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Jerry Browning – Interview With The Author
When did you first become interested in writing?
I was never interested in poetry to tell you the truth. I loved lyrics and felt the words of songs as much if not more than the music. One evening I went to a movie with some friends and on the way back, I let them go on while I sat on a bench and stared at the evening sky. I saw a shooting star and felt really insignificant. I went back to my dorm room and wrote “Child of the World” in about twenty minutes. Ever since then, pretty much all of my poetry has just kind of come to me like that first one. I never just sit down and write. Some years I write ten or more poems. Sometimes, I go years without a line.
What style of writing do you use most?
I’ve pretty much developed into a free form type of poet. It just depends how it comes out. Some rhyme, but most have a cadence and off rhyme pattern that flow beneath the surface like an undertow at the beach.
Déjà Vu
i’ve never seen your face before
yet i’ve always known those eyes
like a lighthouse on a distant shore
i dimly recognize
your soul
where do i know you from?
have we met in the land of dreams
or crossed here at another time
feel i’ve loved you once before
but could never make you mine
and now
i’m given another chance
touch me
Has your style changed from when you first began writing?
Definitely, it’s changed several times as I’ve matured as a human being.
In what way do you usually put down your ideas first?
I used to just write them down and throw them in an old boot box. Now if I’m around a computer, I just start typing. The last poem I wrote was actually on an art message board called “The Flow”. I never know when they’re going to come to me.
What made you choose that medium?
I think it chose me. I don’t have a great attention span, so it is probably the right medium in my case.
Do your ideas come from life or imagination?
Honestly, I think they just kind of germinate in my subconscious and come to the surface like a geyser at Yellowstone National Park or something.
Who is your favourite author?
Ernest Hemingway
What is your favourite piece of work by yourself?
A Perfect Game
From A Perfect Game
times had lost their luster
disappointment thinned the stands
no one went to day games
scandal rocked the fans
warm-ups sure looked awkward
brand new backstop on the team
but magic filled the rafters
as the people took their seatswhen a tough man from the country
who lived for farm and field
took the mound that summer’s day
the rest became surreal…
with every toss and follow through
three up, three down, they played
strikes and fundamentals
cut batters down like haytwo dozen straight, after eight
when a long drive took to flight
a pinch fielder put his head down
and ran with graceful might
sprawling legs and stretching arm
collided with the wall
his glove went up, he knew it hit
but couldn’t feel the ball(this is just the opening of the poem)
How much time (on average) does it take to complete a work?
Initially, about twenty minutes. Then I come back to it a few times and smooth the details out a few minutes a time for the next day or so. Sometimes, I’ll return to a piece years later and change a word or line, but not very often.
How well do you take criticism?
I have to admit that I get defensive at first…then, I’ll consider the source and try to figure out if they’re seeing something I don’t see. I just changed a poem called “Just Words” that an 82 year old man read and emailed me saying the ending wasn’t right. I said it was how I wanted it. A week later, I had a beer and thought about it and rewrote the last two lines. He was absolutely correct. He and I are great friends now.
What do you do to overcome a ‘block’?
I’ve gone several years without writing and don’t worry about it. I think you can only say so much and I don’t want to say the same things over and over. I keeping telling myself after I finish one, “This is a good last poem.” Then sometime later, another one comes to me.
How do you know something is ‘finished’? Is it easy to walk away?
Sometimes it’s rather difficult, but most of the time you can feel it. If it’s done, I usually don’t think about it anymore. If it’s not, I have this haunting feeling which usually leads me back to it.
The Flow
fads are the result
of the human need
to bond
on commonalities…most expression
riding the wave
of contemporary
popularity
fades into oblivion..but
the works that tap
into the flow
of that force
which weaves
through our souls
giving us glimpses
of other dimensions,
and gets attention
is what we call lastingon the other hand,
99.44 percent
of those kinds of artists
are never recognized…makes you wonder
what we’ve missed
Have you had been published?
Not in print, I never really tried. But, the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame had me send them permission to possibly use “A Perfect Game” in a future display which just thrilled me to no end. I’m not sure they’ll use it, but just them asking for it was awesome for someone who loves baseball as much as I do.
I have had several websites show my work. In the mid to late nineties, I built and ran a website called cafepoetry that had a big following for the time. It was similar to some of the popular poetry sites now, but I did hundreds of poet’s pages manually. Finally, the work got to be too much, so I shut it down in 2000. There weren’t a lot of poetry sites then and I knew many people who ran one, so we were pretty good about showing each other’s work although I only showed a few.
I finally took my thirty years worth of poetry out of an old file box a couple years ago and typed them into a word document. One day I told my wife, I’d like to put them on a website for the world to see. I promised her I wouldn’t get obsessed with it like I on most personal or professional projects.
I guess I lied.
I first put them up as just the three books of poetry in chronological order of when I wrote them. Then I got obsessed with the layout. I decided to use artwork and photography to compliment the poetry and then had the idea of using a light box script image to create the “Empact Image”. It just kept evolving until it finally got to where it’s at now. I’ve put a lot of time into it. But, it seems worth it now. I can’t believe how well things worked out. I kept thinking that I need to make every visit to the site unique and came up with the galleries idea. The way I set it up, no two tours through any of the galleries can be same. Actually no two visits to the site will be the same if you hit more than a couple pages. I like the idea of making the whole site feel like a poem being written. If you go through several galleries, you’ll see what I mean.
Just Words
lost in the limbo
of my darker dreams…
no matter what i write
on this worthless piece of paper
i’m not going to change the course
of anybody’s life
including mine
if i could just find
one word
one phrase
one story
that would ease the pain of the world
for one precious moment
i’d consider my blackness…
expunged
Have you any publications planned for the future?
I’m hoping the website will garner the attention I think it will. I don’t care about making money from it as much as it being considered something new and beautiful. If it does take off and I get attention for it, I’d like to publish my poetry in a book. I also have ideas of doing similar sites using other people’s poetry and maybe a classics site that matches classic poets with classic artists. I guess I need an agent and publisher. I don’t care much for the business side of literature and art.
What are your plans for the future?
I’m just going to continue living my life and doing my real job. If the poetry comes, I’ll write, if it doesn’t I won’t. I think Emotionography is beautiful and it will be a while before it’s to the point I’ll be satisfied with it. I don’t think it will ever be finished.
What advice would you give new authors?
Don’t let anyone discourage you whether you are an author, poet, or artist. Remember all it takes is one great piece. Most of the classics are only remembered for one or two works.
Have you done any courses to help you?
No
Windsong
april’s ember
long denied
waits for me
behind sad eyes
heart calls gently
in the breeze
mine’s like a kite
hung in the trees
string worn bare
almost broken
tail torn off
fabric open
feel the wind
slowly shifting
winter lingers
in the distance
dawn’s kind smile
parts the haze
says don’t give up
love finds a way
What do you do to market your work?
I’d like to do the talk show circuit starting with Oprah.
Do you use social networking in your day to day life?
Emotionography has a Twitter – http://twitter.com/emotionography and a Facebook Fan Page – http://www.facebook.com/pages/Emotionographynet/264983875222
Are you interested in collaborating with artists?
I do and it has been one of the greatest, most inspiring experiences of my life. FineArtAmerica.com has been a wonderful place for me to meet artists and VoiceActorsAmerica.com has been a great place to meet voice actors.
Have you got hobbies?
I live on three and a half acres of Iowa farm land that I plant trees and garden on. I also love spectator sports like baseball, football, and basketball although I don’t take much time for them anymore.
Where are you based?
A rural town of three hundred people just outside of Des Moines, Iowa.
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