An Interview with Published Poet Alex Ness








Alex Ness has written poetry since first grade. He lived mostly in the
state of Minnesota, with stops in Wisconsin, North Carolina, North Dakota,
Texas, and Arizona. He loves comics, cats, books, art, music, and his
family. He has degrees from two universities in history and with areas
of political science, but his education was never about doing something to
get a job, it was instead what made him who he became today.

Alex has written about comics and popular culture since 2002, his work has
since appeared at Comicon.com/Pulse, Slushfactory.com,
ComicBookResources.com, The Great Curve (Now called blog.newsarama.com),
StlComics.com, RobinGoodfellow.com, as well as at his own site,
PopThought.com. He has performed over 100 interviews, written many many
articles, and his fingers are tired from all the typing. His focus since
2005 has been to use the poetry he loves and writes to develop an
audience...

In 2006 he began to use his network of friends inside and outside the
comic industry to produce his book, A LIFE OF RAVENS, utilized his poetry,
and the artwork of 27 different artists, and was invited to write a short
story for JOSH HOWARD PRESENTS: SASQUATCH. He has a book coming out
at the end of March 2009 called MYTHIC AND ANCIENT MEMORIES, a book of
poems about the myths of ancient peoples, and epic events of their world,
illustrated by a single artist, Greg Jolly.

His Mailing Address: Alex Ness PoBox 142 Rockford MN 55373-0142
His Email Address: alexanderness63@gmail.com

"Art is not made to decorate rooms. It is an offensive weapon in the
defense against the enemy." Artist Pablo Picasso

FWO:   What inspires you as a writer?

Alex:  In general, emotional things inform and inspire me. Love and the lack of
love, outrage and anger towards injustice, fear and hope, all form the
basis of the desire to write. Lately I’ve been nearly crippled by a
personal crisis where all I can write about is raw hurt, longing and hope
for love, and loss of love. People read into that, of course, some
accurately, some amazingly inaccurate. The result though is that I write
in response to things, and it comes from my heart, whether it is fictional
or true, whether it is me or the voice in the work, I flows out of my
emotional state at the time. And the fact is, I can barely function when
a poem is in me that I have not let out. It burns...

FWO:  Who was your first inspiration as far as writing poetry?

Alex:  My first poem that I have read was written when I was five or six about my
mom. I accompanied it with a red crayon drawing of her. So you could
say my mom. But that isn’t really true. I’ve always been different,
always felt a curse of being an outsider, and that pain, instructs my
poetry. I was not born into my family, I was adopted, and that also left
me feeling an outsider, however much I was loved and cared for. I think
being separated from flesh is a pain on a very primal level, so I am not
saying I understood it. I think separation is what moved me to write.

FWO: How does your poetry describe you?

Alex:  I think that my poetry is a commentary from a writer who seeks to be a
channel between emotional truth and the world he exists in. That
sometimes takes the form of mythic and epic poems about history, sometimes
filled with longing and sorrow over lost love, and sometimes declarations
and nearly embarrassingly powerful ill disguised suicide notes. I try
never to lie in a poem, however much it moves me to say something, it has
to be real. If I am wounded the reader will know it. If the world is
glorious, the reader will know it...

FWO: What do you hope the reader walks away with after reading Alex Ness?

Alex:  I am a flawed, broken person, and my goal in life has always been to cause
people to understand that while life might indeed suck, there is more, and
frankly, there is hope. Sometimes I myself get lost in my despair, and
that is where I regret some of my ill disguised suicide notes, but as a
person who constantly reports upon his journey and path, I am required by
honesty to detail my own worries and pain. But I believe that there is a
God, we possess a soul eternal, and that somehow we are here to love and
forgive others. Beyond that, really, what should there be?

FWO: We did a challenge awhile ago called "To die a Poet". In this
challenge poets wrote about what they would be leaving behind through
their words and how they would be remembered as poets. How would you like
to be remembered?

Alex:  I think if someone takes from my work hope, and love, and the primal right
to be loved and hope, I will have been successful. I see my personal life
as being one where the pain and torment I endure helps my work, so if
people experience good things from my poems they justify my pain. Some
people think I am a hypochondriac, but that is not the case. I have both
a list of medicines and experiences with the doctor’s office that would
prove that wrong. But, having said that, being emotive, being someone who
reports what he is feeling, I think some people think I report too much.
Sometimes being in pain and letting others know is the equivalent of
causing them compassion exhaustion. But I am not looking to be consoled.
I am hoping by baring my flesh I can help others feel, or heal, or grow.

FWO: When I read your poetry, I always feel a huge connection to your
heart. Is writing your outlet for some past experiences or feelings?

Alex:  Yeah you would think that I was wounded by love by reading my poems. But
I think it pays to understand where I come from... I am a 45 year old man,
having been with one woman only, I married as 24 year old virgin, have
never cheated, and am able to report things from the safety of that place.
I’ve been tempted, I’ve made mistakes of the heart, I’ve been drawn to
love in its many forms, but I’ve never had a tempestuous love affair, I’ve
longed for love but never acted outside my promise to my wife, and I have
hope others will feel what I write without wanting, necessarily, to assume
that I would act upon what I write. And some of what I write is a report
upon my being broken regarding the world, love, and hope... Being a poet
and outsider gives me both the ability and responsibility to express
myself.

FWO: You are a published Poet, what advice would you give for those seeking
to be published?

Alex:  Write all the time. It is a simple thing I know, but so many people who
desire to write poetry don’t spend enough time writing poetry. I also
think some of what we do that gets us past hurdles is less about effort,
and more about seizing opportunity. Don’t assume that a chapbook
publisher or a traditional publisher are your only possible avenues.
Don’t assume that contests, however valid, will be your key to success.
There are so many venues for poetry now, due to both the internet and the
cultural revaluation of poetry, that we have to fail in order NOT to get
published. It is out there waiting for you, and if you refuse to take no
for answer you will be published. Perhaps I am stupid, I just assume if
what I do is good that it should be in print. I think too many people
linger in both self esteem issues regarding their work, and denial issues.
They should be published if their work is good. That is a simple
truth. If you like what you are doing, and you like your poems, why not
let them be your self esteem. There will always be critics and cynics who
hate you, anywhere you go they exist, but your poetry should be
invincible, if you think it is worthy. (I’d also suggest, without any
rancor or judgment, that people really should spell check and grammar
check their poetry, because 95% of the people who are going to judge it
think not doing so is lazy. Poets tend to think they are immune from the
rules, and perhaps they are, but you alienate readers without caring for
conventions of style, grammar and spelling.)

FWO: What are your strengths and weaknesses as a poet, if any?

Alex:  It is a poet destiny to be faced with people who hate poetry and make
assumptions regarding his personal life. Is he the voice in the poem, is
he less of man due to the emotions in the work, is he saying we should or
shouldn’t feel this, is he an asshole?... People will judge you for what
you do. And my strength is thinking that people are free to think
whatever they wish, my work remains the same. I have dropped the view
that the message is with the receiver. That is a cultural myth we hold.
I say that any good poet will write from their strength, will assert
their view, and let things fall where they may. My weakness as a poet is
my less than great personal vocabulary, I try to expand it, but am faced
all the time with trying to use words I am less familiar with because I do
not want to exhaust the power of the words I know.

Thanks Tarringo, you are a true gentleman.My Mailing Address: Alex Ness PoBox 142 Rockford MN 55373-0142
My Email Address: http://email01.secureserver.net/compose.php?sendto=alexanderness63@gmail.com

http://poplitiko.blogspot.com/ http://alexnessistalking.blogspot.com/
http://deadtomyflesh.blogspot.com/ http://myspace.com/alexanderness
http://comicsirecommend.blogspot.com/ http://alexnesspoetry.blogspot.com/
http://cyberwizardproductions.com/AbandonedTowers/poetry/poets/ness.html
http://positivepoetry.com/browse.php?author=29 http://popthought.com/
http://alexnesspoetry.blogspot.com/2008/09/and-wait-is-nearly-over.html
http://amazon.com/Josh-Howard-Presents-Sasquatch/dp/0977788385/
http://dimestoredistro.com/mysteriousvisionsafterhours3-p-1033.html
http://amazon.com/Life-Ravens-Epic-Poetry-Narrative/dp/0978563824

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Posted by Tarringo T Vaughan at 3/4/2009 7:56 PM
Categories: Poet Interviews
Tags: Alex Ness Poetry Poet
 

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