The Poet.
Anthony Morena. An enigma for sure. This picture of him may not even be his present persona. That map may be a decoy for all the federales and New York City squirrels (the only rodents with Class A cahoot privileges!) What you should know is that Anthony Morena is a poet ahead of all time. His words deserve your attention.
Who is Anthony Morena? Why should people read your work?
I plead ignorance. I've been called the Bastard Poet
and that's fitting. People should read my work to create
an idea of Anthony Morena for themselves, even if it's not true.
What is poetry?
Communicating, the transmission of ideas from one mind, the
poet's, to another, the reader's. If a kid writes something in his
journal and says "This is a poem" it's poetry. There may be rhymes
involved, or verse, maybe not. Poetry is also beautiful. Tolstoy said
"Poetry is verse: Prose is not, Or else poetry is everything with the
exception of business documents and school books." I know
people who believe everything--without exception-- is poetry. In
that case you too, Jon, you are poetry. But I can acknowledge a
division between poetry and the poetic. The poetic becomes poetry
through the construction of the artist. And construction is the only
way expression gets temporal influence. In this case it's poetry.
What people call poetry is up to them.
Give up asking that question. The answers don't help you
understand. Think of a quantum conception of poetry. This is
probably poetry. What makes it poetry? It's probably....here.
Knowing in a sense of not knowing, that's how I approach poetry.
That's why criticism is bullshit. Poetry is alive, trying to point a finger
at it is abusive, so leave it alone.
Why is applying criticsm to a poem/poet, to "point a finger"? There
have been many poets who have turned to criticsm to enable a shift in the
poetic canon, so to speak. Every major poetic movement, from the Romantics, to the Moderists, to the Beats, have offered criticsm one way or the other. Maybe it is because people have left poetry alone and have exemplified the notion that "everything is poetry," which is more abusive. Take for example the site, Poetry.com. It is riddled with poems, but are they poetry?
Constructive criticism between artists is different than the
lit theory of a scholarly critic. Dead poets can't back up their
work and living poets shouldn't have to unless they feel
like it. Assertions by third parties should get thrown out.
Read the poem. Enjoy it or hate it. That's personal aesthetic.
Enjoy it or hate it and stop there. It's not fair to impose
meanings on works that the poet didn't put in the poem.
Isn't that manipulative? Whose purpose does it serve,
the poem's or the critic's? The problem is the whole education
system would have to be tossed, and so would the scholarly
profession. Too many jobs are at stake, too many people like
to point fingers, so it won't happen.
How would you consider your work with that of past poets(this links with the following) Who/what inspires you?
Considering my work with current poets seems more appropriate.
I would consider my work with theirs by analysis of the two,
keeping an eye out for similarities or contrasting points. I
would consider word order, figurative language, also devices of
speech, layout and how successful these were achieving the
poet's intentions.
I love McSweeny's, the American Transcendentalists, dada
Surrealists, Beats east and west, the Buffalo what roam the
concrete fields by night, the Pressforword crew. I raw from all of
them, try and coexist in the same psychic space and leave my
personal stink where I go.
Inspiration? Massive amounts of caffinee, marijuana, anxiety
attacks...you know, giving my perception a colonic once in a while.
Seeing new angles.
Do you feel that a person's true artist comes out under the influence?
Maybe not with "illegal" substances, so to speak, but anything that alters
the mind/bloodstream? Are those "new angles" places where a sober artist can go? If not, is there an alternate route? Sleep deprivation perhaps, fasting even?
Come on, the artist is the artist--drunk, stoned sober or psychotic.
Every sober moment is as alien as one in an altered state.
How did today's cloudless sky make you feel compared
to yesterday's rainy gloom? Isn't that a perceptual change?
Consciousness is not fixed, there's plenty of room for a
straight-edge writer to move around. I don't NEED to alter
my consciousness to write. Most of the time I don't, unless
you want to count the coffee cigarettes one-two punch. I do that
when I'm not working. That's normal. But the changes...
oh, those are holy. I don't disregard them, especially when they help.
Where do you see the state of poetry/prose as it stands and where, with
increased exposure to writers such as yourself, where it will go?
There are no writers such as myself which is a good thing, both for
poetry and the world at large. Literature goes in multiple directions--it's
like the NYC subway, going uptown downtown, out to Queens...it's a
multiplicity of directions and you can only ride one train at a time.
They're all moving though, heading to different destinations.
I don't think one place is more important than another but if you dig our
style and where it's going get on the R train, get on the 6, whatever.
If the fate of the world rested in your hands, meaning that Anthony Morena was Absolute Dictator of the Earth...what would you do?
Nas wrote a song about that and I think he makes some
good points. I would dissolve all borders, create a free society,
end bastard discrimination in all its forms and make these things
irrevocable. Then I'd explain to the people that they never needed
me and commit self-immolation like the old kings whom, I believe,
are the ancestors of all true alcoholics.
If their was one author/poet who you would ressurect, who would it be?And, what would you talk to them about?
I wouldn't do it, resurrect a dead person. Come on,consider
the grisly Joyce zombie's feelings. How pissed off would he
be if I dragged his ass back? Now if I had a time
machine, that's a different question.Of course I'd have to consider
causality before I go, and if causality holds any water we might be in
deep shit. So no. I wouldn't travel back in time to talk to a presently
dead author.
I enjoy talking to living writers, but I usally make an ass of
myself when I do. My anxiety problem does that. It ruins most
conversations I have. That's why we're doing an email interview.
If I could use the time machine to somehow cure my anxiety I'd
probably do it. This way my conversations with living authors would
be coherent. Who knows, maybe our talks would take literature to
new places or lead to sex. Time machines open up all sorts of
possibilities like that. There's still causality but I'd risk it.
Are there any plans for Anthony Morena that we should know about?
Novels, collections, plays, anything else other than poetry that we can expect to see in the future?
The second coming of the Buffalo Readings (buffaloreadings.com)
should be in late April. The chapbook should be ready by then.
Why should anyone read your work? What makes it an important addition to the literature world at all?
World peace. My work will lead to world peace.
Any last words?
That's fatalistic, man.
