Ask The Author: Randolph Pfaff

Randolph Pfaff, everybody, his Two Poems and his responses.

1. Whose name do you want on your laminated name tag?

Someone else’s. I don’t want weird customers writing poems about me that use my real name.

2. What have you wanted to tell someone lately?

That, without her, I’d lose all perspective.

3. Where did these poems come from?

Both of these poems grew out of my formative years spent living a life of exurban absurdity. I wanted to juxtapose feelings of overarching sadness (peppered with flashes of hope and something like happiness) with the symbols and signs that serve as visual anchors in my memory. I also wanted them to be funny in parts because some of my favorite poets use humor to disarm or refocus the reader in very effective ways. I hope I was able to accomplish that to some extent.

4. What is your favorite poetic form to work within?

I frequently end up writing prose poems or at least poems in verse paragraphs. I find it difficult to break away from the comfort of the sentence. I should probably say epistles as well, for obvious reasons.

5. What do you misspell often?

I don’t misspell words often, but I typo frequently. I recently adopted a cat and I keep typing “littler” when I mean “litter.” I must like comparatives more than the cat.

6. Which old country are you eating from?

I just ate a veggie burger, so let’s pretend I skipped this question.