Originally Published and ©Copyrighted by Adagio Verse Quarterly, April, 2004.

Interview with the poet Aurora Antonovic
Interview conducted by Lisa Shields,
Associate Editor, Adagio Verse Quarterly

Lisa: With online Poetry, readers may know someone's work quite well---and your name is quite prominent---but still have little idea about the writer. Can we have a little basic bio info on you? When did you begin writing---and why was it poetry that struck you as the genre?

Aurora: I’m a Canadian writer and visual artist. My background is in philosophy and art. I began writing poetry at the age of seven when a woman who was extremely poor and suffering from some sort of mental malady visited our home. Her plight touched me in a way that could only be expressed through poetry.

My father began bringing home a book a week for me beginning when I was about three. My mother used to read to us as babies once we were six months old. She read us newspapers, books, and magazines. I was always surrounded by quality reading material.

My poetry was published through my university when I was in my late teens, and then I simply stopped writing for years, stuck to visual art, and traveled with my art shows. Later, I took up political writing, worked as a columnist and co-edited a paper. At the end of 2002, a friend for whom English was a third language, asked me to look at one of his poems. I wrote one back in response, and after that, I couldn’t seem to stop writing. He urged me to submit, and I’ve been published steadily since.

Poetry calls me back because it expresses things that just cannot be said as effectively through any other form. I love the nuances of poetry, the mystical language, the secret world it seems to build.

Lisa: How do you feel about the Net---and it's ability to connect you with the reading public? What are the pros and cons in your opinion of establishing an online following?

Aurora: The Net, like everything, has its good points and bad ones.

In the past, readers would get in contact with writers through our publishers. It was less personal. With the amount of information so readily accessible via the Net, including our email addresses, the amount of feedback has greatly increased. As long as this is serious feedback, whether positive or negative, that’s okay. One publisher accidentally released my contact info on the internet, and although it was rectified within 24 hours, it was still an unpleasant experience.

On the other hand, I like the fast pace of internet publishing. It also makes the world seem a smaller place.

Lisa: I read a recent piece you did with Christopher Horne---collaborations can be high art---and with the right writing partner, seamless in execution...how do you approach a collaboration?

Aurora: I like to be the responder in a collaboration. You mentioned Christopher Horne, I also collaborate with four other writers. I don’t like too much analysis to go into the project beforehand, but simply having the agreed upon poet begin the writing, with a common source of inspiration, whether it be an image, a piece of music, or a famous quote, to keep us focused.

Lisa: You write passionately---with simple language leading to complex imagery---what are you trying to tell the world with your words...and if you wish---what is something you allude to---but never quite say aloud with your poetry?

Aurora: Although I am Canadian born, I am of Serbian descent. The Serbian language is a very powerful, passionate one, with a single Serbian word conveying what it would take four or five English ones to express. Although my Serbian is no longer fluent, I always feel the Serb in me is trying to get out in my poetry!

I write a lot of passionate poetry that people assume are love poems, and they are, but not in the romantic sense. They are often about my parents, who died when I was quite young. It’s like the song “Everything I Own” by David Gates of Bread. Many think that song is about a boy/girl relationship when in fact, he wrote it for his deceased father. I have a poem entitled “I Am Restless As the Ocean” that expresses what I feel about my parents.

I also like to take a lot of other people’s stories and put those to poetry.

Lisa: In the last year, there has been much ado about poetry and politics...how do you see the poet's role in this?

Aurora: It’s funny because a lot of poetry I admire is political, such as Serbian poet Aleksa Santic’s works. However, I tend to stay away from including politics in my poetry, because I have written political columns for so long. I like to keep my poetry separate, as if it is another world.

Lisa: The question every writer must answer---possibly many times---why do you write?

Aurora: I really do write, not to be read, as much as I do for a form of self-expression. Creative people need to have an outlet of sorts, and in the past, when I’ve tried to bottle up that side of me, the effects were devastating. I’m much happier when creating something.

Lisa: Poet or Poetess...which do you prefer to be called---and why?

Aurora: I grew up with non-gender defining terms. However, I see this as the “tomato/to-mah-to” debate, just a difference in expression.

Initially, I submitted my poetry under the byline “A. Antonovic”, not because I was trying to hide my gender, but simply because seven syllables seemed a mouthful! But an editor liked my full name, and decided to change my byline.

Lisa: What is your five year plan for your work? What would you like to see happen? And please tell us about any projects you have that are current and compelling to you.

Aurora: I am completing work on three poetry manuscripts, two of which are due out later this year. And I’m working on launching my own e-zine, which I would like to see grow into something far-reaching. I really miss being an editor.

Lisa: Who are other poets, preferably still around that you enjoy reading? Who inspires you?

Aurora: I really like the Serbian poet, Aleksa Santic, and I adore Percey Bysshe Shelley, both for the intricacy of his content as well as his almost mathematical rhyme schemes. Shakespeare, of course, is a favorite. As far as poets who are still living, I admire the work of Moshe Benarroch. The control he exhibits in his poetry, never saying what can be implied, is something I would like to emulate. There are some new poets whose work I’ve found compelling, and I hope to introduce them to a readership through my e-zine once it’s launched.

Lisa: Trick Question---What is poetry to you personally? And how do you employ it to embrace your own vision?

Aurora: Poetry to me is one of the highest forms of self expression. It’s also a way to make the world a better place. People tend to minimize the importance of the beauty that the arts bring us, yet if those arts were gone, they would soon see how bleak the world would be. Poetry helps make my little corner of the world more palatable to me, and hopefully, to others.

Lisa: Thank you, Aurora, I appreciate you taking time from your schedule to allow us this interview.

Aurora: You are welcome. It was my pleasure.

Permission granted to copy this article by editor, Michael Ladanyi of Adagio Verse Quarterly.

Recommend this article...