Interview with Vince Gotera
Poet, Editor, Professor, Blogger
In addition to his editorial duties at the North American Review, which was founded in 1815, Vince Gotera also serves as professor in the Department of English Language and Literature at the University of Northern Iowa.
Vince’s poems have appeared in numerous literary journals. He has published three books of poetry, Fighting Kite, Ghost Wars, Dragonfly, and a book of criticism, Radical Visions: Poetry by Vietnam Veterans. He blogs at The Man with the Blue Guitar.
LSG: How and when did you get started with poetry?
VG: I wrote my first poem at age six. With my dad on a ferry boat, I noticed how bright the sun was and tried to describe it in a poem. Although it appeared in my school's newsletter, I don't have that poem any longer, but I remember employing four-line stanzas, rimed. I wrote poems in high school (lucky I had a teacher who assigned creative writing). I took poetry-writing classes in college. But I didn't start writing serious poetry until grad school, when it really became a life's work.
LSG: Discuss briefly your poetic philosophy.
VG: I have no fancy "philosophy." I just try to show more than tell, which means I use images and real-life details as opposed to big abstract terms like "freedom" or "justice." I often use form (rime, meter, haiku, sestinas, etc.) and try to make that focus invisible with slant rime and rough meter. When I do that, my hope is that the poems seem like free verse to readers who prefer free verse but are clearly formal to readers attuned to forms. In this way, I hope to touch everyone.
LSG: How do you classify your poetry? Classic, Romantic, Modern, Postmodern, or any other class you choose.
VG: I'm going to plead the fifth here. Everyone’s writing can be classified in all kinds of ways. I am a Filipino American poet, but my poems are also about many other things: rock 'n' roll, growing up neither white nor black in America, war, peace, love ... just poems, you know?
LSG: What is your stance on activism and poetry, politics and poetry, or teaching and poetry?
VG: Poetry should not be just art for art's sake. Writing is a political act even if you're consciously trying not to be political. So poetry can be ... no, must be ... used for activism. We can help make life and our world better through words. On teaching: yes, poetry can be taught. We can teach each other craft, mechanics. But style and sense, you have to learn that for yourself.
LSG: Discuss your favorite poet: how and when you first encountered him/her? Why do you admire him/her? How are you similar to/different from him/her?
VG: Tough question. So many great poets! Even within only the last 100 years, my favorite poet changes from day to day. Today, it's Yusef Komunyakaa, my poetry teacher. He changed my life with one sentence: "Why don’t you write about being Filipino?" Then there's Molly Peacock, a consummate artist in rime, meter, and "inherited" forms like the sonnet. Also Elizabeth Bishop, Sylvia Plath, Wilfred Owen, Carlos Bulosan, Lucille Clifton, Garrett Hongo, Denise Duhamel, Marilyn Hacker. All these poets work hard to say something crucial—something important for everyone—in the best possible way. I hope I do that as well.
It is an honor and a privilege for Poetry at Suite to be able to share these insights from a practicing poet. Much gratitude goes to poet Vince Gotera for his participation in this exchange.
NOTE: This article resulted from a written interview through Facebook. For consistency of style and usage in the articles on Poetry here on Suite101, Vince's spelling of "rhyme" has been changed to "rime" in the body of this interview. All other stylistic and usage choices remain unchanged.
Vince Gotera
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Vince Gotera
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