John Barton

Found 10 thoughts of John Barton

My obsession with time informs my poetry so completely it is hard for me to summarize it. We want time to pass, for new things to happen to us, we want to hold on to certain moments, we don't want our lives to end.

The community of poets I belong to is not as close as it used to be, if only for the fact that our lives have become busier: jobs, children, and the like.

A literary journal is intended to connect writer with reader; the role of the editor is to mediate.

The greatest satisfaction comes from publishing interesting poems and well written, thoughtful critical material, and to help build a community.

In the same way that good sex involves some kind of emotional connection between lovers, readers have to become engaged emotionally.

The reader's challenge is to replicate the experiment by reading the poem and to draw their own conclusions.

I consider a poem to be a kind of experiment where a number of elements are brought together under test conditions to see how they will interact to create meaning or relevance.

The poet must decide not to impose his feelings in order to write without sentimentality.

You can never step into the same book twice, because you are different each time you read it.

If poetry alters the way in which the reader views the world, then it has had its desired effect.