Author Interview with Thomas L. Vaultonburg: Submerged Structure

Why did you feel you had to tell this story?
Most of the poems in the book tell a self-contained story about a small snippet of experience from a life. Maybe just an image that moved me to pick up the pen, but sometimes something that was buried deep-down for a long time, something I worked hard to locate and bring to the surface. Thus the title, Submerged Structure.

Where do you get your ideas?
I've been writing poetry for thirty years now, and I almost never have tried to write a poem. All I do is make myself available and wait for the poems to find me. So, the ideas (poems) come from everywhere, usually something more simple or unpoetic than I would have considered if I sat down and actually tried to think of something worthy of writing a poem about.

Do you ever experience writer's block and how do you overcome it?
No, because I never try to write. Similarly, because I consider writing to be the experience of making oneself available to write I feel I am always writing in some way. Putting words to paper or a computer screen may be the end result of that process, but I think there are numerous steps that precede picking up the pen, and I think I'm always in that state. I may only manage to get 20-25 poems to the page every year now, but I'm always a poet.

What advice would you give to aspiring writers on the writing and publishing process?
I normally wouldn't. If you're going to survive the brutality of wanting to be a poet and the crippling rejection, nothing I'm going to say will make a difference. But if I did have something to say it might be forget publishing until you have something ready to publish. I might even go further than that and say forget writing until you've read everything worth reading. I published a book of poetry when I was 18, which was still rare at the time because this was before internet printing, and I regret it. Keep your early work close to you for a while. Read, read, read.

If your book was made into a movie, who do you picture playing each part?
Because it's a book of poems, I envision a Raymond Carver "Short Cuts"/Robert Altman cast of bizarre and off beat characters playing the various parts. Of course Steve Buscemi must be in there.

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Synopsis

"There's a road sign, or was as of three years ago when the picture on the cover of the book was taken, between Byron and Oregon Illinois. The sign reads Submerged Structure, warning those who might be tempted to dive in to the water of the Rock River that something unseen is resident beneath the murky water. I grew up driving past that sign quite frequently, and each time I passed it the words seemed to become more and more personal to me. I would often wonder how many signs like this in the entire world there were. Not many I concluded. Maybe not even any. Maybe it's the only one in the entire world. What lurks beneath the water there? I've never known. But to me it seemed like a perfect metaphor for those of us who suffer from Schizoid Personality Disorder. Except in our case there's no sign we can plant in the ground to warn others. Even if there were it would be virtually impossible to explain that some part of us has broken off and submerged deep inside our psyche, and is either just gone or nearly impossible to get to. Nearly impossible."

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About the Author
Thomas L. Vaultonburg founded Zombie Logic Press in 1997. He has published four volumes of poetry, Concave Buddha (1991), Detached Retinas (1997), Flesh Wounds (2011), and Submerged Structure (2012). His poems have appeared in over 200 publications and anthologies, including Exquisite Corpse, Caliban, and The Paris Review. His latest project is a childrens book titled The Toughskin Rhinoceros Wrangler Company, co-created with artist Jenny Mathews. His books can all be purchased at Zombie Logic Press

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FOR MORE INFO
Website: http://www.zombielogic.org/2013/04/outsider-poetry-and-thomas-l.html
Facebook: http://on.fb.me/ZE74zx


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