The The NSW Writers' Centre

Brook Emery – On Poetry

March, 2010

Brook Emery has published three poetry collections, and dug my fingers in the sand (FIP 2000), which won the Queensland Premier’s Prize, Misplaced Heart (FIP 2003), and Uncommon Light (FIP 2007). All three were short-listed for the NSW Premier’s Prize. Individual poems have won the Newcastle Poetry Prize, The Bruce Dawe National Poetry Prize, the Max Harris Award, and the Australian Sports Poetry Award. He has taught in universities, schools and the community. He was Chairperson of the Poets Union Inc and Director of the Australian Poetry Festival.

Why poetry?

I didn’t make a deliberate decision to write poetry and I don’t valorise poetry above other written forms but I enjoy the scope poetry gives me to experiment with line breaks, image and rhythm to layer meaning and operate in the areas of suggestion, mystery and uncertainty. Poetry helps me think.

There’s famously no money in poetry. How does a poet make a living?

Don’t give up your day job! Don’t start writing poetry with dreams of fame and fortune! Very few people can make a living directly from poetry, certainly not from royalties. Some may scratch a living from teaching, reviewing, writing about, and performing poetry. The joy is in the writing.

What advice do you have for people just starting writing poetry?

Read and write a lot. Then read a lot more and write a lot more. You learn by osmosis and immersion and over time. Throw away more than you keep. Go to readings. Join a poetry discussion group or workshop – this gives you different perspectives on your own work and challenges your assumptions.

What’s the secret to writing award-winning poetry?

I hope there isn’t one. All you can do is write the best poetry you can according to your aesthetic principles without thinking of competition (or even publication) and leave the rest to chance. It helps to read the entry conditions carefully.

Tell us something we don’t know about the Australian poetry scene right now.

Australian poetry is as vigorous, various and exciting as at any time in its history. Some beautiful books of poetry have been written recently; especially impressive have been assured, intelligent first books by emerging poets.

What do you do when you get stuck writing?

I only write when I have an idea I want to explore and a way of writing has emerged. If I dry up I just stop and wait for my subconscious or some fortuitous accident (e.g., a word I come across while reading) to suggest a way forward. This may take days or months. I do keep re-reading what I have written to jump start my brain.

The first thing you ever wrote …

will never be revealed and has been destroyed (return to the answer about throwing away more than you keep).