*This was first published on March 03, 2018
Can you go through the step-by-step process of writing this poem from the moment the idea was first conceived in your brain until final form? I’ve been residing in the suburbs outside of Atlanta, Georgia for the past several years. Two of my favorite activities are walking and visiting the many parks located throughout Gwinnett County. Thankfully, Mountain Park is only a mile from my residence, and so nearly every day I make the journey up there to spend time in the woods writing. Sometimes poems begin to form in my mind as I’m walking along the sidewalk on Five Forks Trickum Road, and that is the case with this particular piece. Its theme, tempo, rhythm, and cadence arrived spontaneously from my subconscious. By the time I reached the bridge inside the park where I momentarily rest while finishing my first cigarette of the day, the entire poem had been constructed in my head.
Where were you when you started to actually write the poem? And please describe the place in great detail. A few minutes later I had climbed the final hill and was seated at my favorite bench in the woods feverishly scribbling down the poem while it was still fresh in my thoughts. The entire process from original idea to written draft was completed within 20 minutes. The woods in the area are filled with pine trees, and the bench is situated beside a tree that has a heart with initials carved into it. There is a baseball field in the distance that can be seen from the angle where I sit. It’s a wonderful place to relax and commune with nature while receiving a steady flow of inspiration.
What month and year did you start writing this poem? It was written on October 6, 2017.
How many drafts of this poem did you write before going to the final? (And can you share a photograph of your rough drafts with pen markings on it?) There was one rough draft written down in pen, and then the final version was typed later in the day.
Were there any lines in any of your rough drafts of this poem that were not in the final version? And can you share them with us? No lines were removed. The only changes were that two words were added for emphasis in the body of the final version, and the word natural was added to the beginning of the title.
What do you want readers of this poem to take from this poem? A feeling of unity, connectedness, and Oneness with their fellow human beings, as well as a sense of harmony and balance with the natural processes of life and death on earth.
Has this poem been published before? And if so where? Yes, it was originally published at Dissident Voice. DV is a cultural, political, and social justice newsletter edited by Angie Tibbs where I have now been contributing a weekly poem for the past three and a half years.
My friend and fellow poet, Heath Brougher, also filmed an impromptu performance of me reading the piece during a recent trip to London, England. That video can be seen here on YouTube.
Contact info? I can be reached via email: 17Numa@gmail.com. I’m also active on several social media platforms. The best place to reach out is on my personal Facebook page. I always welcome feedback and am open to engaging in new conversations with friends and contemporaries.
Anything you would like to add? I would just like to thank you for providing this unique and interesting venue where I could speak about my work. It has been a pleasure. All the best to you and your readers!
Scott Thomas Outlar hosts the site 17Numa.wordpress.com where links to his published poetry, fiction, essays, interviews, reviews, live events, and books can be found. His work has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net. Scott was a recipient of the 2017 Setu Magazine Award for Excellence in the field of literature. His words has been translated into Albanian, Afrikaans, Persian, Serbian, and Italian. His books include: Songs of a Dissident (Transcendent Zero Press, 2015); Chaos Songs (Weasel Press, 2016); Happy Hour Hallelujah (CTU Publishing, 2016); Poison in Paradise (Alien Buddha Press, 2017); and Abstract Visions of Light (Alien Buddha Press, forthcoming in 2018).
