by Simon Jacobs

J. Bradley is not an unfamiliar face at PANK – the longtime interviews editor before DeWitt and I came aboard, he made a point of interviewing every single writer and artist who appeared in the magazine’s pages – as an editor, writer, and performer, J. Bradley has been, consistently, an indefatigable, tireless, and rampantly productive member of the literary community. His latest book is an illustrated collection of poetry called The Bones of Us, and will be out in March from YesYes Books. J. was generous enough to reply to my prodding questions about the ghosts of his past, and provide us with a few vivid samples from The Bones of Us.

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Your most recent project, The Bones of Us, is what you’ve called a “graphic poetry collection,” with your words illustrated by Adam Scott Mazer. What was the genesis of this project – how did your work and Adam’s begin speaking to each other?

KMA Sullivan actually came up with the idea of turning my manuscript into a graphic poetry collection when she accepted it in late 2011. There were other books ahead of mine, which allowed us time to really make sure we found the right artist to illustrate the poems. In February of this year, KMA found Adam through Dolan Morgan, who stated interest in the project. From the moment we received the first samples in April, KMA and I knew we found the perfect artist for The Bones of Us. Adam constantly amazes me with each new illustration. His artistic vision complements and enhances the experience of processing the poems in ways I never thought possible.

Can you share an example of how Adam’s artistic vision has complemented yours? Have there been any cases where what he’s drawn up for your poem was wildly different from what you were imagining?

It’s hard for me to imagine what a poem might look like if it was illustrated. When I’m writing a poem, I’m more focused on the sound and the images created, so when I see Adam’s interpretation of my poems, I love that I usually don’t have a set expectation in mind of what any of the poems should or should not look like in a graphic medium. Continue reading →