TODD COLBY, extraordinary poet, HE veteran and friend of ours, is the newest blogger for the Happy Ending Series. He’s the author of four books of poetry published by Soft Skull Press. He keeps a blog at gleefarm.blogspot.com. Today, he interviews DIANE WILLIAMS, who will be reading in the Happy Ending Series on January 11th at Joe’s Pub.
1) You have a new book coming out soon. Did you write/edit it at a particular time of day or place? If so, where and when?
I wrote my new book in one place. See the photo. I write, I edit any time! — as much of the time — all the day long — as I can!!!
2) Name 3 books sitting next to your bed.
No books are sitting by my bed. What is sitting next to my bed is my crude, free-hand needlework, in-progress. This work calms me before sleep or, I think, provides the canvas for my nightmares. My books I need are in stacks and stacks and stacks where I work.
3) What was your favorite film of 2011?
We don’t go out much to see new movies. I see old favorites at home — Doddsworth is a favorite, The Philadelphia Story. My favorite films are sweet and not too taxing.
4) Do you have a favorite poet?
Sharon Olds
5) What did you eat for breakfast this morning?
Oatmeal. Well, my answer is a bore and the oatmeal is a bore, but I am grateful for my porridge.
6) Who would you rather have dinner with: Djuna Barnes, Jane Bowles or Gertrude Stein? Why?
I would not like to have dinner with any of those women! Sounds exhausting and threatening. But, I would love to eavesdrop on them all together — if they’d find the way to meet up. Books of fiction are excellent vehicles for intimacy — somewhat out of harm’s way.
7) Favorite scent?
Pastry baking.
8) Is there a visual artist that makes your heart beat faster?
Ivan Generalic.
9) How old were you when you knew you were a writer? Where were you living?
I never knew I was a writer. I still don’t feel like a writer. I want to be a writer.
10) Do you ever get obsessed about music? What was your last musical obsession?
I have been obsessed by Johann Sebastian Bach — so much so — that I am fearful of being overcome by some other musical obsession in the future.
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