Pam Brown “On Writing”

Pam Brown: “I find in writing a poem that it’s ‘difficult’ to get it right – to have it look, sound & read as I intend. I can spend ages adjusting punctuation & spacing & lineation. Also on keeping things clear. Sometimes having my fragments connect to my meanings is really a challenge. I live in my own private metonymy. I guess, with indirectness, which is how some of my poetry can operate, that good old representation is a kind of solution. I’m not a formalist. I don’t work within particular poetic forms. I’ve tried various forms and they usually fail to conform. I do think that it’s difficult to have formal poems retain a procedure & avoid seeming contrived & tight. I like content to work easily without being obstructed by the form. I don’t want that kind of structural difficulty.” Read the rest: Ottawa Poetry Newsletter “On Writing #73.”