The Monthly interviews American poet, Melinda Wilson – Part 3 – Influences

Are there any poets you have been influenced by?

Anne Sexton, Elizabeth Bishop, Sylvia Plath and Charles Simic. I do like to imitate other poets’ work, or I work off poetry that I admire, so I might look at the work of Elizabeth Bishop and use a particular poem as a starting point, or I might see a structure that I like and that I might use in my work. There is a poet called Wallace Stevens on the level of ideas but my work is nothing like his.

You teach poetry?

I teach first year writing courses, which are composition classes for incoming college students. There really isn’t much of an overlap although I do start each semester with a poem on the syllabus. I get the students to read a poem even if that isn’t what the class is actually about.

Have you produced a collection?

That question comes at a great time because my debut collection is about to be published by Indolent Books. It will be out by the end of the year. I did have a chapbook which came out in 2010, but the full length collection is almost out.

Where to now?

I will be getting ready to sort out the blurb for the book, what the cover will look like; there is still a little editing to be done, but everything is gearing up for publication.