Bruce Dethlefsen, Wisconsin Poet Laureate (2011-2012), has two chapbooks, A Decent Reed and Something Near the Dance Floor,
and his full-length book, Breather, published by Fireweed Press, won an Outstanding Achievement Award in Poetry from the Wisconsin Library Association. His new book, Unexpected Shiny Things, is published by Cowfeather Press. Bruce’s poetry has been featured on Garrison Keillor’s The Writer’s Almanac and Your Daily Poem. A retired educator and public library director, he lives in Westfield, Wisconsin.
---------
Bruce Dethlefsen Interview, with Kaite Hillenbrand
I read that you have taught over 1,000 people to juggle and that you were a night watchman in a cave. How did you come to these occupations, and what do you like about them?
Juggling offers this mindless free-floating physicality that allows me to relax and wander to creative places. I was taught in 1974 by a senior high school girl where I was a school librarian in northern Wisconsin. I convinced physical education teachers to make juggling part of the freshman curriculum and I worked with a lot of kids over the years and chased a lot of balls across the gym floor.
Kansas City, where I grew up, is riddled with limestone caves. One summer, as a teenager, I worked as the night watchman and sweeper in a cave factory where they made optical instruments. It was cool and dark, very dark.
Juggling makes me think of fairs and circuses. I read that you’re also a musician. What is your favorite kind of (live) show to watch, and why? Also, what is your favorite kind of show to participate or perform in, and why?
I love live music, just about any kind. I love hearing it, singing and playing it and dancing to it. Music is hard wired in us…clap your hands around a two-year-old and she will dance. I write and perform jazz and blues music. The sounds and rhythms are integral to poetry. The arts (and music most of all) make us human. Unless, that is, you earworm hum some lousy tune for eight hours straight everyday….that’s more reptilian.
You’ve written that, “if a novel is winter, and a short story is a snowstorm, then a poem is a snowball, squeezed.” I’ve noticed that you use quite a bit of repetition in your poetry. Will you talk a bit about your aesthetic and how repetition fits into that snowball?
I believe the ear enjoys and responds to sound repetition. Repeated words and phrases can expand meaning, like in the choruses of songs. The words in the chorus are the same but open up to different interpretations. I have a rule of three when it comes to repetition in poetry. Any more than three repetitions engage the brain rather than the ear and distract the reader from the poem.
What are you most proud of doing as Wisconsin’s Poet Laureate, and what do you have planned? What does your position entail? In what ways should we encourage the reading and writing of poetry in our communities? What successes have you seen in this regard?
My job, as poet laureate, is to promote Wisconsin poetry and poets. My main project focuses on helping to establish self-sustaining ongoing poetry readings in Wisconsin public libraries. There are so many poets of all ages out there, just waiting to be asked to read their poetry, who would benefit from the artistic fellowship and regular readings. The readings provide inexpensive local cultural community opportunities. This last year I planted a couple dozen poetry seeds and oh how I hope they grow.
---------
December
(after Jeffrey)
soon the last poet
will drink the last cup of coffee
and use the last drop of ink
to write the last poem
on the last scrap of paper
and the last frozen tears
from our frozen eyes
will shatter on this
blank white
tuneless world