Salvatore Difalco is the author of five small press books. He lives in Toronto, Canada.
You can read his poem Propofol in the July 2023 issue.
Would you like to tell us a little bit more about your poem? For instance, how or why you wrote it, or perhaps provide some extra context?
I started my so-called writing career as a poet, but as poetry became increasingly politicized, I turned to prose for many years. After recently reengaging with my favorite poets, such as John Ashbery and Wallace Stevens, I decided to try my hand again at it. And this poem is one of those efforts. Let’s just say at this stage of my life I feel free to write whatever I want because I simply don’t give a shit anymore what anybody thinks.
Why was the poetic form the best fit for this particular piece of work?
It emerged as couplets in the process, which I like sometimes, not sure why, all due respect to Alexander Pope.
Do you have a collection of poetry or even a single poem that acts as a touchstone?
The Tennis Court Oath, John Ashbery’s early book.
If you didn’t write poetry, how do you think you might access the same fulfillments that poetry offers in your life?
Standup comedy. Jiu jitsu.
How do you revise your work?
Sometimes the poem comes out in one perfect splat. Sometimes it takes weeks to hammer out the rhythm and syntax and make it right for the ear. Sometimes months.
What are you working on now?
At the moment I’m working on completing a collection of poetry.
How or where or with what does a poem begin?
It can start with an image, or a rhythm, or a phrase; or sometimes with nothing at all. Poetry writing has an element of magic about it that prose writing simply does not. I think it might be more akin to songwriting in that regard. Something magical or mysterious has to happen for a good poem to emerge. And there is no guarantee that it will happen.
Are there other art forms that inspire or inform your poetry?
I am into art period. Painting, music, dance, puppetry, mummery, name it. I dig art and think that art is what makes us human and art is what will save us in the end, not all that other shit.
How do you make space for poetry in your daily routine?
I just do.
What are you reading or watching or listening to lately that intrigues or inspires you?
I’ve been listening to Wes Montgomery’s West Coast Blues and some of his other tunes over and over again. Talk about magic. His guitar swings like no one else. I yearn to swing like that.
Have you ever received advice (or has there been something you’ve learned on your own) about writing or revising poems that has made you a better poet? What was it?
I’ve been mainly discouraged from writing poetry by the universe at large. And yet I persist.
In terms of poetic style or craft, is there a big question you are trying to find an answer for?
I love poetry and have read, studied and written it for many years. I respect all poetic forms and am open to reading any of them, new or old. I love them all. And as a poet, I like to draw my technical and aesthetic inspiration from the great body of work in English and other languages (particularly Italian and French). As a result, I’m willing to try my skill at any and all forms, often unsuccessfully! That said, more than anything I like to have fun and play with forms and ideas without ever getting polemical or proscriptive. I think great poetry is often beautiful and fun.