Feature Poet Interview: John Siddique (UK)
Adam Fieled: It’s clear from your poems that sincerity/authenticity is important to you. Do you find this quality lacking in most contemporary/ “High” poetry?
John Siddique: The poetry and poets I find myself drawn to always have both of these qualities. Some poetry sets itself up to show us how clever the poet is, or its’ a bit like some kind of puzzle to unlock. If people want to write that stuff that’s up to them, but it doesn’t add to the literature of the world, and the kind of poet who writes that stuff obviously feels a need to create and defend a world that is for them and their elite, so lets leave them to it. I’m not sure what ‘High’ poetry is really, for me poetry has to add to the world by connecting with or showing me something of the life of its’ subject, be that abstract or personal.
AF: You have an interesting biography. Do you find yourself referring back to “pre-poetry” years very often? Do you feel that you learned life-lessons that you couldn’t have learned if you were already a practicing poet?
JS: I used to find that I referred back a lot, but my author’s voice actually got stronger when I stopped running away from my own life. I used to try not to write about it so much, and while it doesn’t dominate my writing, my own personal stories are now in some ways more important in my own life through their exploration in writing, almost as if to look at them gives them a polish. There are many life lessons that I don’t think would be available to me if I were not a poet, sitting back from the heat of emotion and trying to see the whole of a situation for what it is, a big one, but the biggest one is that before I wrote I was a very frightened person. Using my writer’s voice, and the practice of clarity, have made me a person far more able to interact in and with the world, and of course it gives me a vehicle to do that as well.
AF: You’re an active community-builder. Do you think it’s difficult to balance a lot of outward activity with the inward work necessary to create effective/affecting poems?
JS: In the last couple of years I find I have had to make some big choices in this area of my life. I have used poetry in many settings such as psychiatric hospitals, schools, galleries, with homeless people, and prisons. But you're right, when I do too much work in these fields it stops me being as creative as I would like to be as a poet. So I have really cut back this year, not that I think these things are no longer important. If one has a way to bring good stuff into the world, I see it as an extension of my yoga practice, then its' good to do that, but not to the point one harms oneself, which it is easy to do. If I am not being a poet first, then when I go into the community I am actually being a fake. So it is important for me to be centred in creating the poetry first, then I have something real in itself to offer the world. Both as a means to interface in community settings, but also I have come to realise that being a poet, and genuinely getting on with the work, i.e. being well read, writing, touring, publishing, writing truthfully about real things, and not letting fear stop me and so on is enough, and it is my way to make a contribution to our world. Unfortunately it is not easy to make a living being a poet, and so one then takes on work which leads away from this practice. One of the choices I have made this year, is to live more frugally so I can get one with writing, but then that too creates a tension, as it has an impact sometimes on how one lives. Being a poet is a real balancing act.
AF: I find your anti-elitist stance very appealing. How has it worked for you on the British poetry circuit? Have you encountered resistance from “ivory tower” poets? Adjacent to this, how are British poets treated in society generally? Is there a semblance of respect, or is it rough going?
JS: This is an interesting one. Respect is not part of the British vocabulary. Generally (we) they are mostly a very cynical people, in the nicest possible way. I count myself as British, but was raised by my Irish mother, and also have Indian heritage from my father, so I have never really fitted the old fashioned idea of Englishness. As a poet here it brings nothing except funny looks when you say you are a poet, and you know my stance on ivory towers, let the people who build towers them live in them, as long as we don’t think that what they have is some kind of answer or something to aspire to, we’ll get on, somehow. The US and Ireland, whilst not without their difficulties, are for more respectful of what someone does, and I think because of their more revolutionary spirits when you say you’re a poet it has meaning.
John Siddique: The poetry and poets I find myself drawn to always have both of these qualities. Some poetry sets itself up to show us how clever the poet is, or its’ a bit like some kind of puzzle to unlock. If people want to write that stuff that’s up to them, but it doesn’t add to the literature of the world, and the kind of poet who writes that stuff obviously feels a need to create and defend a world that is for them and their elite, so lets leave them to it. I’m not sure what ‘High’ poetry is really, for me poetry has to add to the world by connecting with or showing me something of the life of its’ subject, be that abstract or personal.
AF: You have an interesting biography. Do you find yourself referring back to “pre-poetry” years very often? Do you feel that you learned life-lessons that you couldn’t have learned if you were already a practicing poet?
JS: I used to find that I referred back a lot, but my author’s voice actually got stronger when I stopped running away from my own life. I used to try not to write about it so much, and while it doesn’t dominate my writing, my own personal stories are now in some ways more important in my own life through their exploration in writing, almost as if to look at them gives them a polish. There are many life lessons that I don’t think would be available to me if I were not a poet, sitting back from the heat of emotion and trying to see the whole of a situation for what it is, a big one, but the biggest one is that before I wrote I was a very frightened person. Using my writer’s voice, and the practice of clarity, have made me a person far more able to interact in and with the world, and of course it gives me a vehicle to do that as well.
AF: You’re an active community-builder. Do you think it’s difficult to balance a lot of outward activity with the inward work necessary to create effective/affecting poems?
JS: In the last couple of years I find I have had to make some big choices in this area of my life. I have used poetry in many settings such as psychiatric hospitals, schools, galleries, with homeless people, and prisons. But you're right, when I do too much work in these fields it stops me being as creative as I would like to be as a poet. So I have really cut back this year, not that I think these things are no longer important. If one has a way to bring good stuff into the world, I see it as an extension of my yoga practice, then its' good to do that, but not to the point one harms oneself, which it is easy to do. If I am not being a poet first, then when I go into the community I am actually being a fake. So it is important for me to be centred in creating the poetry first, then I have something real in itself to offer the world. Both as a means to interface in community settings, but also I have come to realise that being a poet, and genuinely getting on with the work, i.e. being well read, writing, touring, publishing, writing truthfully about real things, and not letting fear stop me and so on is enough, and it is my way to make a contribution to our world. Unfortunately it is not easy to make a living being a poet, and so one then takes on work which leads away from this practice. One of the choices I have made this year, is to live more frugally so I can get one with writing, but then that too creates a tension, as it has an impact sometimes on how one lives. Being a poet is a real balancing act.
AF: I find your anti-elitist stance very appealing. How has it worked for you on the British poetry circuit? Have you encountered resistance from “ivory tower” poets? Adjacent to this, how are British poets treated in society generally? Is there a semblance of respect, or is it rough going?
JS: This is an interesting one. Respect is not part of the British vocabulary. Generally (we) they are mostly a very cynical people, in the nicest possible way. I count myself as British, but was raised by my Irish mother, and also have Indian heritage from my father, so I have never really fitted the old fashioned idea of Englishness. As a poet here it brings nothing except funny looks when you say you are a poet, and you know my stance on ivory towers, let the people who build towers them live in them, as long as we don’t think that what they have is some kind of answer or something to aspire to, we’ll get on, somehow. The US and Ireland, whilst not without their difficulties, are for more respectful of what someone does, and I think because of their more revolutionary spirits when you say you’re a poet it has meaning.
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