Miles:
Two people above all others, really, Bukowski for showing you didn’t have to be impenetrable to write poetry, and my friend Tim Neave, also a poet, and who although different in style and ethos to me has encouraged and advised from the beginning. I owe him a lot, although I suspect neither of us would be comfortable with me telling him so. After that, there’s a whole host of writers…I like to think I change styles depending on what I’m trying to do in a poem, so sometimes I’m in a Ray Carver mood, sometimes a Todd Moore approach works better. I suspect it’s a cliché of sorts but most things I read, see, like, or have an effect on me will influence the writing that falls onto he page, even if it’s invisible to anyone but me.
Scot:
I have been told the poetry scene is strong in the UK.
Miles:
Have you? That may well be, but I’m afraid I don’t really keep up to date. I just write stuff, irrespective of what’s happening elsewhere. I’m by nature wary of scenes, gangs, movements. There’s nobody’s banner I’m comfortable trundling under, not even mine sometimes.
Scot:
Is online publication as noteworthy as print?
Miles:
I think it’s becoming more accepted. Of course there’s nothing better than having a magazine like Remark or Words Dance that you feature in, that you can hold in your hands and read, for giving you a warm poetry-slathered glow, but people are getting round to the idea that in the technologically-aware zeros (I will NOT say “noughties”) online publication is as valid. It’s easier for editors, quicker for writers, and much less work for the dear old postman.
Scot:
What does Miles Bell do for entertainment?
Miles:
Well, I’m a reclusive family man. I build Lego skyscrapers and trucks with the boy, walk around the garden barefoot with the wife, and Nintendo figures large. I surf the net, looking at stuff. So much interests me and I never get tired of reading, whether it’s Philip Roth or Wikipedia. I did venture to a