The Dirt Riddles
Poems by Michael Walsh

How and when did you become interested in poetry?
When I was thirteen, a single poem sparked my interest: The Second Coming by William Butler Yeats. I found it in a textbook. I read it silently and then aloud to myself many times. I didn't become interested in poetry because I understood what Yeats was saying, but because I had no idea, and that delighted me. I could only feel the poem through rhythms I didn't understand either, and they imparted to or awakened within me powerful feelings of hopelessness. But there was so much contradictory, vibrant, verbal energy giving life to these dark feelings. I didn't yet understand the craft Yeats had used to evoke my response, but I felt compelled to read more poetry and try to write it.

What books did you read to help envision and shape The Dirt Riddles?
Studying Arthur Waley's translation of The Book of Songs helped me think in terms of song and seasonal cycles. I read The Exeter Book Riddles many times to get in touch with the tradition of the riddle. I've worked for years to heightened my awareness of communication and language through reading and re-reading The Spell of the Sensuous by David Abrams and Metaphors We Live By by George Lakoff and Mark Johnson, so those two nonfiction books are essential. In terms of 20th-century poetry, Theodore Roethke's Collected Poems has been the singlemost helpful volume. But all of these books also helped me write mine: Descendant by Marianne Boruch, Howl by Allen Ginsberg, Opened Ground by Seamus Heaney, The Lice by W.S. Merwin,The Dead and the Living by Sharon Olds, Out-of-the-Body Travel by Stanley Plumly, The Redshifting Web by Arthur Sze, and Above the River by James Wright. I'm very grateful to all these authors, especially the anonymous ones.

What would you be if you weren't a poet?
I'd be a game designer. I enjoy working with interacting, complex details such as the ones you encounter in board games and video games.

Why are so many of your poems short?
I have a knack for compression and a preference for the short lyric. Most such poems I've completed were much longer in draft form. I begin by overwriting. Then, from the overstated, brimming mess, I begin cutting. Poems that were 50 lines on their first draft will be lucky if 10 lines remain when I'm finished. If a poem surpasses 25 lines in its final draft, that's a long poem by my standards.

From what sources do you draw inspiration?
Music and odd scientific discoveries inspire me. I have a lot of admiration for Low's unique combination of desperation, grace,
precision, and noise. Other bands that seem to help me write are Blonde Redhead, Bonnie "Prince" Billy, Cat Power, The Cure,The Decemberists, The Dresden Dolls, The Handsome Family, The Magnetic Fields, Neutral Milk Motel, and Portishead, Regarding scientific discoveries, I was very interested to learn that the light our bodies emit has been recorded and studied. Apparently our brightness fluctuates throughout the day.

What are your current projects?
I've been busy extending my pastoral vision into the city. I'm imagining how the streets, sidewalks, dumpsters and buildings are add-ons to the barn. I'm writing prose poems that I hope will comprise a surreal bestiary of real and imagined creatures, parts of the body, and animistic objects. I'm also writing poems about my biological father, whom I never met. He seems a missing link in much of what I've written to date. I've also drafted a collection of short stories intended to give voice to rural gay lives in the Midwest.

What books of poetry are you reading now?
I'm reading Unrest by Joanna Rawson, Another Random Heart by Sara Veglahn, and Now You're the Enemy by James Allen Hall. I'm also reading a book that's very poetic but defies any genre category: The Extended Words: An Imaginary Dictionary by Sid Gershgoren.

What thoughts do you have about being a gay poet in the world today?
Even though queer people made great progress toward equal rights since Stonewall, I think it's crucial for gay poets to keep writing about their relationships in whatever poetic form they choose. No matter how much more we're represented in the arts and media now, much resistance remains to acceptance by the larger culture.

Which poets have influenced you?
I hope everyone in my library influences me because my taste is eclectic. But Theodore Roethke has been an influence ever since I found his poetry in high school. Allen Ginsberg, Robert Duncan, and W.S. Merwin have greatly influenced my vision. Robert Desnos is the surrealist I read most often.