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The near interview of Richard Z - Page 3

© Billy Marshall Stoneking

influenced my perception of the world. It's a small triangular island, about three miles wide at its widest point and eleven miles long, maybe less. Living there was like being on the periphery of the planet, and there were wild winds and seas and not many unfamiliar faces. So there was a distance from the world. And I've always had a kind of dislocation, a psychological dislocation, from others; these two phenomena I think became somehow linked and are a major influence. Other influences? Fidel Castro, European cinema, Bergman, Edward Hopper, Jackson Pollock, Warhol, Matisse, Anders Zorn, Dylan (Bob and Thomas), Leonard Cohen, Hubert Selby Jnr, Roger McGough, John Cooper - Clarke, Henry Miller, Henry Fielding, Buffy Sainte - Marie, Emile Zola, Grateful Dead, Jean Genet, every Zen, Sufi and other mystical poet I've read; Robin Williamson and Mike Heron of the Incredible String Band. And Elisabeth who is the "you" in (most) of my work. This list could go on and on... I could add to it every day.

B M S: Are you aware of any underlying themes, issues, running through your work?

RZ: Yes. Fear, paranoia, loss, distance, parting, meeting, death, fear of death, dislocation... temptation... sex... bewilderment... artificiality...

B M S: Some readers have commented on the repetition of certain images (symbols) that run through a number of your poems. Would you care to comment?

RZ: Ha! See this is... this idea of repetition, there's a sort of opposition to it that really annoys me on those days when I feel I'm wearing someone else's shoes. This repetition is central to my current work, it's a rhythm, a mantra. Symbols, yes, you're referring to bracelets, fish, birds, painted feet, neon signs, rain and all that. This is not an appropriate place to go into semiotics in a wide social sense such as the symbolism of ladders and elevators for example and their effect on our perceptions, but bracelets... I've worn bracelets for years; they're tribal, their appearance on and off flesh speak of humanity, femaleness, maleness. They're useful as a creative device to set mood, create a feeling and so on. I use these symbols often. Some people understand... oh, and I use the same themes often... some people understand what's happening; others call it cheating. (laughs). In my opinion the same song can be written a million times, the same

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