BWW Interviews: Poet Justin Karcher

Actor, playwright and poet Justin Karcher spoke to BWW about Buffalo, New York's poetry scene.

MCL: Do you write prose or just poetry?

JK: Well, poetry is my first love, as it popped my soul cherry, but I also write plays, short fiction, and, of course, long unfinished novels. I mean - hasn't everyone? The Great American Novel and all that Ken Burns jazz. There's a Great American Novel in each of us. It just comes out different ways - an alcohol-fueled rant, a 4-song ep, a marathon make out session in the backseat of a stranger's car - it can be whatever. It comes out of me through poetry.

MCL: How did you get into poetry?

JK: Here's the part where I say it's always been in my blood - but seriously, I've always been writing. Even as a kid, I was throwing words together and hoping they form stories. As for getting into poetry, the first poet I really got into was Lord Byron and that was in high school. I enjoyed his "Childe Harold's Pilgrimage" and tried writing poems in his style, which failed miserably. One in particular was entitled "The Prince of Sorrow." Yes, it was as cheesily maudlin as it sounds. Thanks depression, but poetry is cathartic, so depression be damned!

It was around this time that I started paying attention to song lyrics, groups like At the Drive In and the Wu-Tang Clan and their surreal, language-exploding lyrics. The songs stick with you. A good poem for me is one that shoves images into your head and heart permanently, a beautiful STD that'll never go away no matter how many times to hop into the shower or go to the doctor.

MCL: Some poetry influences?

JK: My first wave of poetic influence was Lord Byron and his merrily melancholic group of friends and rivals, like Keats and Shelley. Come on - Shelley wrote, "Poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world." How true! Then came the surrealists-Robert Desnos, Paul Eluard, Andre Breton, etc.-since I'm very image-driven in my work and enjoy strange, out-of-this-world metaphors and comparisons. Of course I'm in love with the Beats-Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, Gregory Corso, Amiri Baraka, etc.-because "the only people for me are the mad ones." I share a birthday with Vladimir Mayakovsky, drink like John Berryman, and write lust letters to Diane di Prima, Denise Levertov, and Anna Akhmatova. There's really too many to list-I'm like a Girl Talk mashup, always under the influence of poetry, and thus always crashing my car into a snowbank.

MCL: Describe your poetry?

JK: I can go on and on...and on about my poetry and this question is probably best asked and answered when I'm half in the tank and chain smoking, but I'll have someone else answer this for me. When discussing my short play-"On the Eastern Shores of Lake Erie"-and overall writing style, Buffalorising.com wrote, "...Mundane struggles are juxtaposed with the heightened style that Karcher frequently employs-the language of an over-educated, underused generation. His words, rhythm and imagery are musical and poetic while simultaneously being dark, humorous and puzzling. And yet, his characters speak of a Buffalo that is familiar, particularly to the artists, the wanderers and the misbegotten." That sounds about right.

MCL: What's the Buffalo, New York scene like?

JK: Vibrant-there's plenty of talent floating around, but the talent is doing just that-floating, as if in a fishbowl of some kind. Like with every scene in town-music, theater, visual arts, comedy, etc.-the poetry scene is a wee bit fragmented, full of squabbles and bitterness that it almost feels like a Rust Belt version of the Hatfields & McCoys. But doesn't every city have that problem? Perhaps-but for Buffalonians, we're our own worst enemy-not doing enough to support other artists, always forgetting that a victory for a Buffalonian artist is a victory for all of us. With that said, there's not enough collaboration between the different scenes, not enough unity. This is all common knowledge, I feel-so I don't want to sound like a soapbox broken record. Strictly talking Queen City poetics, I would have to say the biggest problem is the divide between "academic" poetry readings and spoken word performances. This divide isn't helping any of us.

MCL: Any local poets who helped you grow?

JK: Throughout the years, many artists have helped me grow-I don't want to limit my answer to just poets. The local music scene continues to be a huge inspiration-bands like Aircraft (Justin John Smith!) and The Tins. Shout outs to Ian Be, along with Bourbon and Coffee, Al Felix, Phil Durgan (RIP), Tom Joyce (RIP), Donna Hoke, Jon Elston, and Matt LaChiusa. The Pure Ink Slam team is doing some really cool things, including qualifying for Nationals in August-so start supporting them-a victory for Buffalo! I'm also inspired by fellow poets-Carly Weiser, Megan Kemple, Jen Skelton, Jeffrey Charles Naish, etc.

MCL: Some of your favorite venues and why?

JK: Anywhere really-I just love to read and perform, but places I've enjoyed performing at include Caffe Aroma, College Street Gallery, Rust Belt Books, Burning Books, American Repertory Theater of WNY, and Just Buffalo Literary Center.

MCL: If you could go back in time and be a poet when would it be and why?

JK: No time like the present, nostalgia is the opium of the people, etc.-I know, I know-but I'd love to kick it back with Dylan Thomas and kill ourselves with liquor.

MCL: Finally, promote yourself. What's going on in 2015 for you?

JK: I recently won the Just Buffalo Literary Center's Judge's Award for poetry, chosen by Sherry Robbins for my poem, "So I Can Meet up with My Savior and Put My Soul to Rest," which will appear in The Public. My short play-"Most of America's Water Comes through Rust Belt Eyes"-is part of Rust Belt Grotesque, an evening of short plays, at American Repertory Theater of WNY, which runs from April 30-May 22. In addition, I'm in the process of putting together my first chapbook.

More about Justin Karcher:

https://www.facebook.com/events/1585961648283947/

http://www.everywritersresource.com/shortstories/lose-justin-karcher/

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