File on Spring
A poem by Frederick Pollack & interview with the author
The window, being opened, slightly
resists, as if observing
a small ritual. The breeze
that enters is laced with coolness,
vegetation and the past.
It says there’s a story,
you’re part of it though you came in late,
you can get around
rules, forget what you no longer even
name, luck is out here, forgiveness and being
forgiven. The problem is
that’s what it always says –
said in places
long sold and altered, where
I only ever wanted to be elsewhere.
About the Poet:
Author of two book-length narrative poems, THE ADVENTURE and HAPPINESS (Story Line Press; the former reissued 2022 by Red Hen Press), and three collections, A POVERTY OF WORDS (Prolific Press, 2015), LANDSCAPE WITH MUTANT (Smokestack Books, UK, 2018), and THE BEAUTIFUL LOSSES (Better Than Starbucks Books, September 2023). Many other poems in print and online journals. (Unleash Press May 2023).
Jen Knox (JK) Hi, Frederick! Thanks for sharing your work with us and taking some time with Unleash. We were thrilled to share your poetry with our writers. Can you tell us a little about your journey as a writer?
Poetry was my first love, but I preferred telling stories to writing about my moods. I figured that meant I was a novelist. Wasted most of a decade after college writing two novels, both of which were garbage. Wrote my first poem at 32, first good one at 33. At 78, still making up for lost time. Have written quite a lot. Five books published.
JK: Where do you most enjoy writing?
In a big recliner downstairs, facing either windows ( trees) or a darkened television. My generation was taught cursive. I favor a Blue Line college-ruled hardcover notebook, made in Canada. Complete half or all of a draft, go upstairs to finish on my computer.
JK: What is the best advice you've received as a creative person?
“Get a job.” Which I disregarded as much as possible.
JK: Please share one (or a few) of your favorite lines from a piece you admire, and explain what strikes you about the passage.
When students used to ask what’s my favorite poem, and if I couldn’t avoid answering, I would say it was “Why the Classics” by the great Polish poet Zbigniew Herbert, who died in 1998. The last stanza is my watchword in poetry.
Why the Classics
1
in the fourth book of the Peloponnesian War
Thucydides tells among other things
the story of his unsuccessful expedition
among long speeches of chiefs
battles sieges plague
dense net of intrigues diplomatic endeavours
the episode is like a pin
in a forest
the Greek colony Amphipolis
fell into the hands of Brasidos
because Thucydides was late with relief
for this he paid his native city
with lifelong exile
exiles of all times
know what price this is
2
generals of more recent wars
if a similar affair happens to them
whine on their knees before posterity
praise their heroism and innocence
they accuse their subordinates
envious colleagues
unfavourable winds
Thucydides says only
that he had seven ships
it was winter
and he sailed quickly
3
if art for its subject
will have a broken jar
a small broken soul
with a great self-pity
what will remain after us
will be like lovers' weeping
in a small dirty hotel
when wall-paper dawns
JK: Thank you for sharing this. What are you working on next, and where can our readers connect with you?
I write every day if possible. My website is www.frederickpollack.com.