An interview with
Steven Swank
What is, in your opinion, the best thing (or your favourite thing) that you’ve ever written? Tell us about it.
Life on the High Wire is one of my earlier poems. The metaphor is being a high wire aerialist. We exist as spheres
of energy radiating from our solar plexus. I like how it implies the warp and flux of reality, as we each navigate and question: what is reality, what does it mean?
Life On The High Wire
by Steven Swank
Like those who on the wire dance
we are suspended on beliefs
intent draws taut as if by chance
life’s dimensional relief.
Entity fibers bound by light
illuminate the scenes
while on the wire in the night
we spin dizzily the dreams.
Who are your favourite writers, and what influences your writing?
I am a delayed and slow reader (dyslexia). While I have read many books I do not readily remember their names or the authors. This is not how my brain works. But I can tell you the lyrics of hundreds of songs. Among my favourites are: Bob Dylan, Paul Simon, Donna The Buffalo, Tom Waits. My poetry is influenced by e.e. Cummings, Walt Whitman, Mary Oliver, Aunpama Amaran, Isaac Asimov, and others. I especially, lovingly, credit Ruth Ruckman, my 11th grade English teacher, who helped me discover the joy of writing despite my trouble reading.
What are your hobbies?
Among my favorite activities are: doing art, poetry, puppetry; playing the djembe in drum circles, solving most any creative imperative, building with stone, observing the grandeur and detail of nature, being outside pondering the vastness of consciousness and space/time.
Describe yourself as if you are a character in one of your own stories / poems.
Often the most quiet man in the room, he will speak if spoken to. He is smart but will not say, raised a farm boy to be that way.
Tell us something crazy.
Metaphor Asking
Steven Swank, 21 March 2021
The metaphor, truth or fiction?
Are you a true believer?
Does it improve with time or diction,
is it useful as a fever?
Is it something you’d casually say,
or save it for a rainy day?
For a super really good one,
how much would you pay?
Can you use it in a sentence,
on its use are we too reliant?
Has it ever a past perfect tense,
must it be socially compliant?
Do you prefer a fixer-upper
or perhaps a rent to own,
blend a bunch in the mixer
or only use as stand alone?
Metaphor of the binder,
metaphor of the loop
as a contradiction finder
in the metaphor of soup
Metaphor this reminder
what to call them as a group?
Put them random in the grinder,
hang to dry in the chicken coop.
Ask yourself is it a quality hack,
or helpful if the text is drifting,
useful as a one-ton jack,
but not so good for heavy lifting.
Harmless in an urban setting
or only rurally benign,
is over use a blood letting
with which one day you’d be fine?
Used in prose, it’s paragraph-able,
use the wings once unflappable,
drain the keg deemed most tappable,
smile the phrase, be even laughable
Their use I know, is not like voting,
how long would you wait in line?
Restrictive voter laws we’re noting
are too frequent, serpentine.
What’s the weirdest question you’ve ever been asked in an interview? And what did you answer?
I was asked one time, “Would I shave off my beard for the video interview?” The answer is no.
What is your writing set-up? (E.g your garden shed, a cafe etc) and are there any things you must have to get the words to flow, e.g a lucky hat or a favourite shirt?
When writing I follow no path, though I have some tendencies. I do not chase. I do not hunt, fret, or force the outcome. A quiet place, calm energy, common purpose when others are present and also writing, suits me. My favorite tool is a fountain pen on paper, though I often jot phrases on anything available in the moment of revelation.
Again, I do not chase. I welcome the opportunity to witness and observe, I scrawl the thoughts that visit and inspire me. I do not require writing every day, I have many avenues of creativity. I treat them (as a group) like changing my socks.
Learn more about Steven at creativeimperatives.com
Life on the High Wire is one of my earlier poems. The metaphor is being a high wire aerialist. We exist as spheres
of energy radiating from our solar plexus. I like how it implies the warp and flux of reality, as we each navigate and question: what is reality, what does it mean?
Life On The High Wire
by Steven Swank
Like those who on the wire dance
we are suspended on beliefs
intent draws taut as if by chance
life’s dimensional relief.
Entity fibers bound by light
illuminate the scenes
while on the wire in the night
we spin dizzily the dreams.
Who are your favourite writers, and what influences your writing?
I am a delayed and slow reader (dyslexia). While I have read many books I do not readily remember their names or the authors. This is not how my brain works. But I can tell you the lyrics of hundreds of songs. Among my favourites are: Bob Dylan, Paul Simon, Donna The Buffalo, Tom Waits. My poetry is influenced by e.e. Cummings, Walt Whitman, Mary Oliver, Aunpama Amaran, Isaac Asimov, and others. I especially, lovingly, credit Ruth Ruckman, my 11th grade English teacher, who helped me discover the joy of writing despite my trouble reading.
What are your hobbies?
Among my favorite activities are: doing art, poetry, puppetry; playing the djembe in drum circles, solving most any creative imperative, building with stone, observing the grandeur and detail of nature, being outside pondering the vastness of consciousness and space/time.
Describe yourself as if you are a character in one of your own stories / poems.
Often the most quiet man in the room, he will speak if spoken to. He is smart but will not say, raised a farm boy to be that way.
Tell us something crazy.
Metaphor Asking
Steven Swank, 21 March 2021
The metaphor, truth or fiction?
Are you a true believer?
Does it improve with time or diction,
is it useful as a fever?
Is it something you’d casually say,
or save it for a rainy day?
For a super really good one,
how much would you pay?
Can you use it in a sentence,
on its use are we too reliant?
Has it ever a past perfect tense,
must it be socially compliant?
Do you prefer a fixer-upper
or perhaps a rent to own,
blend a bunch in the mixer
or only use as stand alone?
Metaphor of the binder,
metaphor of the loop
as a contradiction finder
in the metaphor of soup
Metaphor this reminder
what to call them as a group?
Put them random in the grinder,
hang to dry in the chicken coop.
Ask yourself is it a quality hack,
or helpful if the text is drifting,
useful as a one-ton jack,
but not so good for heavy lifting.
Harmless in an urban setting
or only rurally benign,
is over use a blood letting
with which one day you’d be fine?
Used in prose, it’s paragraph-able,
use the wings once unflappable,
drain the keg deemed most tappable,
smile the phrase, be even laughable
Their use I know, is not like voting,
how long would you wait in line?
Restrictive voter laws we’re noting
are too frequent, serpentine.
What’s the weirdest question you’ve ever been asked in an interview? And what did you answer?
I was asked one time, “Would I shave off my beard for the video interview?” The answer is no.
What is your writing set-up? (E.g your garden shed, a cafe etc) and are there any things you must have to get the words to flow, e.g a lucky hat or a favourite shirt?
When writing I follow no path, though I have some tendencies. I do not chase. I do not hunt, fret, or force the outcome. A quiet place, calm energy, common purpose when others are present and also writing, suits me. My favorite tool is a fountain pen on paper, though I often jot phrases on anything available in the moment of revelation.
Again, I do not chase. I welcome the opportunity to witness and observe, I scrawl the thoughts that visit and inspire me. I do not require writing every day, I have many avenues of creativity. I treat them (as a group) like changing my socks.
Learn more about Steven at creativeimperatives.com