He edits Slope and Slope Editions, and directs the undergraduate creative writing program at Medaille College in Buffalo, NY. He is a native of New Hampshire. Buy his books here. 1. What is the first poem you ever loved? Why? "Dog" by Lawrence Ferlinghetti. I remember in sixth grade we were to choose a poem, memorize it, and present it to the class. I chose this one because I'd never before seen a poem meander -- both literally and in terms of narrative. The poet played with the page, spaced the lines out -- I was new to that, and it shaped me forever. Plus, the poem is rollicking fun, even though it fancies itself a hardcore jab at the American socio-politicalscene. Who wouldn't want to follow a little dog around the sidewalks of San Francisco for a few hours? 2. What is something/someone non-“literary” you read which may surprise your peers/colleagues? Why do you read it/them? I think he's still considered 'non-literary,' so I'll offer up Hunter S.Thompson. I read his "Hell's Angels" in several hours; didn’t put the book down. I recently bought an issue of Vanity Fair at an airport just to read an article he half-wrote with some other author. I don't read that magazine, and I certainly don't allow my wallet to be gouged at airports, but no other writer, not even a poet, has that effect on me. There is searing seething obnoxious energy in his prose, in his delivery. He's got the best eye and ear of any contemporary American writer. Otherwise, non-fiction books on urban planning (Duany et al.'s "Suburban Nation" and Kunstler's "The Geography of Nowhere"), sociology (Ritzer's "The McDonaldization of Society"), etc. 3. How important is philosophy to your writing? Why? Judeo-Christian theologies figure in my work, even though I don't really know where I stand in terms of religion; Eastern spiritual/philosophical systems have long been influential to my creative work, and also my lifestyle and values system. One of my favorite writers is Thomas Merton, because he simultaneously broaches all the things just mentioned. Additionally, I've long been a student of Existentialism (Camus is likely my all-time favorite writer) because therein is a libertarian stridence, in the writings of Kierkegaard and Camus and Schopenhauer, that my political views have real affinities with. My vision of the self, my view of spirituality, of the meaning of man and thus his art, was shaped by all these movements and systems, so philosophy plays a huge part in my work. 4. Who are some of your favorite non-Anglo-American writers? Why? Miyazawa Kenji is at the top of the list. "Spring and Asura" is a haunting, gorgeous collection of poems, all of which are informed by his adherence to Mahayana Buddhism; see question #3 above. The stark naturalism, the idea of a transient self ... these are interests and concerns in my work, so there's a real affinity there. "Today my forehead dark / I can't even look straight at the crows" or "The phenomenon called 'I' / is a blueillumination / ... / which flickers busily, busily / with landscapes, with everyone" are eerie, essential moments. 5. Do you read a lot of poetry? If so, how important is it to your writing? Not nearly as important as architecture, painting, sculpture, or the aforementioned philosophy. It comes last, frankly. I'd simply rather spend my time looking at pictures of buildings and ornaments, visiting galleries to ogle AbEx art by Gottlieb/Reinhardt/Still/Pollock/Kline/etc., bicycling around the city marveling at these great structures [Buffalo is the best if you've got architectural/urban planning interests], than read most poetry books. I certainly don't read as much as many friends and colleagues and peers purport to. One poet-teacher-friend, who shall remain nameless, put it succinctly and accurately: "Poets don't read other poets' work." We don't have time; how about the 900 pages of essays that need to be graded? Money is definitely out the window; I can't go on Amazon spending sprees, not with two children to feed and a 1904 Victorian home to restore. So I can only make time for a) required professional reading (books I'll use primarily or ancillary in my classes); b) non-requiredreading only if said reading will increase my quality-of-life index (i.e. stuff that delights me, not stuff some way-too-intellectual blogger thinks we all should have read); or c) current work by younger poets I feel one must absolutely keep on top of, because they represent the best of what's happening today (and that has likely been sent to me as a free review copy). 6. What is something which your peers/colleagues may assume you’ve read but haven’t? Why haven’t you? There's something bland and incomprehensible about Wittgenstein/Derrida/Jabes/Mallarme/Lacan/etc. 7. How would you explain what a poem is to my seven year old? My oldest, Sam, is six, and we've have excellent conversations about this. I remember reading Ashbery and Ammons to him (there's a photo of him at age three holding a copy of Brink Road). I tell him that a poem is what a person writes when something beautiful happens to them. 8. Do you believe in a Role for the Poet? If so, how does it differ from the Role of the Citizen? The poet is the steward of language, staving off its corruption by the banalified, clichéd lingo of bureaucrats, politicians, personal injury lawyers, TV sitcom writers, used car salesmen, checkout clerks, and elementary school teachers. The poet loves language, nothing more, nothing less. The poet feels no shame about stopping in the middle of a crowded sidewalk to pick up a moth. The poet is not shamed by stopping his car to look at a beautiful set of modillions. The poet is different from the citizen because the poet feels, and the citizen has been taught to feel as little as possible. The citizen is a cog in a machine, and the poet looks down on the machine from a better place and wonders why it operates so inefficiently. Both the poet and citizen can vote if they want to; they can be politically active if they want to; but neither has to do anything they don't feel like doing. The poet, in particular, has no political obligations; his only master is language. Where language is being abused, truth is being abused, and then the poet shall act. By....er....writing more poetry. 9. Word associations (the first word which comes to mind; be honest): Lemon**song Chiseled**trophy I**take Of**life Form**not 10. What is the relationship between the text and the body in your writing? I'm interested in the Self dissolving, disappearing, becoming hidden and silent/silenced. So I play much with spacing, indentation, breaking, things that figure the vastness and tenuousness and transience of being human.