ChicagoPostmodernPoetry.Com

Poetic Profile

Maxine Chernoff

General Questions

1) Where did you grow up? Was poetry and writing part of that mix?

I grew up on the South Side of Chicago, (South Shore basically) and writing was no part of the mix.  My dad was a CPA, my mom a housewife, and the only books we had in the house were Reader's Digest condensed editions of books, many of which I read, and Lady Chatterly's Lover, which I also read. I got interested in politics very early (probably a JFK crush) and started reading voluminously.  I also used reading as an escape from a fairly bizarre family life involving a chronically depressed mom who was often hospitalized-- this was before many current drugs to treat such things.  So reading was a
salvation.  I came to poetry later--high school and beyond.

 

2) Who are your poetic influences, favorite poets, writers,  things that inform your work?
 

Early influences were WIlliams, Rexroth, Dickinson,Creeley,  then Latin American prose poets.  I am also very influenced by fiction writers including Woolf, Paley, Joyce, Marquez, and by artists such as Joseph Cornell, Arthur Dove, and many of the modernist American photographers who seemed to be touching a deeper means to access the "authentic."  Also films, partic. those of Wenders, Maleck (sp?), Herzog, Techine, Bresson, etc. Sound too, and for that reason as well as the fact that my sons are musicians, there are some "key" pieces I listen to again and again--from Satie to Monk.
 

3) When did you 'become' a poet when did poet become part of your everyday life?

By the time I was 20 (32 years ago) I knew I was and would continue to be a poet.  I was finishing college and was simply infected with the urge to write.  I'd pull over my car to write a poem or go to sleep and wake up thinking of one.  Around that time I met Paul Hoover, and we'd read poems in bed to each other every night and travel with books that we'd read to each other.  I  remember reading Schuyler's Crystal Lithium and  Vallejo's Trilce that way.

4) Where were you educated? Was this important?

UIC for my BA in English and German and my MA in German.  It was a wonderful escape from my home--school was--any school would have been.  But I also had several generous professors, Fred Stern in particular, and Michael Anania at
the time, who were very encouraging of my poetry.  Also the German I learned there is now vastly important since Paul and I have embarked on a great number of Holderlin translations this last year.


5) You are a Californian via Chicago how are the two places different poetically? 

Chicago hasn't until maybe recently had the poetic focus and unanimity that SF seems to have.  Here poets are deeply respected, the Spicer circle, for instance, and even worshipped.  In Chicago I always felt more rivalry and saw more bufoonery than I've witnessed here.  But maybe the difference is my level of engagement.  When I was younger in Chicago, I cared more about the social/political aspect than I care now.

5.1) You are a prolific writer and professor how do you balance these things?

I do each in its turn. As soon as I get started on a project, like my recent series of "gift" poems, I make time for poetry.  And I read, read, read.

6) What is your favorite food?

That's where Chicago leads the way--typical Chicago delicacies like hot dogs, Italian beef, and pizza can't be found out here.
 

7) Sports Team?
Cubs and Bulls (when they were good).
 

8) Vacation Spot?

I'd love to return to Greece, which I haven't seen in 24 years.

9) Curse Word?

I say "Shit" a lot.  One of my children picked that up when she was very young.

10) What is your opinion of Avant garde American writing in  comparison to other avant gardes from other places in the world? 

I think that one way to view t he avant-garde is as an international movement independent of borders, so a poet with experimental tendencies has more connection to Arkadii Dragomoschenko than she has to, say, Sharon Olds.  It's simply the case that what Ashbery calls "the other tradition" can be found world-wide and traced from place to place.

 

11) What do you think makes for a good poetry community?

Lots of intelligence in one place.

Craft Questions

1) How do you form a poem?

These days by pursuing an idea often through source texts that yield

2) Do you use collage, parataxis cut ups or other tools?
I use read-throughs as an important tool.  In my gift series, for instance, I read works by prominent thinkers and then extracted (distilled?) poems using probably less than 1% of what the essays originally contained. The trick, of course, is the right 1%.

3)Is poetry an organic or synthetic process for you?

It's both. Maybe being a poet is organic, a habit of mind or perception or cognition and then the poem synthesizes from that process.

4) Where do you write? Is Ambiance important? Do you have rituals or habits when you write?

No ambiance necessary.  At my computer.

5) In the balance between found language and created language where
does your work fall? Do you use many sources?

These days I use many  sources, but that's new for me and relies very signficantly on created concepts that move toward a linguistic approach to an issue, problem, or argument.