Poet Robert VanderMolen Interview Pt.II

Today's post features poet Robert VanderMolen (above, with Felicia, left, and writer Vicki McMillan), discussing his latest collection, Water, published by Michigan State University Press. I, Maia, usually write this blog but every now and again, Felicia insists I volunteer to let her do it! But I did serve coffee and cookies to the 1995 NEA Fellowship-award-winner! I also presented his Newfoundland, Sophie (see photo, below), with a gift (see photo of Bob holding Doggie Cologne), that I understand was happily received! (See also Jan. 2 and Jan. 3 for previous posts with Bob.) Felicia continues Part II of the interview, below.



Let's talk a bit about one of your poems, specifically, Whispering, in Part 2 on page 36.

Whispering
The susurration at night grows malicious
As it should--the marsh is now marinas--
In that mixed light, gulls standing on pilings.
Soft maples where the streets end,
Ducks gliding, fish nipping the surface.
The water moils. Everyone was once
Young and lonely as well, when hairstyles
Were different. Too many miles on him,
The woman remarks, in the soda fountain
Off the short deck above water, insects
Spinning the hanging bulbs. He's not
That old, says her companion. My point exactly,
She replies

Would you care to discuss that poem (above) for your readers?

It's self-explanatory. Besides, I don't like dissecting my own poems. I'm with Robert Frost on that. It's always bothered me--people who want the poems explained to them. A poem speaks for itself. But I was thinking of Saugatuck when I wrote it.

One thing I've always noticed about your poems is how the last line often punctuates the rest of the poem, sometimes summing it up, making the reader pause, or perhaps think about the possibilities. And in 99.9% of your poems, there's no period on the last line.

I think in Water there is only one poem with a period at the end, "1966." Kleinzahler insisted I put a period at the end. [Felicia wholeheartedly agrees with Kleinzahler.] I generally don't put periods at the end. I don't see the point, so to speak. In fact, I don't think I ever did--I just looked in some of my early books. No periods.


Do you have an ideal reader?
I’m not sure about that anymore. I used to think it was someone in my generation, from my peer group, but I don’t think that way any more, I’m not convinced of that any more. Blogs that mention me now and again are by younger poets, such as the blog by the poet Richard Lopez [www.reallybadmovies.blogspot.com/].

You were born and grew up in West Michigan, went to MSU, and live in the same neighborhood as many of your family members—even your cottages are close by. Do you think you could be a poet anywhere but West Michigan?

I could be a poet anywhere. The only reason we settled in Grand Rapids is because it was the only place my wife could find a job after graduate school. We didn’t return here on purpose.


Where would you live ideally?

I like Michigan, but if I could afford it, I would live somewhere else in winter. Maybe San Francisco.

How long did it take to get Water published?

Well, I sent the manuscript to MSU Press on Dan Gerber's suggestion [author of A Primer on Parallel Lives, available on Amazon.com]. I heard from them about six months later. A year from then, it was published [in January 2009].

[Felicia holds up Water.] It’s a lovely book. Whoever designed it did an awesome job. How did you decide the sequence of poems?

I didn’t. I spent months trying to put it together. I couldn’t figure it out. Then, Martha Bates, the editor at MSU Press, spent three or four months deciding. She’s a genius. I couldn’t do it for the life of me, but she figured it out. I gave her 120 pages, and she broke it down to under one hundred, and divided it into four sections. The whole thing makes sense, but I couldn’t figure it out. It’s amazing to find an editor on your wavelength. A good editor makes or breaks a book.

WATER is available on Amazon.com. Tomorrow: Interview, Part III: Bob Answers the Proust Questionnaire!