I am certainly suffering from a modicum of performance anxiety.

George Murray

Categorized in : Performance I Am Suffering Anxiety

I feel as though I've fooled the world into thinking I'm an adult and now they're letting me procreate.

feel me world thinking

A sequence works in a way a collection never can.

collection never sequence way

Even the people who have had success and made money writing these books of fiction seem to feel the need to pretend it's no big deal, or part of a natural progression from poetry to fiction, but often it's really just about the money, the perceived prestige.

money poetry success people

Humour is a fine line to walk in poetry, as in fiction. I just think it's harder to write. It's harder to keep the respect of the reader too.

walk think respect poetry

I am still interested in the long or serial poem, but have written a few smaller things. I may start sending to journals again in a year or so... that's about it.

i-am start things long

I do try to let what is obviously unintended yet naturally good stay in.

naturally stay try good

I don't think there's anything wrong with someone having to read a poem twice. Or even a book.

wrong someone think book

I guess there is also an element of deliberate change involved. Each of my books has been, at least from my point of view, radically different from the last.

view point-of-view different change

I no longer feel pressure to produce fiction.

longer feel pressure fiction

I still write the occasional short story, and poked at a novel once, but it's just not what I want to do.

short story just want

I suppress the vast majority of what I write.

suppress i-write write majority

I think the main influence has been living in New York City. Aside from all the crap around 9/11, I find it very demanding to think amid all the noise and visual pollution.

city new think pollution

I think, for me, humour needs to be used like a strong spice - sparingly.

like think me strong

I wanted to rock back and forth between myth and distant futures, yesterday, today, and tomorrow. It felt a bit like prophecy and a bit like storytelling.

back tomorrow yesterday today

I was writing notes, but not composing poems. The Hunter began to develop out of this fragmented process.

out notes process writing

I'm not interested in being easy anymore. Readable, yes. Easy, no.

yes being not-interested easy

I've often entertained paranoid suspicions about my fridge and what it's been doing to my poetry when I'm not looking, but I never even considered that my fan was thinking about me.

looking me poetry thinking

In fact, in some ways, I actually feel much more confident about the quality of Carousel than I do about The Cottage Builder's Letter: probably because of its cohesive nature.

confident feel quality nature

In my opinion, Al Moritz may be the best poet of his generation in Canada.

generation best canada opinion

It's a bit of a crapshoot out there with young writers right now anyway.

right out now young