Howie Good

Drive Safely

I wait

in the slow line

of vehicles

for my turn.

The wailing

of sirens

fades down

the highway.

It’s difficult

to grasp

if you’re not

there,

but dying

is the last kindness

any of us

will ever do.

Maybe others

can overhear

what I’m thinking,

maybe not.

I have just

enough body

to keep

a soul in.

Interview

TSTmpj:  Your poem reminded me of William Carlos Williams's work.  Do you prefer to read his sort of poetry; and do you always write in this vein?

Howie Good:  Williams has been an influence, as the success of his work seems to give permission to write poetry in a kind of conversational mode. I have been reading his poetry since I was a teenager. I return particularly to his book, Pictures from Breughel and Other Poems. I have also read a number of biographies of him, including Paul Mariani's massive tome. But I write in other styles, too. People who are familiar with my poetry tend to characterize it as surrealistic. 

TSTmpj:  I recall Ted Kooser talking, in a book of poetics he wrote, about the merits of using simple words, and not using obscure ones.  What is your opinion of the Moderns (especially Pound, Eliot and Stevens); what do you believe they offer contemporary poetry?

Howie Good:  I admire innovative language, but detest when obscurity and incoherence are passed off as innovation and experimentalism. My journalistic background has shaped my own choice of language. I grew up in a profession that puts a premium on being simple and straightforward. But while my poems can appear simple, the appearance is somewhat deceiving. There's something complicated going on underneath, or so I hope. The reader should get a sense of something mysterious or menacing lurking just out of sight.

TSTmpj:  Is there a poet that perhaps is little known internationally, who you would recommend to those reading this as one to seek out?

Elke Erb
http://www.burningdeck.com/catalog/erb.html.

Bio Note

Howie Good’s new poetry collection is Dreaming in Red (Right Hand Pointing). All proceeds go to a crisis center:  https://sites.google.com/site/rhplanding/howie-good-dreaming-in-red.