Friday, September 12, 2008

FD Reeve is the bomb

F.D. Reeve, on dealing with problems by being a poet:
"I have to write. If you can solve your problems by drinking, do."
Reeve came to the Writing Center and gave a brief lecture this last Thursday. He also read some of his poems. The guy was down to earth. Refreshingly so - he didn't wax sentimental or poetic about being a poet. He didn't strike me as someone who was just literary, with no foot in the real world.
He has a sense of humor, he listened, was easy to talk to. You didn't feel like he was lording anything over you. There wasn't a trace of condescension when he talked, no pretense of knowing the great secrets of writing. He wasn't trendy.
His advice on overcoming writer's block was to drink, and if that didn't work, to translate something into English from another language. Weird. Fantastic.

- Leta

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