autumn moon the realtor suggests staging Paul Miller
The LeRoy Gorman Interview by Pearl Pirie P: What’s your greatest pleasure in being the Honorary Curator of the American Haiku Review? What do you do in the role? LG: Not that I seek it, but the recognition for a dedication to haiku certainly feels good. When I first received the invitation, I couldn’t believe it. I thought the American Haiku Archives must have been hacked and I was being spammed. When I realized everything was for real, I then thought-- oh-no, I don’t need another job. But a few sentences in, it was clear that I would have no duties except to accept. So I did. P: You’ve written under pseudonyms. Does each pseudonym have a different character? Or for a different genre of writing? How do you decide or distinguish among them? LG: Generally, each represents a different character or voice, Many are one-offs in which I parody the work of another writer. In these cases, the pseudonyms are themselves parodies as well. There are, however, half dozen names (not for parodies) I keep coming back to when their voices call. P: You’ve got a writing CV of almost 40 years. Can you pick among your books of what is your favourite? LG: There’s no way I can pick one over the other. This may be because they often differ very much from each other. where sky meets sky, for example, is a series of ten language-centred haiku sequences; dandelions & dreams is a kid’s book, whose smile the ripple warps is made up of what Eric Amann called typestracts, heart’s garden and nothing personal are collections of what most readers would call normal haiku. parallel journey/voyage parallele, written with Andre Duhaime, is a collaborative renga. And on it goes. P: Do you find haiku spirit bleeds into other areas of aesthetics? Do you feel a minimalist influence in visual art? LG: For me, the brevity with maximum suggestiveness of haiku seems to have an overall influence on me. My visual poetry, whether haiku or not, tends to be minimalist, often centring on one word and, in some cases, a single letter or a few seemingly disjointed ones. P: What’s your editing process like? LG: I’m assuming you mean for Haiku Canada Review. I try to deal with things as soon as they come in. Some poems catch me on first 340
LIJLA Vol.1, No.2 August 2013