Lisa Jarnot was born in Buffalo, New York in 1967. She attended the State University of New York at Buffalo and Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. Since the mid-1990s she has lived in New York City where she has been actively involved in the community of The Poetry Project at Saint Mark’s Church in the Bowerie. She has edited two small magazines (No Trees, 1987-1990, and Troubled Surfer, 1991-1992) as well as The Poetry Project Newsletter and An Anthology of New American Poetry (Talisman House Publishers, 1997). She is the author of three full-length collections of poetry: Some Other Kind of Mission (Burning Deck Press, 1996), Ring of Fire (Zoland Books, 2001 and Salt Publishers, 2003), and Black Dog Songs (Flood Editions, 2003). Her biography of the San Francisco poet Robert Duncan is forthcoming from University of California Press. She teaches at Naropa University’s Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics, Bard College, and Brooklyn College and has given lectures and readings throughout the United States and Europe. Buy her books here. Here are some links to some work. 1. What is the first poem you ever loved? Why? "A Supermarket in California" by Allen Ginsberg. I was a freshman in college and was very lonely, self-conscious. There was Allen saying the same thing. It was a relief-- after 18 years of life in middle class suburban America- finally, someone I could talk to. 2. What is something/someone non-“literary” you read which may surprise your peers/colleagues? Why do you read it/them? I read weird self-help stuff all the time. Right now I'm reading "How To Survive on Land and Sea" by Frank Craighead. I also like John DeRosalia's "Mental Training for Skydiving and Life." I'm trying to think of life as an Olympic sport-- peak performance! 3. How important is philosophy to your writing? Why? I don't understand philosophy. 4. Who are some of your favorite non-Anglo-American writers? Why? Li Po seems pretty smart and funny and melancholy. I have a friend in Philadelphia who turned me onto the Urdu poet Ghalib. I like his work a lot, but maybe it's because my friend recites it in Urdu and it sounds cool. 5. Do you read a lot of poetry? If so, how important is it to your writing? No. I read a lot of poetry when I was learning to be a poet and then also during the period when I was learning to be in the poetry community so-called. I speed read poetry now. And I go back to favorites. I like documentary movies and true crime books better than poetry. But I do return to Frank O'Hara and Allen Ginsberg when I'm feeling low and need advice. 6. What is something which your peers/colleagues may assume you’ve read but haven’t? Why haven’t you? I think that people think that I've read the Language poets, but I haven't. Actually Ron Silliman sent me a chapbook recently and I read it and liked it. And I've read some Susan Howe and Michael Palmer and Rosmarie Waldrop, but I don't really think of them as language poets. I'm a sucker for a good story and a lot of emotion. I guess I'm not cool enough for language poetry. 7. How would you explain what a poem is to my seven year old? A poem is a bright and shiny set of words that you could eat, if you wanted to. 8. Do you believe in a Role for the Poet? If so, how does it differ from the Role of the Citizen? Maybe the poet as recorder of history, but that's the role of the citizen too. I think that being a good citizen is more important than being a good poet. But sometimes being a good poet helps to contribute to the well-being and pleasure of the other citizens. 9. Word associations (the first word which comes to mind; be honest): Lemon**Tang in outer space Chiseled**Features I**am crazy. Of**[nothing] Form**Please don’t ask me about form. 10. What is the relationship between the text and the body in your writing? I go into body/coffee/trance/stream of consciousness when i write well. It feels like rock and roll or ultramarathoning. Then I take a nap.