12 or 20 questions with Marcus McCann

(Sorry for the delay in posting this link to rob mclennan’s 12 or 20 questions questionnaire interview with me.)

“For me, poetry is about grammar. In everyday English, we tend to use the same sentence constructions — subject, verb, object — over and over. So I spend a lot of time with things like interjections, parentheticals, phrasal subjects, and playing with using words as different parts of speech. In my own work, I’m looking to stretch rather than break grammar…. give English a chance to show off.”

Roundup of more Marcus McCann links: interview on The Bystander podcast. Poems for precious chapbooks in the ditch, anthology. Essay on Genus Envy (is our culture fixated on plagiarism?) published by Angel House Press. A review of Shane Neilson’s new book at the Agora Review. Some reflections in Ottawater. Cultural reporting on why dated cultural artifacts like the work of John Hughes and the musical Rent still matter to gay folks.

Soft Where reviewed at Canadian Bookseller

“This is poetry for a new age; poetry that a reader can easily imagine being performed (to a transfixed audience) on stage. Lines such as ‘Your head’s employees/ call in a snowday, crescent of wrist stung/ like electrical tape was yanked off. Yowsa.’ cry out for a stage and a mike.”

Review by Ronnie Brown here.
Canadian Bookseller’s website here.