{"id":4248,"date":"2019-10-10T21:36:57","date_gmt":"2019-10-10T21:36:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/floridareview.cah.ucf.edu\/?post_type=article&p=4248"},"modified":"2019-10-10T21:36:57","modified_gmt":"2019-10-10T21:36:57","slug":"interview-charles-simic","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/cah.ucf.edu\/floridareview\/article\/interview-charles-simic\/","title":{"rendered":"Interview: Charles Simic"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Cover\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\"Cover\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\"Cover<\/p>\n

\"Cover\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\"Cover\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\"Cover<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A Serbian-American poet and former co-poetry editor of the Paris Review<\/em>, Charles Simic was born in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, and immigrated to the United States in 1954 and started publishing poems by the age of twenty-one, around 1959. He earned his bachelor\u2019s degree from New York University in 1967, and within the year published his first full-length collection, What the Grass Says<\/em>. He has since published more than sixty books in the United States and abroad along with numerous translations of French, Serbian, Croatian, Macedonian, and Slovenian poetry. He is the author of several books of essays and has edited several anthologies. He has won numerous awards, among them a MacArthur Fellowship and the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1990 for The World Doesn\u2019t End.\u00a0<\/em>He was poet laureate of the US from 2007 to 2008.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Simic has taught American literature and creative writing at the University of New Hampshire since 1973 and is now professor emeritus there. The following conversation took place at the Miami Book Fair shortly after the publication of\u00a0Scribbled in the Dark<\/em> (Ecco, 2017).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Judith Roney for The Florida Review<\/em>:<\/strong><\/p>\n

When your family first moved to the US, they settled in Chicago? I felt a connection to that because was born and raised in Hyde Park, Chicago.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Charles Simic:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Actually, it was New York, then Chicago, in Oak Park. We moved because my father\u2019s job had moved to Chicago. I finished high school in Oak Park, then my parents broke up. I left home and was on my own, and got a job in the city on the Near North Side. Then I picked up and went to New York City. <\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

After that, I came back to Chicago, but the family had fallen apart, and there was no money, so first I worked during the day at the Chicago Sun-Times<\/em>. Not a fancy job, just a lowly job. I started going to school at night, at the University of Chicago. It took a couple of years because there weren’t too many courses at night, but it was an interesting time. I lived on the Near North Side because that\u2019s where the Chicago Sun-Times<\/em> was, by the Chicago River, so I\u2019d go off to work, finish, then have to catch the . . .<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

TFR:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The L?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Simic:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yes! The L train! You know, you\u2019d go down south, to Hyde Park where the university was, and it was a different world there, in Hyde Park. And I was just saying to someone last night how Anglophiled it was at University of Chicago\u2014all the professors wore tweeds and affected a British accent\u2014even though\u00a0they were born in Wisconsin or wherever.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

TFR<\/em>:<\/strong><\/p>\n

So, they put on fake accents?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Simic:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yes, yes. And they would say to you, \u201cCharles, if you like poetry, you must read Andrew Marvell.\u201d And I\u2019d say, \u201cSure, sure.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

(laughter)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

TFR<\/em>:<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve lived in Florida for nearly two decades now, but when I started in on the poems of section two in Scribbled in the Dark<\/em>, the images grabbed me and took me back to my childhood. There\u2019s \u201cBare Trees,\u201d \u201cJanuary,\u201d “In the Snow,\u201d and \u201cThe Night and the Cold,\u201d so many northern images that I felt I was back in wintertime Chicago. It was \u201cBare Trees\u201d that reminded me of my lost period after high school when I wanted to attend the University but didn’t understand the process. I would go walk the grounds, wander the Oriental Institute, and just hope someone would ask, “Hi, want to take a class?” If I may, can I read you the lines that I felt the speaker was addressing me quite personally?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Simic:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sure!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

TFR<\/em>:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThe bare branches moving in it, \/ Are like the fingers of the blind \/ Reaching to touch the face of someone \/ Who\u2019s been calling out to them \/ In the voice of geese flying over, \/ The shots of a hunting rifle, \/ And a dog barking outside a trailer \/ For someone to hurry and let him in.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Thank you for those words, I mean, yeah, that\u2019s what it was like for me at nineteen.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

On a larger subject, I\u2019d like your opinion about the so-called state of poetry in the United States today.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Simic:<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the US there is more poetry being written than in the rest of the world put together. It\u2019s an amazing, amazing thing. There isn\u2019t a huge audience for poetry, but the number of poets now writing compared to when I started out in the fifties and mid-fifties has grown huge. I mean, in the city of Chicago, we knew the aspiring poets and contemporary poets. We knew about Robert Lowell, Elizabeth Bishop, and all the others. I would say there were fifteen to twenty at a given time. It was like a cult!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Everybody was interested in literature, mostly fiction, of course, and not just American but European modern fiction as well. But poetry, well it was really an activity that was marginal, especially in Chicago\u2014always like it had a chip on its shoulder culturally.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

(laughter)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

TFR<\/em>:<\/strong><\/p>\n

That\u2019s a colorful way to put it. I\u2019m thinking of [Carl] Sandburg\u2019s description in his poem “Chicago”\u2014\u201cthe City of Big Shoulders.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Simic:<\/strong><\/p>\n

It was such a small poetry community for a while, but then the Beats were the ones who made a big difference. It started with giving free poetry readings with [Allen] Ginsberg and everybody else. They were very, very popular. Then they were at colleges and universities giving readings, and a whole generation discovered this was a lot of fun! Both students and adults showed up to readings, so they started this thing in the sixties, and all of a sudden it caught on. I know my generation of poets profited from this\u2014we were getting invitations from all across the country to come read. This was followed by the beginning of writing programs.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

TFR<\/em>:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Aaah, and now we have the \u201cexplosion\u201d of writing programs.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Simic:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yes, yes. They keep turning out poets. So you see, it\u2019s really impossible to get a clear picture of what\u2019s going on. There was a time until about ten to fifteen years ago, when someone like me who was real passionate about poetry, and others who were passionate, could get a clear idea who the poets of the generation were, even by region, East Coast, West Coast, etc. But now, with the proliferation of poetry on the Internet\u2014I mean, you used to go to bookstores to find out about new poems and poets! There were so many everywhere, each town had a bookstore, and you went to the poetry section, and you could see who was doing what. Sure books are still coming out, but not so easily displayed. They aren\u2019t as \u201cseen.\u201d So now, as I say, it\u2019s beyond anyone\u2019s ability to answer confidently where poetry is going.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

TFR<\/em>:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Tell me your thoughts on something I heard on NPR. It was a comment on poetry, and how in Europe three to four hundred will gather for a reading, but in the US only a few dozen.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Simic:<\/strong><\/p>\n

No, that\u2019s not true.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

TFR<\/em>:<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019m glad to hear it!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Simic:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Years ago, in Russia, when poetry was read, there used to be a lot of people, in Paris maybe a few more, in Germany a little better, and in Spain even more, but here in the United States, there are readings even in remote areas at state universities, in the Dakotas, in Oklahoma, and Kansas. Perhaps because there’s not as much to do, as many activities all the time, they’ll have a poetry series each year which they alternate with fiction, and anyone with respect for literature will come and listen. Hundreds show up! Now, in New York City there\u2019s too many other things going on, so only a few dozen may attend. And now, more recently, it\u2019s just impossible to tell. There\u2019s live reading groups online, and YouTube readings. It\u2019s just impossible to grasp.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

TFR<\/em>:<\/strong><\/p>\n

I wonder, in hindsight, what will we see? I mean, as far as schools of poetry, movements of poetry, eras of poetry. We had the Symbolists, the Modernists, the Black Mountain Poets, and as you mentioned the Beats. What will this era be called, if anything? The Onliners? The Techs? My students go to poetry slams, and most participate, too. That\u2019s kept poetry vibrant for them.\u00a0I just wonder what this era will be\u2014there\u2019s a lot of political and social justice work out there bringing awareness to the art. Poetry still has a job to do.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Simic:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yes, yes.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

TFR<\/strong><\/em>:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Let\u2019s get back to Scribbled in the Dark.\u00a0<\/em>When I read the title poem, I knew I wanted to ask you about it.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Simic:<\/strong><\/p>\n

This is a kind of big city experience in this poem. Up until a few years ago, I used to teach at both the University of New Hampshire and NYU, which gave me an apartment. One summer night, late, the Village is full of people, it\u2019s 3:00 a.m., and I hear shrieks in the street, and I wonder, is it joy or fear? Is someone arguing? It could be anything! So I\u2019m in bed, and I get up and look down at the street because it\u2019s dark, and I\u2019m up then\u2014you see, I\u2019m an insomniac, so was my father, it runs in my family, but it\u2019s no big deal, and so if I lie there in the dark I get rest to a degree but no sleep. But, if I turn on the lights it feels like a struggle. And if I have an idea that comes to me, I don\u2019t want to turn on the lights, but I can\u2019t help myself, I have to write the idea down, so there I am, scribbling in the dark, but (laughs), often it\u2019s quite hard to read what I wrote in the morning. But it works\u2014I\u2019ve been doing this for years, because, you know, you\u2019ll forget in the morning.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

TFR<\/em>:<\/strong><\/p>\n

I love that.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Your poem \u201cThe White Cat,\u201d where you say \u201cthe one who disappeared,\u201d is profound to read.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Simic:<\/strong><\/p>\n

That\u2019s actually kind of a true story.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I\u2019ve lived in a little village in New Hampshire for forty-five years, and I know all my neighbors, a long time, and you get to know each other, and get to chatting, and someday someone says, \u201cI wondered what happened to so-and-so,” and that\u2019s how it starts.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

TFR<\/em>:<\/strong><\/p>\n

It resonates. I like your line, too, \u201cmy childhood, a silent movie.\u201d What a metaphor.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Simic:<\/strong><\/p>\n

This was in my childhood in Belgrade. They were still showing silent films. My grandmother and mom would take me, and I\u2019d fall asleep. My mother would nudge me and wake me up during a scene and say, \u201cLook, look, a horsey!\u201d And I\u2019d say \u201cHorsey!\u201d The city was occupied then, and we had a curfew. We had to be home by 10:00 p.m. or we could end up in a camp.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

TFR<\/em>:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Wow. That\u2019s experience, and your experience is, of course, unique, but it\u2019s the commonalities that fascinate me, that span generations, that are ageless. I was raised by my grandmother, who was born in 1892, and she played the piano at the local theater playing silent movies when she was a young girl. We\u2019re still those children, aren\u2019t we? We remember so much.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Simic:<\/strong><\/p>\n

If you want to have a perfect memory of childhood, I don\u2019t know, I had bombs falling all around and worried they\u2019d fall on my head. It wasn’t perfect.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

TFR<\/em>:<\/strong><\/p>\n

I know. As instructors we joke \u201cno one wants to read a happy story.\u201d Some dark material makes the best poetry. I want you to know that I mention two quotes of yours at the beginning of all my poetry course sections.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Simic:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yes?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

TFR<\/em>:<\/strong><\/p>\n

The two that I always refer to are \u201cDon\u2019t tell the readers what they already know about life\u201d and \u201cDon\u2019t assume you\u2019re the only one in the world who suffers.\u201d I hear these two when working on my own writing, every time, and students struggle so with these concepts.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Simic:<\/strong><\/p>\n

You must out-write yourself. You have to find the way to make it interesting for the reader. You can\u2019t say it in the same old way. You must work to captivate the reader.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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