The Waiting Tide author/reader discussion

[R]

wow it was incredible to hear the poems read aloud.

Ryan do you read your poems aloud, when adjusting the line breaks?

[Ryan]

Thanks!

Yeah, I do, I tend to read most of my work out loud, usually under my breath, so I don't sound entirely crazy. Hearing something really makes a difference when editing, you can hear mistakes or changes that need to be made more readily than you can see them sometimes on a screen.

[Sandra]

I think poetry is to be read aloud!

Ryan, in The Waiting Tide the theme is love, lust, desire. Have you ever written poems with different themes?

[Ryan]

Absolutely. I do write a lot about those themes, and in my fiction I write a lot about interpersonal relationships, but I've written persona poetry, and about everything from fatherhood to doing construction to getting concussions, which I seem to be prone to.

[Sandra]

Oh I would love to read a poem yours about fatherhood!

[Ryan]

I think this is the only one that is online: http://www.thiszinewillchangeyourlife...

My first collection, MILE ZERO was broken into three sections, one about fatherhood and marriage, one of persona poems, and the third about Alaska (both growing up there and doing construction in the Arctic).

[Lori, Super Mod]

Ryan, What's the thing you've written that you are most proud of? And most embarrassed by, or most regretful of?

[Ryan]

There's a story I wrote during my MFA, called "Glaciers," which is in the manuscript for an Alaska-set story collection that is sitting with a publisher right now. The story itself is unpublished, but I consider it the best thing I've ever written.

As for the flip side, I really can't think of anything. If I've let people see it then I'm okay with it, even if I grow past it. I think that's common, outgrowing particular work, but I don't get embarrassed by it. Or regret. I made a conscious decision to stop inhibiting my writing, and to do that I had to be comfortable with what I write.

[Sandra]

Ryan, What is in you opinion the most rewarding compliment The Waiting Tide has received?

[Ryan]

Every time someone reads it and doesn't throw it in the mud, I'm pretty honored. Writing something that people read is an amazing feling. It makes it all feel less solitary. And the chance to interact with readers in a setting like this has been amazing.

I was also really humbled that Ellen Bass was willing to blurb the book, she's an amazing poet and human being.

Also, Lori's review of the book. "His poetry touches me in all the most inappropriate ways and I simply cannot get enough" is pretty much everything I could ask for in a reader response. :)

[Lori, Super Mod]

Ha!

Hahahahaha! So glad my review made the top of the list, Ryan!

[Lori, Super Mod]

Ryan, I'm afraid it's time to say goodbye! I've had a lot of fun hosting you here at TNBBC and am so thrilled to have had the opportunity to share THE WAITING TIDE with some of our group members! Thanks to you and Curbside Splendor for making the copies available.

It was lovely to hang with you, and I hope you enjoyed your time here with us as much as we enjoyed having you here!

[Sandra]

Thank you Ryan! It was great to have you here.

[Ryan]

It was a blast! Thanks so much for putting it together, Lori! And to everyone for indulging me in this whole poetry thing! I do hope you'll all keep in touch :)