ORCHID WATKINS – Interviewer – Tallahassee, FL, USA

OW: Please tell us a little about yourself.

AW: I live, like winne-the-pooh, in the hundred acre woods. in reality our home is two blocks from capital circle in tallahassee, but canopy of 4 great oaks and lovely front porch inspire me to sit and drink coffee and paint, and sometimes write a poem.

OW: As a publisher, you have created several publications over the last 3 decades to varying degrees of success. What has motivated you to start B3T, and what would you say to those interested in starting their own publications?

AW: My motivation is, like i say about my poetry, almost neither any of my business or that of the reader or contributor. but as this question probably deserves some kind of answer, i will tell you the truth, as i understand it. I have mostly published my own poetry, though i am always flattered when another publication wants to publish one of my poems. In one case, i had a small press publish one of my poetry books. I did not enjoy the restrictions on what i could do, as i am very much an independent soul, though, in fairness, the publisher was about as unrestrictive as he could be. Then he and i got into a disagreement about a common slur for Roma people. He did not see it as offensive, i did, we parted ways, and he agreed to unpublish my book and it is now also one of my self published titles. all this to say, I was a bit jealous of writers who jumped through the hoops and were published by prestigious university presses. I did a little research and found no institution had a publication or press called The University Press, so i adopted that as my self published imprint, and then invited other self publishers to use it as well. (so far, as far as i know, none have, but it still a standing offer). In any case, I started thinking about how fun it would be to be reviewed by the NYT, and how extremely unlikely it would be. Then the more i thought about it, the more i remembered all the ways and reasons i hated the NYT. so, taking a play off my old publication, Better Than Starbucks, i thought i would call it Better Than The NYT, which, with some good advice, became the Better Than The Times, and then i realized, instead of a parody, i wanted a true alternative, maybe an updated Village Voice, where art and literature, as well as enjoyable information about food and dining and travel could be joined to a honest leftist look at business and politics.

OW: You have said in past writings, interviews, and conversations that you personally do not like explaining your poetry. Out of respect, I am not going to ask you to explain any of your poems, but I would like to ask: What is the philosophy behind that discomfort?

AW: When i first started out, as a teenaged poet, i thought it very important to explain exactly what i was trying to say in my poems. As i listened to others explain their poem, set up their poems (i dont believe in the set up, either) i realized they should say IN the poem what they want you to know. Then, further, i began to realize the poet is a tool, not a god, my job is to lay out whatever the muse tells my poor confused brain, and in the telling, i will think i have understood what i was saying, but by not explaining, it lets the reader create a very different poem. a poem should be a mirror, or a door, letting the reader find something for themselves, not be spoon fed whatever i think i am saying. i have come to believe the poet is one of the least qualified persons to tell us what the poem means.

OW: You are somewhat staunchly opposed to the analysis of literature, (something, dear reader, that is quite a point of contention in the Watkins family home). However, you still encourage people to submit their literary analysis works to B3T. How do you balance your preferences with your duty and goals as a publisher? What place, in your opinion, does personal taste have in a curatorial position?

AW: My biggest issue with analysis is if it is done by an authority figure, because in my experience, it is a lot like dissecting a frog. sure, you might find an interesting bit in the frogs intestines, but in the end you take a beautiful creature and end up with a table full of guts. i prefer my novels to remain beautiful creatures.

OW: It’s my understanding that you grew up under a lot of media censorship from your community, allowing you to almost only consume fiction through literature. What’s one piece of literature from your childhood that has stuck with you most? How did that censorship affect your point of view both inside and outside of your creative ventures?

AW: We were not allowed to watch TV or go the the movies. I remember truly resenting my parents for not letting me watch The sound of music, as it was the big movie of my first grade class, and felt really left out as i had not experienced it. i did see it in my 20s, and enjoyed it, but it was the shared cultural experience i missed. Otherwise, i think the two things that have occurred was that i read hundreds of adult age novels between age 10-20. I was exposed to a lot of great literature, and some not so great, but i fell in love with words on a page. i decided i would grow up to the great novelist in the William Faulkner tradition. It took me a failed novel and a lot of other less successful efforts to realize i am a poet, not a novelist. if i need more than about 300 words, often a lot less, my stories just dont hold up to 100,000 words. i also have never developed a lot of patience for TV and movies that are so called mindless entertainment.

OW: As an educator, you have been a CTA at Penn, given talks at libraries, and shared information digitally. Do you have any upcoming events? Do you have anything that you want to do next that you don’t have immediate plans for?

AW: Yes, I have been invited to speak to students at both Mississippi State in Starkville, Mississippi and at Our Lady of the Lake, a small private college in San Antonio, Texas. We are still working on the dates for those events, but I am very excited to say we are going to Tuskegee University, in Tuskegee, Alabama as well as giving an evening talk at the main library in Montgomery, Alabama, both on April 10 of this year.

OW: What is something that I have not asked you that people should know?

AW: I believe everybody is a poet, painter, singer, dancer, it is important to find that person within you and share it with as many people as you can.