Writer’s Block: Jake Kennedy & kevin mcpherson eckhoff

When BookThug told us that the poets behind two of their spring 2015 titles were best friends and would be touring together we thought it was awesome. We also wondered how we could somehow use this to our own advantage. Mission accomplished, friends. We present to you a Writer’s Block takeover by both Jake Kennedy and kevin mcpherson eckhoff. Jake Kennedy examines loss and the relationship between making and unmaking in the experimental poetry collection Mertz Structure No 2 Burnt By Children at Play. kevin mcpherson eckhoff’s latest collection, too, is a work of experimental poetry but in a different sense; Their Biography is a collaborative memoir that is, on the surface, “about” the poet but in reality looks at identity and relationships.Take it away Jake and kevin!* * *Writer’s Block interview as conducted by bffs, Jake Kennedy & kevin mcpherson eckhoff, upon their real friend, Amanda King, Denny’s night manager extraordinaire!What are you working on now?(Laughter) You are hilarious. What am I working on now? Nothing. Work is terrible. I’m not a poet or a writer—I have no literature in progress.Why do you write?This doesn’t relate to me. You guys are jerks! (Jake: This is amazing!) No, it isn’t! Can you ask what I bought for dinner tomorrow? That would relate to me. I’ll pretend to have a book.

Who is your favourite fictional character?Hmm. Fictional is like a cartoon or fairytale person, is it not? That is a good question. I like Peter Pan, emoji emoji. I make a lot of faces when I talk.What’s the toughest part about being a writer?I would say punctuation because I fkn suck at that… no one ever likes my text messages; I have to call people still. Run on sentences.What’s one book you always recommend?I’m a bad reading person. (Pointing to speaker in ceiling) Yeah, I don’t even know who sings this song. Seriously. My son could teach your son to swear really good.* * *Supplemental Questions, as kindly asked by Amanda King to BFFs upon the request of said bestfriends!Where’d you meet?Thanks for asking, Amanda. Bestfriend et moi met just outside the auditorium, and bff was selling tickets to a blues-slash-2007-George-Ryga-Award-ceremony/show, and I said “May I have one ticket?” and he replied “Wrong again,” and I was like “Pardons my?” and he was like, “You should give your kid Nyquil,” and I said, “how did you even know I had a kid named Rae?” and he was like, “The whiskey is in the jar,” and I replied, “There was Johnny McAldoo and McGee and me / and a couple two or three / went on a spree that day,” and he asked “7 3/8?” meaning the hat size of my Celtic head, and I said “Yes—well assessed, amigo!” and we were fast friends best ever after. Also, Steven Galloway was there wearing some kinda trench coat; he did not become co-bff. And Lasiha Rosnau was there, too, wearing her usual glow; she became our dff (dear friend forever).How long have you been friends?For three or four months we have been like this… at least! That is, ever since I suggested he give his then four-year-old gal a hearty dose of Nyquil and tequila so that he could party like poetry all nigh long! Not a typo.If the two of you could go anyway together, where would it be and why? Oh, we could! Yes, indeed! MY answer—thank you for the wondrous question, A. King—would be because by echo or jeep to someplace with few but very likeable poets, like a modest, but clean, motel. We love to write in the car. We also love to write in motels and be artists and popular in motels. One time we stayed in Buffalo, and in one small room we met the former occupant’s pubic hair, a mousetrap, 7 pieces of someone else’s popcorn, and the large wet spot in the carpet. That was Buffalo, NY, we’re talking about, and we saw all of this in a single ten minutes of time. So, anywhere other than that Buffalo!

(bestfriend writerly advice)What is your favourite bestfriend pastime?Roadtripping and poemtrapping! Mostly we love to play ukulele and also meet up for heehahas at Denny’s. We love our simple lives and look forward to sharing it with y’all soon!* * *BESTFRIEND BIO as written by Amanda KingWell, Jake travels all the time and he comes back all tanned, and we look like pasty crap-holes. You guys come here for SID salads. Spell it just s-i-d. Maybe all capitals. It’s also therapeutic for lady talks. It’s like very to the point: no cheese and everything has to be just right (on Jake’s ordering/writing process). You’re called Fobs because because you ordered hashbrowns fried on both sides like four years ago. You’re called Fred because… you were just Fred because you look like a Fred. You always take forever to order, so maybe you take a long time to write, but then you always make a good choice, like holy fuck, this is awesome, it’s what I’ve been waiting for all day (on kmac’s ordering/writing process).Ps. I do lots of table-touching.* * *Thank you to Jake and kevin (and Amanda) for putting this together for us and to Hazel at BookThug for connecting us! If you want to learn a little more about these poets in their own words, check out these interviews from BookThug below:Jake Kennedy: kevin mcpherson eckhoff: