1.)  Can poetry sometimes be political?

Yes, it can. Moreover, I think it should be, especially in this age of preening self-examination exponentially fuelled by social media and other cyber monoliths. Poetry needs to find its external voice again, skewering governmental, religious, societal, and technological institutions, whether that be through satire or brusque invective. After the true poets, true artists, and true educators have liberated humankind from our present digital gulag, perhaps then we can return to the pastoral odes of yesteryear or the self-analysis of today. 

2.)  How, why, or when did you become a poet?

My first recollection of writing a poem was when I was eleven years old. It was called simply “England” and contained the lines “grey and unhappy, mentally ill/West Ham Three, Liverpool nil.” As to the why, I can only say that poetry seemed the most natural way of adding theatre to the mundanities and absurdities that have been and are peddled as acceptable existence. 

3.)  Name a few of your favorite poets.

I have always enjoyed Lawrence Ferlinghetti, especially his poems “I Am Waiting” and “Dog”. These poems are effused with a dramatic sense of urgency that naturally coalesces with my own temperament. I think in terms of visionary importance the illuminations of William Blake stand head and shoulders not just above the pre-Romantics, but the Romantics as well. One of my earliest and most influential encounters with poetry happened when I was a very young child. I was given a copy of The Breadhorse by the English poet Alan Garner. I was so obsessed with this illustrated children’s poem that I committed the entire thing to memory. 

NOW click on and read Ali’s new feature poem at New Pop Lit, “Slick.”