SubscribeInterview by Lex Schroeder
October 2011
I’ve always loved poetry. In recent years, I’ve begun sharing my favorite poems and some of my own poems with my brother. Nick is a writer, although I’ve never known him to write poetry. A couple of years back he fell in love with Robert Creeley poems, which set us off on a deeper conversation about poetry. Since then we’ve batted around the idea of working toward a collection tentatively titled Brother Sister Poetry Compendium. In preparation for this project, whether or not it ever happens, I thought I should ask Nick some of my most pressing questions about poetry. I spoke with him by phone to conduct this interview, tacking it on to the end of a long, exhausting conversation, giving him no time to prepare.
LS: Why do so many poets talk about persimmons and milkweed in their poems?
Nicholas Schroeder: Probably just because they’re tried and true mysteries of the earth. Rare fruit is generally important because it’s sexual. If you say persimmon, it becomes a focal point of the poem. It always catches you off-guard because nobody can remember the last time they ate a persimmon. And milkweed is a convergence of two very evocative terms. Milk being the stuff of life and also of gastroenterological distress. Weed dating back to early America.
LS: That’s your answer for milkweed?
NS: Yes. [Laughs]