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CoCoPoPro: Do You Do Haiku? Stan Rogal’s homage to Richard Brautigan
You’ve heard of Trout Fishing in America, right? Have you read it? The novel was written in 1961 by American poet and novelist Richard Brautigan, and after its publication in 1967 it became a runaway success. Critics felt it exemplified the spirit of the Beat generation of the late 60s, and it sold some 4 million copies worldwide. Brautigan was prolific, and went on to publish many more works–collections of poetry, novels, short stories, broadsides, and even produced a record of spoken word poetry–before his death in 1984. Stan Rogal has created a collection of poetry that was inspired by, and is dedicated to, Richard Brautigan.
You’ve heard of Trout Fishing in America, right? Have you read it? The novel was written in 1961 by American poet and novelist Richard Brautigan, and after its publication in 1967 it became a runaway success. Critics felt it exemplified the spirit of the Beat generation of the late 60s, and it sold some 4 million copies worldwide. Brautigan was prolific, and went on to publish many more works—collections of poetry, novels, short stories, broadsides, and even produced a record of spoken word poetry—before his death in 1984.
Today’s featured poems are by the equally prolific Toronto poet Stan Rogal, who has created a collection of poetry that was inspired by, and is dedicated to, Richard Brautigan. Love’s Not the Way To (BookLand Press, 2013) is a collection of haikus that seeks to channel the Japanese form that both Rogal and Brautigan playfully explore.
Q&A with Stan Rogal
What are you reading right now?
John Berryman’s The Dream Songs again
If you wrote a memoir what would it be called?
Story of a Redneck Intellectual
Where is the oddest place in which you have ever written (or been inspired to write) a poem?
A sense-deprivation tank
Why should people read poetry?
Because poetry makes nothing happen
Who are your favourite poets?
Richard Brautigan, John Berryman, Jack Spicer, Judith Fitzgerald, Marjorie Welish, T.S. Eliot…
What’s one poem everyone should read?
The Dream Songs, complete
What’s your must-read literary magazine or website?
What’s your guilty pleasure (when it comes to reading)?
I generally feel guilty about everything I read. Not sure why.
When did your interest in reading/writing poetry start?
Grade 11 English class when a gorgeous, young, blonde hippie student teacher played Suzanne for us on the record player.
*****
Born in Vancouver, Stan Rogal obtained his B.A. degree from Simon Fraser University, majoring in English and doing a double minor in Philosophy and Theatre. He moved to Toronto in 1987, where he completed his M.A. degree in English at York University. He is the author of 17 books: four novels, three short story collections, and ten poetry collections. His work has appeared in numerous magazines and anthologies throughout Canada, the US and Europe, and has been translated into several languages. Rogal is the Artistic Director of Bulletproof Theatre. He lives in Toronto, Ontario.
_______Edited from the original post, published on the LPG blog
