David Constantine is a wonderfully articulate poet with a scholar’s complexity of vision. We conducted this interview by email, and he was unfailingly generous with his time—as generous as Cerise Press was with space in their publication!
Joseph,<br /><br />it's nice to see that sometimes what qualifies a poet to write is deep familiarity with languages and traditions. I emphasize 'deep'. At least I grew up thinking that to write as well as the good ones seemed almost an unattainable goal and required years of study and practice: in matters of poetry, it's good to feel small in precisely that way. I believe
Joseph,<br /><br />it's nice to see that sometimes what qualifies a poet to write is deep familiarity with languages and traditions. I emphasize 'deep'. At least I grew up thinking that to write as well as the good ones seemed almost an unattainable goal and required years of study and practice: in matters of poetry, it's good to feel small in precisely that way. I believe