An interview with Eric Schmaltz

Eric Schmaltz is the writer of Surfaces (Invisible 2018), a book of visual and constraint-based poetry that explores the intersection of affect, materiality, and digital writing environments. His poetry has been featured by way of print, presentation, and exhibition in Canada, the United States, and various locales in Europe. He can be found online at ericschmaltz.com or on Twitter: @eschmaltzzz. 

How did you begin writing, and what keeps you going?

In terms of beginnings, I recall writing and illustrating my own short books about bees and alien abductions at a young age. I wrote these stories on blue-lined paper, illustrated them in dull pencil crayon, and stapled them together. I later turned to scribbling derivative genre fiction in faux leather-bound notebooks––crime stories, fantasy, and science fiction. In those days, I was writing for myself, likely with ambitions of writing Thee Great Novel™. A lot has changed since then. I’m less interested in meaning, semantics, or greatness. I turn now toward concepts and problems that animate my thinking. Writing is a space for this.
          I write now in search of a sense of belonging –– finding it for myself and building it for others. Writing, when linked with publishing, is connected to a network of activities. We share, read, workshop, collect, analyze, discuss, support, befriend. I write for these aspects of community.

Have you noticed a difference in how you approach writing now that you’ve published a full-length collection?

Publishing a full-length collection changed the way I conceive of the baseline unit of composition. Before Surfaces, I thought and wrote in short, intensive bursts suited for chapbooks. Now I’m interested in the long game of writing, the long work, the stretch of the concept as it fills a book.

What poets have influenced the ways in which you write?

For the last year, I’ve been back and forth to the U.S. working alongside numerous poets and writers, including Orchid Tierney whose interview was featured here not long ago. Writers like Orchid as well as Aditya Bahl, Knar E. Gavin, Amber Rose Johnson, Mark Francis Johnson, Donato Mancini, Michael Martin Shea, Davy Knittle, Martine Tchitche, and, of course, Charles Bernstein have had a tremendous, recent influence on how I write and how I think about writing. I’ve spent the last twelve months conversing and corresponding with them in various contexts and that has opened up “poetics” for me in expansive ways. With that being said, the poets of influence are legion and exceed the contact I’ve had in the last year.

How important has mentorship been to your work? Is there anyone who specifically assisted your development as a writer?

Mentorship has been crucial to my work. I have been given a lot and I am eager to give back. A mentor is someone who opens writing for you in ways that they can. Like my influences, my mentors are legion. I count mentorship in moments –– advice, criticism, support, listening, teaching, and publishing. Where does mentorship begin and end? My standouts: derek beaulieu, Gregory Betts, Charles Bernstein, Stephen Cain, Alysha Dawn, rob mclennan, Leigh Nash, and Divya Victor.

You work with both text and image. How do the two genres interact, if at all?

Text = Image

&

Image = Text

What are you currently working on?

In the fall of 2019 Knife Fork Book will release the inaugural issue of Not Your Best. This issue of the magazine focuses on visual poetry and includes a motley array of contributors from across Canada and various international locales. I dedicated a portion of last summer to selecting and curating the work as a guest editor. This grows out of my interest in text and image, which is what drives my first book of poetry Surfaces. My current work in progress, tentatively titled Bouquet, builds on my interest in the visuality of writing and communication. For Bouquet, I turn toward the line with an emphasis on lines drawn by machines.

Can you name a poet you think should be receiving more attention?

With some exceptions, poets should be receiving more attention in general. It’s a challenge to pick just one. Recently, I’ve been wholly enthralled by Nicole Raziya Fong’s Perfact –– a singular collection.