a continuing story

This is a continuing story about my new book, Broken/Open.

First of all, for those that may think I'm prolific, it's my first all new full-length work since 1997 and The Book of Possibilities. In other words since the last century. It's not that I waited a long time, it's just that other things happened in between. Perhaps that's the age-old story. Some of those things were personal and one-off. But there was also a sense of holding back.

Though most of the poems are fairly new, there's a smattering of older work. I think of the book as marking new directions for my work but, in fact, these things are never clear-cut. New directions come from the old (d'oh).

I've never been a poet of the 'project'. I find that concept personally irritating. To each their own. But neither is my work a 'continuum' - that's a cliche. I've always pushed into different areas. Some things I've let be for a while, years even, and then picked up again. Other ways of working are newer enthusiams.

I never do what I'm 'supposed to do'. Which is why my work has never been attractive to the academy. For this, one must be thankful, on the one hand, and mildly irritated (again) on the other.

You keep on.

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