Contributor Spotlight: Paul Scot August
Paul Scot August’s poem “His Wife Called Him Moose” appears in Midwestern Gothic Issue 1, out now.
How long have you been writing?
I started writing seriously in about 1991, about a year before I went to graduate school to do my MA in creative writing. I mainly wrote short stories and my thesis was a novel, but I took several poetry workshops and found myself gravitating toward poetry more and more. But then there was a 10-year period starting in about 1995 where life events sidetracked me and I didn’t write a single story or poem. I began writing again in late 2006, but when I found I had a very short attention span, I focused specifically on poetry. My writing reached a new level after I began attending summer poetry seminars and workshopped with Thomas Lux, Dorianne Laux and James Harms. I began publishing again about 2 years ago.
What’s your connection to the Midwest?
I was born and raised on the north side of Chicago, and lived there for the first 25 years of my life. I’ve now spent the last 25 years in the Milwaukee area, moving here originally for college. So I would consider myself an urban dweller of mid-western cities, with a Chicago accent that fights with the Milwaukee accent. Or so I’ve been told, as I don’t consider myself as having an accent at all.
How has the Midwest influenced your writing?
My poetry has been less influenced by the cities I’ve lived in than by the rural areas where I’ve gone to get away. Three generations of my family have left Chicago after their retirements to live in rural northwestern Wisconsin. I’ve spent time every summer for my entire life on Wisconsin lakes, rivers, farms and resorts. The natural decay of these areas has fed into my topics of loss and decay, alienation and loneliness. My poem “His Wife Called Him Moose” was influenced both by childhood memories of summers spent up north at my Great-Uncle’s property on a hill above the Clam River near Webster, Wisconsin, and how, according to James Wright, we are all going / To die in a loneliness / I can’t imagine and a pain / I don’t know.
Why do you believe there has never really been a regionalist push for Midwestern writing in the past like there has with the South or even the West Coast?
I think there are pockets of amazingly talented Midwestern poets that have sprung up around college towns and the bigger cities. But no real Midwestern movement has formed. I think the whole idea of a certain movement or school of writing is more a marketing ploy, although a successful one.
How do you feel about social media to promote your writing, and do you use it?
I use Facebook. I think it can be a useful tool for networking and letting people know where your poems are being published and where you are reading. It’s a good place to follow what’s going on in the world of literary magazines and contests too. On the downside, it can be an extraordinary time suck. I try to use Facebook’s powers for good.
Favorite book?
I will assume you mean poetry, since my piece in MG is a poem. Might be a tie between The Branch Will Not Break by James Wright and White Center by Richard Hugo. But any given day, there are a few dozen other books of poetry that bubble to the top of the list. But these two poets and these two books are the ones I go back to when I want to prime the pump of inspiration.
Favorite food?
I know I should say something about bratwurst and cheese curds, since I live in Wisconsin, but seriously, the Scallops with Artichokes from The Pasta Tree in Milwaukee are to die for, and made only better when followed by Gilles Frozen Custard located in Wauwatosa.
If you could have coffee (or tea or a beer) with any literary figure, alive or dead, who would it be?
I would love to sit down for coffee with James Wright and Richard Hugo and discuss poetry, life, love, and death.
Where can we find more information about you?
I have a blog with some of my published work, bio, etc.:http://paulscotaugust.wordpress.com/my-publications/
June 26th, 2011 at 2:07 pm
[…] Click Here to read it… […]
June 26th, 2011 at 2:30 pm
Great stuff, Paul. I hadn’t realized you were from Chicago! I started my mfa at CCC and finished up at NEC (where James Harms is director). James Harms, Dorianne Laux, Thomas Lux–pretty good influences! Do you know Suzanne Buffam’s work? She’s from Canada, but now resides with her poet/husband, Srikanth Reddy, in Chicago and teaches at the University of Chicago. You can read a review of her latest book (a finalist for the Griffin Prize) on my blog. Warm Regards, Terry Lucas.
July 30th, 2011 at 12:44 pm
Thank you, Terry! I’ll checkout Suzanne Buffam’s work and your blog…