Liberian Literary Magazine
a
different
style,
approach
and
language.
I
have
enjoyed writing in each
of them.
In looking back at my
student years, though, it
seems like such an
immense privilege to
have spent several years
just studying and writing
poetry!
Although I loved reading
and sometimes writing
short stories, and reading
the great novels, though
writing novels always
seemed too gargantuan
a task to me, it was
always
poetry
that
appealed to me the
most.
So for four years, I
devoted my studies to
the Romantic
poets,
Keats, Shelley and Byron;
the incredible Imagist
writers, especially Ezra
Pound,
Amy
Lowell,
William Carlos Williams,
Wallace
Stevens,
Marianne Moore, James
Joyce, D.H Lawrence
and others. Then the Beat
poets,
Kerouc,
Allen
Ginsberg,
Ferlinghetti,
Neal
Cassady
and
Charles
Bukowski,
in
particular. I very fondly
remember
buying
Ginsberg’s Howl and
Other Poems with an intro
by
Williams
Carlos
Williams for $2 at the
famous
City
Lights
bookstore. Still sits on my
desk!
Promoting Liberian literature, Arts and Culture
I have also come to really
enjoy some of the
incredible,
contemporary
female
poets such as Sylvia Plath,
Alice
Oswald,
Maya
Angelou and Gwendolyn
Brooks. There is just so
much great writing.
What books have most
influenced
your
life/career most?
Well, each one of my
careers and each aspect
of my life has its favorite
books.
I’ve
already
mentioned the poetry
ones. I’d have to say that
several books really jolted
me when I first read them
and still linger in my head
today. Lord of the Flies by
William Golding would be
one. I love writing that
deals with the struggles of
governing in the midst of
chaos…sound familiar?
Aldous Huxley’s classic,
Brave New World, written
in 1932, and also the
name of my radio
program, has always
astounded me for its
accurate depiction of
what the future was to
bring.
Several
city
planning and design
books have stayed with
me in all my years in that
profession,
especially,
Kevin Lynch’s planning
masterpiece, The Image
of the City, and the
wonderful
perspective
on
architecture
and
building with mud by
23
Egyptian
architect,
Hassan Fathy, called
Architecture for the Poor.
And finally, I guess, two
books that stopped me in
my philosophical tracks
and really made me think
outside my personal and
cultural
boxes
were
Malcom X’s By Any
Means Necessary and
Richard Wright’s, Native
Son.
How do you approach
your work?
The Imagist poets really
laid out for me an actual
manifesto for how it is to
write in that style, most
importantly,
and
I’m
paraphrasing here:
Use the language of
common speech, using
an exact word, not
merely a decorative
word.
It may be better to
express yourself in free
verse
rather
than
conventional structures.
Absolute freedom in the
choice of a subject.
Present an image and
not deal in vague
generalities.
Write poetry that is hard
and clear, never blurred
or indefinite.
Focus
on
concentration…the
essence of something.
While my writings have
been relatively true to
those principles, in Higher
Glyphics,
my
recent
poetry book, I rather