CHP INTERVIEW WITH GWIL JAMES THOMAS AND WILLIAM BARKER

Crying Heart Press Interview

**THIS INTERVIEW WAS CONDUCTED AHEAD OF THE RELEASE OF A SPLIT CHAPBOOK OF POEMS BETWEEN WILLIAM BARKER & GWIL JAMES THOMAS. THE INTERVIEW WAS CONDUCTED BY VAUGHN ROSS OF CRYING HEART PRESS WHO IS PUTTING THE BOOK OUT***

What brought you into the poetry world?

[WILLIAM]

I did not enjoy poetry at all for a good part of my life. As a student I felt contempt

towards the form. In school, you are force-fed poems and graded on how well you

can interpret them. I can't think of a worse way to teach poetry. It left a bad taste

in my mouth and helped fuel the stereotypes surrounding poetry in my mind.

Around 2004, my wife got me all Jim Morrison’s poetical works as a Christmas gift

since I’m a huge fan of The Doors music. I read through those books in a few days

and found myself thinking, "I didn't realize poetry could be this cool and interesting."

I sought out the poets and writers that made Jim Morrison want to write and that is

when poetry got its hooks in me. I read everything I could by Kerouac, Ginsberg,

Burroughs, McClure, Baudelaire, and Rimbaud. Wrote my very first poem in 2005

and it built from there. Discovering Bukowski in 2006 changed everything.

His work became the cornerstone for me diving into the poetry world completely.

[GWIL]

Stupid decisions, then some better ones and pure uncut luck. 

You both obviously are enthusiasts of small press. What role do you think

independent publishers play in poetry today?

[WILLIAM]

Small press/indie publishers play an ENORMOUS role. To me, they are the foundation,

the building blocks. Major poetry presses cater to academia and it’s more of a ‘who you know’

kind of situation, or what grants you have gotten. The gatekeeping is real there. They do publish

a lot of good poetry, but it is inaccessible for most poets looking to get published. 

The most exciting things are going on in the underground with small press. This is where you

can find the fresh, new voices. The writer’s doing different things than what is trendy in the

major publishing houses. Indie publishers serve as an entry point for poets where they can

begin making a name for themselves. The people running small presses are champions

for poetry. They pour a lot of blood, sweat, and life hours into what they do. The dedication

really does translate into them putting together incredible projects from unique writers.

Creative risks and outside the box thinking are also more likely with small press. I love that.

[GWIL]

The opposite of the mainstream, it’s a labor of love. Small presses may not have the mainstream budget, but people get fanatical about them, nonetheless.

The true role is to pass the torch to the next generation that thought poetry was never supposed to be for them.

Who are some of your favorite poets right now?

[WILLIAM]

Rob Plath, John Dorsey, Kevin Ridgeway, Danny D. Ford, Gwil James Thomas, Ford Dagenham,

Victor Clevenger, Tohm Bakelas, Lisa Mottolo, Carol Beauvais, Jason Ryberg, Martin Appleby,

Scott Laudati, Heather Kays, Dan Flore III, Justin Hamm, Leonard Walker, Jonathan S. Baker,

M.R. Nowan, Cristin O’Keefe Aptowicz, Anis Mojgani, George Franklin, John Yamrus.

[GWIL]

In no order: Nina Nazir, Peter Finch, José Arroyo, John Dorsey, Sam Pink, Bill Lewis, Ellie Gadson,

William Barker, Mark Anthony Pearce, Billy Childish, Leonard Walker, Nina Nicole Garner,

Tohm Bakelas, Ford Dagenham, Paul Sims, Mick Guffan, Danny D. Ford, M.R. Nowan

and loads of others that for whatever reason don’t come to mind.  

Describe your poetry in your own words.

[WILLIAM]

Wow, this is a case of being too close to the forest to see the trees. I will try…hmm…

free verse including memoir poetry (or confessional) with an overall focus on imagery

and cadence. Throughout high school and college, I wrote lyrics. I’m a huge music fan

and I think Jack Kerouac really nailed the idea of words having a rhythm and coming alive

on the page. I approach poetry that way, with some sort of musicality in mind,

while also focusing on imagery and emotional language. Hope that makes sense. 

[GWIL]

I find it hard to comment on my own writing, but I’d say - accessible, morbidly philosophical,

confessional and surprisingly optimistic, with the odd joke that people either miss,

or don’t find funny.

What was your favorite part about working on this split project?

[WILLIAM]

I became a fan of Gwil’s writing getting published together here on CHP. We both picked

up each other’s latest books and enjoyed them. I’d been itching to do a split project

with someone. I approached him about collaborating and he was open to it.

Gwil is a good dude. Easy going, detail-oriented, and thorough. Someone I hope I get

a chance to hang with in real life someday. When he began uploading poems for his

section, I got an idea. It is that idea that leads me to my favorite part of the split project:

doing a collaborative section. We each did some found poetry (erasure poetry) using

each other’s poems in the split book and I wrote my own version of one of his poems.

That was a blast! My favorite part. A collaborative section is unique for a split and we

both liked the idea of adding something unique to the project.

[GWIL]

Finishing it. I mean that with love too, I’m surprised it came together as well as it did.

Early on, Barker had the idea of merging our two sections together, which made me think

of some death metal album, that slowly switches to a psychedelic sound before you turn

over the record and it does the same in reverse. I loved the idea, but it sounded tricky as fuck

to pull off, I was wrong. We put the two completed sections together, worked on a little editing

and they slotted together like the right Tetris blocks. This may not be apparent at first,

but if you make it to the last page you should hopefully be able to see Accumulated as a whole,

but also as a traditional split. Hopefully. As usual, nothing came to mind with the cover,

but when you showed me the design, it felt perfect. It was a pleasure to work with Barker

and I can’t think of a more fitting home for Accumulated than CHP, thanks again for publishing

6. Who are some of the biggest influences that impacted your writing?

[WILLIAM]

Arthur Rimbaud, Charles Baudelaire, Pablo Neruda, Jack Kerouac, Charles Bukowski,

James Douglas Morrison, Frank Stanford, Frank O’ Hara, Anne Sexton, Allen Ginsberg,

William S. Burroughs, Gregory Corso, Bob Kaufman, Neeli Cherkovski, John Fante & Stephen King.

[GWIL]

John Fante, Ray Webber, Frank Stanford, Douglas Clark, Dylan Thomas, Billy Childish,

Peter Finch, Li-Po, Bukowski, Wang Wei, Kent Taylor, John Dorsey, Sylvia Plath, 

Raymond Carver.