TDR Interview: Alex Boyd

by Dani Couture

Part of TDR’s Behemoth Gargantuan Canadian Poetry in Review

[November 2008]

The The last time we met in this capacity was five years ago when I.V. Lounge was celebrating it's fifth anniversary, and you were taking over the series from Paul Vermeersch. On May 9th, I.V. celebrated its tenth anniversary. What kept you motivated to continue hosting the series five years later?

The series was a pleasure to do, it didn’t feel like work. Writing can be a bit of a lonely, internal process and the I.V. Lounge had warmth to spare, it was a safe place to present work and see colleagues and friends. Quincy is a poet-cat if I've ever met one. When I first took over from Paul I found it nerve-wracking, Paul was used to getting up there and hosting after five years of it but I wasn’t (and maybe poets and writers could be described as a species of watchers, but that's a whole other question). At first, I forced myself to make a lot of rehearsed jokes that fell flat. After I’d been there a while I became much more natural, and of course, you’re funnier as soon as you’re not trying so hard. As an added benefit I'm a lot more comfortable getting up to do readings of my own work.

The I.V. Lounge Reading Series came to an abrupt end this summer. Can you talk about how the series ended and the series' legacy in Toronto, and even outside of the city? I imagine the anthology you edited recently, The I.V. Lounge Reading Series came to an abrupt end this summer. Can you talk about how the series ended and the series' legacy in Toronto, and even outside of the city? I imagine the anthology you edited recently, I.V. Lounge Nights, must mean a great deal more to you now that the series is over.

We were lucky to have ten years with Kevin Jones managing, and no major changes or renovations, and then suddenly it all happened at once – a manager ready to move on, an owner interested in serious renovations. As far as an influence, in the last few years I’ve seen a new trend in readings, which is for events to skip the open stage in favour of a more professional evening, as well as mix fiction and poetry, established and emerging authors. I hope the long run of the I.V. series has had something to do with that. And you’re right, the anthology does mean more now than I ever thought it could, it’s a permanent record of what the series was all about, and promotes 29 different writers. I’m glad Myna Wallin came up with the idea, I seem to recall I was only mulling over the idea of a chapbook with ten writers in it, for the tenth anniversary. How were we to know the series would end a few months after the anniversary? After ten years, I took the series a little bit for granted as much as anyone else, and was saddened when it ended.

Since the I.V. Lounge shut its doors in August, you have been busy behind the scenes, helping to set up a new reading series. Who will be the host and what, if any, will be your involvement in the series?

Carey Toane is someone I thought was cool and professional whenever we chatted in the last few months of the series, and she was booked to read right before the bar suddenly closed. I emailed her about having to cancel her reading – I had to cancel four months of readings – and she commented it was a loss to the literary scene in Toronto, so I asked if she wanted to host a new series. My initial reaction was to carry on and do a whole new series myself, but I’d started to admit to myself that after five years I was ready to hand it over to someone else. And really, people shouldn’t stay entrenched in a position for too long, it’s good for fresh energy to take over. Carey will do an excellent job, and already has a blog for the series at pivotreadings.wordpress.com that people should check out, and Pivot Readings is meant as a nod to the original series, with the "IV" embedded in the name.

What are you going to do with your Friday nights now?

I might occasionally host the new series when Carey needs the help – though it is a Wednesday night series – but generally I’m left with more time for other projects.

Your first book, Making Bones Walk, won the Gerald Lampert Memorial Award in 2008. In addition to your projects -- Your first book, Making Bones Walk, won the Gerald Lampert Memorial Award in 2008. In addition to your projects -- BOYDblog, Digital Popcorn, and co-editing Northern Poetry Review -- how do you find time to write?

As far as my own writing is concerned, I always feel like I’m walking into a kitchen where I’m cooking five different meals. I post occasional film reviews to digitalpopcorn.wordpress.com, I’ve got a first novel finished, and then there’s always poetry, occasional book reviews and essays. Of course, Northern Poetry Review is a team effort and a richer site thanks to more than two years of work you’ve put into it, thank you. The novel is the most awkward, unmanageable thing to work on, and I just have to chip away at it. With poetry, I’m often waiting for it to commit to me rather than force it, and it’s easier to stay on top of rewriting poems. Of course, there are also those rare poems that seem to arrive almost fully formed and feel like a blessing, it’s like panning for gold and finding a brick. Everything proceeds slowly. I don’t resent having to work, I like being in the so-called "real" world, and feel it keeps me grounded. And yet, I’m often annoyed it takes up so much energy and find I’m in the same environments too much. I’ve written two rush hour poems, and I think you only need one, at most. Maybe that’s how I’ll spend my Friday nights – deleting rush hour poems.

Dani Couture is the author of "Good Meat" from Pedlar Press, and "The Handbook" is forthcoming.