Howie Good, a journalism professor at SUNY New Paltz, is the author of five poetry collections, most recently Cryptic Endearments from Knives Forks & Spoons Press. He has had numerous chapbooks, including A Special Gun for Elephant Hunting from Dog on a Chain Press, Strange Roads from Puddles of Sky Press, and Death of Me from Pig Ear Press. He has chapbooks forthcoming from Mad Hat Press, Red Bird Chapbooks, and unbound Content. He blogs here. I have been a longtime fan of your work, Howie. It seems every week there’s a new chapbook coming out from the crushing brilliance of Howie Good. I was going to pull out a few quotes from your five micro pieces you sent, “What’s There to Say,” “The Bread of Affliction,” “Another Word for Mercy,” “A Footnote on Christopher Marlowe,” and “A Footnote on Samuel Beckett,” but every line is unique, fascinating and multi-layered. I did pick out one, although, like I said, all could be featured.
“Who wouldn’t prefer to live where the light is less frayed?”
I was hoping you wouldn’t mind a get away from the basic questions you are asked again and again in interviews, Howie.
Tell me about your love/hate relationship with Facebook.
I love Facebook because it allows me to stay in touch with former students. I also appreciate being able to torture them and others with YouTube video links of me playing the ukulele. In addition, Facebook has been invaluable in putting me in touch with the community of indie and small press writers, almost all of whom it has been a great pleasure to get to know. The hate part is relatively small – I hate the reactionary political opinions that some people feel compelled to post. They apparently assume that everyone is just like them – you know, a sociopath.
LOVE! Can’t believe that’s after one lesson. NICE!
What were your parents like growing up? Where do you hail from?
I grew up in Merrick, a hamlet on the South Shore of Long Island. To my parents, who were slum kids from the Lower East Side, it was the American Dream come true. For most of my growing-up years, my mom was a homemaker – though that terms implies a more benign impression than is justified. She ruled our house – I have three brothers -- with an iron hand, and she didn’t deign to disguise it very often with a velvet glove. My dad was a workaholic. We didn’t see him much. So it was a typical middle-class American family – dysfunctional.
How about the first date story? Anything go awry?
Everything went awry. Where do you think the nightmare imagery in my poems springs from?
Actually, I have known my wife since third grade, though our parents didn’t let us get engaged until our last year in college. We have four kids – two boys, two girls, all grown and out of the house. We’ll be married 40 years in May. Our marriage is the longest poem I’ve ever written.
That’s amazing and beautiful, Howie!
Tell me about one moment in your life that you feel will arise from the sunken treasures of memory when you are on your way out; heading for that final door.
Leading a walkout from my high school graduation as a protest against the Vietnam War.
Would love to hear that story!
What music speaks to you most?
Folk music. It’s how I became enamored of the ukulele.
Okay, had to add one more video.
“Leaving on a Jet Plane,” with Howie!
What’s the best place you ever lived and why?
Cape Cod. . . The light.
I agree. I lived there one summer and it was incredible. The sunsets! DAMN!
If you had a gun to your head and could only take one book with you, which would it be?
Non-fiction: Shelby Foote’s three volume history, The Civil War
Fiction: Russell Hoban’s Riddley Walker
Poetry: William Carlos Williams’ Pictures from Brueghel
When did you get that first publication and which magazine was it in?
I’m going to ignore your question (as I just did directly above) and tell you what was my most exciting publication ever – my first book, Acquainted With the Night: The Image of Journalists in American Fiction, 1890-1930, published by Scarecrow Press (now part of Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group) and based on my doctoral dissertation in American Culture.
Haha! I’m so glad you’re ignoring them, Howie. Thank you for that.
What are your thoughts on publishing as it stands and the future of publishing?
I’m puzzled as to why publishers agree to publish books, but fail to aggressively market them. I guess if that continues, the future of publishing will be grim.
I can definitely agree with you on that one.
How about if you end the interview off with one great quote that says something of who you are and what you believe?
Writing is a dog’s life, but it’s the only life worth living. – Flaubert
Thank you so much, Howie, for your pure brilliance! I’m honored to have you as the featured fiction writer in April. You are amazing!
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