“Pay Attention to the Ways they Intersect.”

In December, 2020, Vallum magazine interviewed me; I had won an Honorable Mention in their annual poetry contest.

I’ve always liked how the interview turned out, particularly my plea for someone to recommend a good history book about mid-20th Century Egypt. This fateful request eventually led me to the great Egyptian novelist Naguib Mahfouz, who has since become one of my favorite authors.

Favorite Book of Poetry Discovered this Year

Victoria Chang’s “Obit.“ Ruminating on loss, Chang presents a series of philosophical thought experiments in plainspoken metaphors. Mostly, she uses the traditional newspaper obituary format (both in form and tone) to write breathtaking poems about the death of optimism, logic, home, and other things that suddenly vanish when a loved one dies. She accents the obituary poems with Tankas (my new favorite form), tiny five-line poems that loom large.

What’s on your reading list for 2021?

Non-fiction is the ticket. I’m looking for a good history of 20th Century Egypt with Nasser and Nasserism at the heart of it. Does this book exist? Recommendations please. Otherwise, Donald Shoup’s “Parking and the City,” the follow-up to his urban planning classic, “The High Cost of Free Parking.”

Best Writerly Advice.

Read multiple books at the same time and pay attention to the ways they intersect.