Graham Clifford

1. Why does the poet feel responsible for the poem's destiny? One poem may find immediate tremendous success, whereas another one may find it years and years (if not decades or centuries) later



I do feel responsible for my poems, in the sense that if they are to go out in the world they must be well made and carefully considered. I don’t want them to fall apart under scrutiny, or for poor craftsmanship to detract from the effect: the responsibility is to that initial urge to write and communicate, to be faithful to the poem as it suggests its own making. And yes, some poems do seem to come together very quickly and feel “whole”, in which case they can be viewed as “successful.”




2. Does poetry need to educate?


It all turns on what is meant by “educate.” I like to think that coming into contact with art – hearing, seeing, experiencing –changes you; makes you aware of something you weren’t previously, or reminds you of something you had forgotten. Is this education? It could be seen this way. Does it need to, though? No. It can excite or amuse. Or irritate. Or provoke. Poetry needs to do something, though. To connect with the reader. To paraphrase Dickinson , it should blow the top of your head off. Or smash Kafka’s ice.



3. Does the poet need to educate?


Does the poet have a responsibility to educate? Certainly there are great poets who also are academics and do teach. But must a poet educate? It is healthy to be in conversation with others about poetry and poetics. Can a poet be outside of this? The American poet Kay Ryan talks of the need for her to metaphorically walk off in her own direction. I take this as meaning she needed a great deal of time to herself to form her own aesthetic, and guard it and tend it. I have a lot of sympathy for this point of view. Simply by being a poet can be an educative act. But poets are as various of character as the rest of the human race.


4. Is there a poem that surprised you with how it chose to unfold?


I am sometimes surprised and the unfolding of a poem, how it can drop down from the top line like a rope ladder. It may well need tweaking after, but those moments are special. But it has to be remembered that all the work, all the notes going nowhere, all the scribblings, are precursors to those happy moments. So in fact, there is a head of steam building subconsciously behind these unfoldings. And similarly there are poems which have to be chipped away at over years. A big block of text may contain a simple poem germ which lasts as the rest of the words decay, leaving what needed to be written.



5. Do poems write themselves?


Poems are like synaptic networks outside of the cosiness of a skull. They are impulses, thoughts which require a form. The poet writes and reads what has been written. It might seem wrong or out of order or hint at something else. There is a back and forth motion between the poem and the writer. It is like a game to tease out of the writer something better than she could have thought of. The writer knows there is something inside to say and needs the poem to extract that.



6. You are both a teacher and a poet.. From which one do you derive far more satisfaction? Which one is closer to who you are?


I have needed to have both poetry and teaching working simultaneously. I have found that my work (teaching) has nourished my creative work. As an assistant head I not only teach but oversee the running of a large school on a strategic level. I have gained a lot from being involved in an institution at this level. Currently, we are experiencing significant social change, globally and nationally, and being in education I really feel this. And for this, I am grateful to my career. But poetry and writing is who I am. Right now, before my book has been published, and with two children to support I will be an assistant head teacher for a while longer. There have been many poets who have worked full time and had great poetry careers – Wallace Stevens, Kay Ryan, O’Driscoll – and who have all drawn on their experiences, or used them to nourish them. But I see everything I do through the filter of being a poet. Every experience has the potential to be turned into a poem, and it is that way around.



7. How important is for you to see your poems translated into Romanian?


It is hugely important to have my poems translated into Romanian. That I am in communication with you, because of poetry, makes me incredibly proud and excited. To think that the poems I have worked on my small laptop in my room in London could be read in Romania and – hopefully – be successful in connecting, is a great test and opportunity. I read as widely as I can, and many of my favourite poets I know solely from translation. Translation is both a science and an art, and is fantastically important. I am currently reading Tadeusz Rozewicz, the Polish poet, in translation by Adam Czerniawski. I know that what I am enjoying is from both poet and translator.