Tryst Poetry Editor: Joan McCormick

1 ) What was the first poem you remember reading and how old were you? How did the poem affect you?

Joan: This question is easy, I was at school about seven years old, the poem was about a host of silly Daffodils that the teacher read to us and I never understood a thing. Or got it that poetry could be as challenging as math, I loved doing the sums

2) When did you take an interest in writing poetry?

Joan: As an adult in my fifties when I had more time for myself I picked up an old book in a secondhand bookstore, out of boredom and the need of having something to read that was not all-consuming —and I was hooked

3) What do you like/love about poetry?

Joan: The fact you can say so much in so many ways without the use of a lot of words, I was always one to be short to the point, I detest waffling

4) Is there a particular kind of poetry that you like?

Joan: As long as I can sense the poet in the background I can dive into most styles, the bottom line is it must hit me in the face, not let me stop to pick at flaws (as I see them) I delight in sonnets, revel with rhyme

Can lose myself in prose and unpeel bad free verse from my nose for even the very worse of it can still make me laugh, mostly in empathy, as I'm not sure when I'll ever be what I want from others-

5) What kind of poetry turns you off?

Joan: In your face sexually explicit porn, calling a spade a spade is not poetry. Calling said spade a little earth mover is—

6) You have a great sense of humor. Do you like to see humor in poetry and do you know a poem that executes humor well?

Joan: Yes, and yes it is called—Pete the piddling Pup—author unknown

7) What poems of yours are your favorite and can you provide me with some of them?

Joan: Every one of them has been in my favor for a week, after that I tend to think of them as ugly birthlings and send them off on a long holiday

But I suppose I will always hold dear the very first poem I ever wrote because I intended to write a letter to my niece who was being self destructive. Yes I could provide it, but I take no responsibility if you have a seizure and your readers turn blue

8) Whom do you admire and why? (It doesn't have to be a poet, writer, celebrity, or anyone well known).

Joan: Ah! Billy Connolly a totally honest , down to earth man. This is the kind of man who should be President of the United States, the UK and Australia. He could wage a war, and have half the world's population die laughing. And I would lay odds he would lead the army hair flying naked as the day he was born except for his willy armor, into battle

But I have two-Bette Midler, the other end of the spectrum but could be his twin in a Scottish mind meld. Two very real people

{Scottish mind meld } some call a few wee drams

9) Why do you love poetry so much? What draws you to poetry over other forms of art?

Joan: I don't know that it does, I want it all, one day I will paint my perfect painting,

I will snap a photo and know I have perfection in black and white and—

I will write a best seller that outsells the bible—sorry! I got carried away. But that is what I try to do with words. I want to paint an image, put it in black and white with all ten hues of gray, and tell the account in as few meaningful words as I can—I'm sure this is what all poets strive for mainly because paint is messy, and a book takes years

Poets get the fast hit and crit—in fact I find poets stronger willed, because they get the hard criticism more often. Just imagine working for three years on a book before getting a hard slap! *shudder*

10) If you could go back in time and save one person who died, wrong time and place, who do you think might have made a difference if they had lived and what do you think would be changed? (This question I stole from Joan).

Joan: Goodness me, who thought this one up?

There is only one who could have been saved that would make the biggest difference according to legend, his name was Abel. Ironic, for he was unable in the end to make a difference. But if he had never been murdered who is to say the next day he would not have killed his brother?

We all are formed from the same slime and so are all able with the right circumstances to kill and be killed. I know I could as a mother taken that last step to protect my young —

But truly I don't think any one person can die before their time, I feel it is all ordained that we can't live on one second past our due time or go before it

The only thing we can change is how we adapt to what we are allotted in the scheme of things, how we choose to deal with our misfortunes and our graces

11) What do you like about being an editor?

Joan: Well so far it's been a blast all the way, I get to read the best that people have to offer and know that they have put their all into that piece of work. But I know I have been under worked by you, and will be thrown in the deep end before long without my floaters to keep me up, lucky for me I can walk on water— as long as it is one inch deep

And Mia , I'd like to publicly thank you for giving me this opportunity - now, about that company car?

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