What are your thoughts about reading your poetry in Cobourg at the
POW! Festival?

I featured at the 3rd Thursday Reading Series back on July 19, 2007, and I am looking forward to a return to Cobourg. It was a great night, the Cobourg audience was very good - they were very supportive, attentive, and they liked my poetry! I am glad to be back, and look forward to participating in the POW Festival. I also look forward to a chance to read at the 3rd Thursday Reading Series again in support of my forthcoming book (Monster - due out from Tightrope Books in Fall 2010).

Please tell us about your most recently published book and also a little about any other books you've had that "saw print."

Eating Fruit Out of Season, Tightrope Books, 2008

Eating Fruit Out of Season was my first book-length poetry collection.

Here is a quote from a review written by GG winner Jacob Scheier, that appeared in Praire Fire in December 2008:

Clink is at his very best when he intertwines his comic abilities with his desire and ability to reach complex truths with simple language. One of the longest poems in the book, entitled "My Latest Poem," is both laugh-out-loud funny and caused me, upon finishing it, to put the book down; consumed, almost paralyzed by its emotional world. It is impossible to do justice to this poem in the space of a review, so I can only tell you that the poem ends with the simple, and in most contexts cliche, confession, "I love you," and yet, in spite, or more likely because of, the fact that these words are preceded by two pages of absurdity and hilarity, they are filled with sadness and necessity. It is a truly awesome feat that rivals the best poems of any living poet in this country, perhaps in any country.

A Verdant Green, The Battered Silicon Dispatch Box, 2010

A Verdant Green is the first poetry anthology that I edited. It will be launched March 4, 2010.

Contributors: bill bissett, Allan Briesmaster, Jenna Butler, George Elliott Clarke, Carolyn Clink, Karen Connelly, Barry Dempster, Maureen Scott Harris, Stephen Humphrey, Sandra Kasturi, Carol Malyon, Allan Glenn Rose, Raymond Souster

At POW!, do you plan to read pieces from your book (or books)?
Do you plan to read new, unpublished work?

I plan to read from my first book: Eating Fruit Out of Season. I will also read a few pieces from my forthcoming book, Monster, and some other pieces.

How would you describe your poetry?

I would describe my poetry as "all over the place". I write science poems, science fiction poems, fantasy poems, but the vast majority of my poems are what I call "main stream" - which means there are no fantastical elements in them. I write nature poems, urban poems, prose poems, free verse poems, and formal verse poems. I employ humour in a number of them, but some are serious, but in each one, I try to get to the emotional truth of a moment.

Maurice Mierau of the Winnipeg Free Press (January 25, 2009) says, "Toronto writer David Clink's debut, Eating Fruit Out of Season, is notable for being both heart-felt and entertaining, often in the same poem."

When did you start writing poetry and what prompted it?

I have written poetry all my life, but I started to treat it as a vocation back in the Fall of 1995, when my sister Carolyn invited me to join the Algonquin Square Table Poetry Workshop, which I have been attending for 15 years. The positive support and encouragement from its members, including Griffin winner A. F. Moritz, and Arc Poem of the Year winner Sandra Kasturi, have helped to guide my poetic journey.

What inspires you to put pen to paper / fingers to keyboard?

Inspiration for me comes from both observing things and participating in things. Just walking outside and soaking in what is seen and felt can be inspiring. Reading great poetry, poetry that can be found in the annual volume Best Canadian Poetry in English, and the Best American Poetry, is inspiring. Attending poetry readings, running the Rowers Pub Reading Series and bringing great poets and fiction writers from across Canada to Toronto to hear them read, is inspiring.

Can you describe (a little) your writing process in creating a new poem?

I have an essay in the anthology, Imagination in Action (edited by Carol Malyon, Mercury Press, 2007) that goes into this in detail. In summary, I write on the bus, on breaks at work, on the bus ride home, on the subway, almost everywhere. I handwrite my poems, and then edit them by making notes, writing in the margin, crossing out lines, and when the page is difficult to read (because of all the marks) I then enter the poem on the computer, and print out a clean copy. I then edit this version to the point where I need to print a new, clean copy. I belong to three writing workshops, and I workshop poems I have written, and get feedback from the members, and take the suggestions I think help improve the poem. I do send my poetry out to journals, and will take a look at the poem again if it comes back rejected before sending it to the next journal..

The POW! Festival is built on the notion that poetry should not be relegated to an existence as "a niche art form" that the average person doesn't care about.
How do you respond to that?

I think that is an admirable goal. I try to write accessible poetry. Accessible, but poetry that matters. Poetry should be for everyone. Read "Stopping by woods on a snowy evening." It uses simple words but the art that Frost brings to it is undeniable. I think it is something to aspire to. I think the Poetry on the Way (poetry you see on buses and trains in Toronto) is a great way to introduce (or re-introduce) people to poetry. Shane Koyczan performed a poem at the opening ceremony of the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver. There are Poet Laureate positions in a number of cities and countries. These, I think, are all good things. Let's not relegate poetry, let's revel in it, let's reveal some inner understanding of the world and ourselves, let's remain vigilant in keeping it in the light, and let's regard this time as an opportunity to spread the word: poetry is good; poetry is cool; poetry is OK.