Nathaniel G. Moore is the author of Let’s Pretend We Never Met (Pedlar Press, 2007) and Savage 1986-2011 (Anvil Press, 2013). He now lives on Protection Island, B.C. after many years in Toronto where he used to write for magazines such as Broken Pencil, The Danforth Review and Open Book: Toronto. Visit his website at nathanielgmoore.tumblr.com
Questions & Answers
Is there a specific moment that inspired you to pursue poetry?
I pursue poetry as foreplay to my first love which is fiction. Many of my poems wind up as novels or short stories. However, if you were to look at my writing career as a pop star, look at the poems I publish as singles that were never on any albums. I have published nearly thirty poems in the last four years and am still without a new book of poems. Sometimes I have a concept or idea that I wish to convey to myself or a reader and it doesn’t take the full-scale assault of a short story or novel. That’s when I write a poem.
How/where do you find inspiration today?
I find inspiration these days by my free time which is nearly non-existent ever since I began to parent a young child.
Do you use any resources that a young poet would find useful (e.g. books, films, art, websites, text, etc.)?
Amazing Kong is part of a narrative that explores the excess and limitation of masculinity as a communication device, identity and lifestyle. Films like Planet of the Apes, 12 Monkeys, One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, The 400 Blows, The Butcher Boy and 2001: A Space Odyssey are archetypal male fantasy of male purpose and male entitlement; a narrative I find nauseating, narrow and nihilistic. In a book of poetry that has changed titles more times than I can recall (Planet of the Apes, This Is The Zodiac Speaking, Thanksgiving Ocean) I attempted to explore, exploit and resolve in a way this male-focused universe of Home Depot overlords and blurry unnamed girlfriends and wives in film, real life and literature.
For an aspiring writer, what would have been helpful/motivating to hear from a published poet?
Edit your work until you see the bone. Never be satisfied. Never talk about yourself in public. Live a private separate life from that of your exciting life as an aspiring writer. Subscribe to magazines and volunteer in your community of literature and publishing wherever you may be located.