Chugging right along on schedule (for once), I’m bringing you another interview with one of our fabulous writers, Jacon Euteneuer. He contributed “The Third Known Photograph of Emily Dickinson.” That makes the second Emily Dickinson-inspired poem in two issues, so if you submit a poem about her childhood home this time around, you presumably have guaranteed yourself twenty bucks.
Describe your work in 25 words or less.
Midwestern/Great Plains fabulist prose with a slight surrealist bent that usually centers around brothers or fathers.
Tell me about your poem “The Third Known Photograph of Emily Dickinson.”
The poem started in an MFA workshop about prose poems. The professor (Robert Miltner) mentioned that poetry geeks were in ecstasy because a second photograph of Emily Dickinson had been found and identified. I used that idea to start thinking about what would be a really exciting find: a nude picture of Emily Dickinson. The rest came from there, with help from my classmates.
What or who inspires you to write?
My wife and son are my greatest inspiration. I probably would sit around all day and do nothing if it wasn’t for them.
What authors have influenced you as a writer?
I primarily write fiction, so most of the authors I would list here would be short story writers such as George Saunders, Kelly Link, and Karen Russell. In terms of poets, I got really into Russell Edson while researching prose poetry.
Do you have a blog/website?
I do not. I should get on that.
Where can we read you next?
I have a poem coming out in Booth soon as well as a piece of flash fiction in Eunoia Review.
What are you working on right now?
Right now I am working on a novel. Novels are hard. I take breaks from it to write flash fiction and prose poetry which seems to involve a totally different part of my brain.
Any advice for other writers?
It sounds obvious, but just write a ton and throw away anything you don’t like.
Anything else you’d like to say?
I am a man of few words.
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