“Interview with John Yamrus” by Peter Mladinic

In a career spanning more than 50 years as a working writer, John Yamrus has published 39 books. He has also had more than 3,000 poems published in magazines and anthologies around the world. A number of his books and poems are taught in college and university courses. He is widely considered to be a master of minimalism and the neo-noir in modern poetry. His two most recent books are the memoir THE STREET and a new volume of poetry called PEOPLE (AND OTHER BAD IDEAS).

Enjoy this interview of John Yamrus by the American poet Peter Mladinic, whose most recent poetry book is HOUSE SITTING.

PM: What got you started writing poetry?

JY: i get asked that all the time and if i were a smart ass i’d try and be clever and say something like it’s not how i got started that matters, but why i can’t stop…but, i won’t do that…i’ll tell you the truth and say that i got started because it was the only way to meet girls. i was shy and small and even though i wanted badder than anything at the time to be a pro baseball player, i didn’t have any talent, so the only way for me to get across with the girls was to write them a poem. that was my edge…my way in, if you want to call it that.

PM: Is there one fundamental reason why you write?

JY: boredom. when i was a kid i used to say that i wrote because there wasn’t anything new or interesting left for me to read, so i had to write it myself…but that was just plain childish egotism coming out and not true at all. i write because i’m kinda good at it and it keeps me busy and it makes me smile. i mean, what’s better than being able to create something out of nothing and then actually have something that you can show to people and share with people. i wish i could do music or sing or play, but i can’t…but, this is a pretty darn close second. this is something (when i do it right) that i can always have with me. maybe it’s not carved in stone, but it’ll last a bit longer than me, that’s for sure!

PM: Do you have a fixed or stable setting, a time and place, for writing? Or is that setting more fluid?

JY: since i was a kid (and i’m 73 now) i always made it a point to be consistent and professional in my writing…i try and treat the work with the respect that it deserves, and because of that i try and write every day. my desk…my “office”…is in my basement, where i have my books and my computer and the first thing i do right after letting the dog out and making a cup of coffee, is come down here and try and write something. i check my emails and i try to write. most times it’s crap and i end up throwing it out, but that’s the plan. that’s always been the plan. that’s pretty much what i do and who i am.

PM: Do you write with pen, or pencil on paper before putting the writing on a keypad and into a computer, or some other electronic device?

JY: of course, i started out with pen and paper, but like everybody of a certain age who wanted to be a writer, i wanted to be a gunslinger like Kerouac, so i started pounding on my sister’s portable Smith Corona typewriter. i can still see that thing…it was small and blue and i’d set it up on a little tv table and i’d wack at it, trying to be like Kerouac, because he was hip and cool and fast, and we all wanted to be just like that. now, i pretty much do everything on the computer, and while i may be just as fast as i was back then, it just doesn’t sound or feel the same. but, then, nothing ever does and Thomas Wolfe was right when he said you can’t go home again. you can’t start over. but the journey’s so much fun, isn’t it? call me crazy, but the physical act of writing…of sitting there and doing it…feels so good…doesn’t it?

PM: Does what you read impact your writing, and if so, to what extent?

JY: it used to affect me a whole lot more than it does now. in fact, i don’t think it does anymore, and i’m not even sure if it ever did. but that’s how i used to think. the funny thing is, i never stopped reading, even when i used to think it’d mess me up, and it ticks me off when i hear guys say that they don’t read anything because they don’t want to mess with their voice, or change the way they’re writing, because at the end of the day reading is at the very center of everything we do (as writers), and if we didn’t read…if we didn’t stay on top of what’s going on and what’s happened in the past, we wouldn’t be able to do anything…certainly not with any skill or intelligence. if you don’t read, you just can’t write. it’s as simple as that.

PM: You write to be read, and you promote your writing. Do you look for new venues for promotion?

JY: that’s a bit of a sore spot with me…i hear these people saying “Oh, I write for me. I only write to enrich my soul”, or whatever the hell kind of crap they’re gonna say, and i think that’s just pure egotistical bullshit, and they’re lying to themselves and they’re lying to me and you. i write because i think i have something to say, and when it’s written…when it’s published…i owe it to myself to do everything i can to get the stuff read. if i didn’t, i’d be cheating someone and only doing half my job. on top of that, i’ve always always always felt i owed a great big debt to the people who spend their own hard-earned money to put me into print. let’s face it…i’m not big-time…most of the publishers who do my stuff are taking a big fat chance with every book they publish. they’ve got families and bills and responsibilities far greater than my stupid little book…and i take that responsibility (getting the books seen and sold) very seriously. i’m sure it has a lot to do with the way i was brought up…and where i was brought up. we didn’t have a lot of money back then…we were working class…my family and everybody in that town were all coal miners, and there wasn’t a lot of extra anything to go around, and so i’ve learned the value of a dollar and good hard work and taking care of the ones who take care of you. so, yeah…i do promote my books. it’d be really stupid if i didn’t.

PM: Do you like reading in public?

JY: no. but, i don’t think i’m a bad reader. i suffer the green willies every time i have to do it, and i’m always shaking inside…but, i do it…because it’s something you have to do…get out and take the work to the readers. you just can’t sit back and hope the world is gonna come trying to break down your door. you have to go out and do the work, and sometimes that work entails standing in front of a crowd (no matter what the size) and doing the deed, and if you do it right, before you walk out the door they sometimes even give you a check.

PM: I’ve read enough of your work to have a sense of your style, which I characterize as minimalist. Does that characterization seem accurate?

JY: i guess if any description fits me, minimalist is as close as it comes. i know i do feel attracted to writing short poems. the shorter, the better…for so many reasons. and then there’s that one time i really stirred the pot and took it as far as i could, writing that famous (or infamous) one word poem. other than my poems about my wife and my dogs, it’s probably got more attention than anything i’ve ever done. there’s been articles written about it (pro and con) arguing whether or not a one word poem can even be a poem. and that one word poem is this:

endure

to me, that one word says a lot…about a lot of things…it certainly says a lot about me and the way i approach my writing, and how i look at myself. and it all comes down to just being a writer. to being what and who you are. i mean, i still don’t or can’t think of myself as being a poet…for any number of reasons…the first being that describing myself as a poet is just way too limiting…i’d rather just call myself a writer and let it go at that…besides, i really, honestly and truly don’t see myself as a poet…not yet. for my money, Whitman and Pound and Emily D. and Mayakovsky and people like that are poets. i’m still a work in progress…still working toward the goal…and i’m okay with that. besides, being a minimalist almost hits the mark, because isn’t that what poetry’s all about? saying as much as you can in as few words as you can? it’s like in my new memoir, THE STREET, it’s a thin book and i meant it to be thin, because even though it’s prose, i still think in those poetry kind of terms and i’ve even described that book as being nothing more than a poem with a thyroid condition. i’m really proud of that book. i think i’m writing (now) as good as ever…and i’m good with that.

PM: The telling and showing in your poems seems precise, your images, metaphors, ironies. What do you do in your poems to make them “poems,” utterances different from prose?

JY: maybe that’s one that’s better left for other people to decide. i always loved the baseball player Willie Mays. besides being a great hitter, he was also a great fielder. somebody once asked him what he thought was the greatest catch he ever made, and Willie’s answer was “I don’t rate ‘em, I just catch ‘em”. and the same goes for my poems…i can’t figure ‘em out, i just write ‘em. it’s more fun doing it than talking about it.

PM: Two poets who seem to have influenced you are Charles Bukowski, and Gerald Locklin. Another writer whom you’ve read is Marcel Proust. Is Proust an influence, in your prose or poetry, or in both?

JY: Proust influences pretty much everything i do…while i’m certainly not long-winded like he was…like he famously was…but his writing sure does effect the things i look at and how i feel about them. he’s created some amazing characters and the people i write about are central to everything i do. in fact, my newest book of poems is nothing but characters…it’s called PEOPLE (AND OTHER BAD IDEAS). i really really like this book, and i hope people will pick it up…and that’s the point, isn’t it? buying the stuff and reading it? so, there, we talked about why i write and how i write and who and what i write about. we even talked about Willie Mays and Marcel Proust, and for my money that’s about all i got to say, so we might as well end things right here. the new books are PEOPLE (AND OTHER BAD IDEAS) and THE STREET and i hope you buy them. don’t do it for me…do it for yourself and for the people who brought them out. there! i’m done. i talked enough. i gotta go.

Purchase link for THE STREET

back cover blurb for THE STREET…

“Memories are like leaves on a tree… and they fall at different times, at different speeds, in different ways… eventually, no matter how they fall, they end up covering the ground.”

My review of THE STREET

“‘The Street’ by John Yamrus: A Review” by Barbara Leonhard

Purchase link for PEOPLE (AND OTHER BAD IDEAS)

Peter Mladinic was born and raised in New Jersey. He graduated from the University of Minnesota in 1973 and earned an MFA in Creative Writing at the University of Arkansas in 1985. Professor emeritus at New Mexico Junior College, where he was a member of the English faculty for 30 years. During that time, he was a board member of the Lea County Museum and president of the Lea County Humane Society. An animal rights advocate, he lives in Hobbs, New Mexico, USA. His most recent poetry book is HOUSE SITTING.

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