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Fall 2004
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Poet from Ilinois
Dec 19,2004, Sunday. I emailed the Interview Questions to Randy.
Jan 2005. Muses Review receives back the Interview questions by pmail (postmail).
This interview was posted in Muses Review on February 26, 2005, Saturday.
1. AA: Were you featured in a literary magazine before? If Yes, can you name the magazine? When or what year?
RR: No.
2. AA: Were you featured in television show? If yes, what TV program? If yes, when?
RR: No.
3. AA: Is this "Tears rolling down the heartstring" your first book of poems?
RR: No. I started with a series of chapbooks (each 30-30 pages). The series of chapbooks is called "Poems Never Read Together". Part 1 is called "Over the Years" in 1997. Part 2 is called "Don't be Sad in Love" in 1998. Part 3 is called "From that Third of My Heart" in 2001. Part 4 is called "The Discovery" in 2002. But they were never officially published. I made as many copies as I can afford at the time, sold and gave them to anyone who would read them.
4. AA: At what age did you start writing poems seriously?
RR: I would say at 31 yrs old when I started the first book but the poem that kept me writing (A Flash of Memories) was written when I ws 32.
5. AA: Who encouraged you to write poetry?
RR: My mom and grandmother in last few years. But I think my boss, she read some poems I had written back in 1991 and showed everyone she knew the poems and told me how her daughter-in-law loved (what) I wrote. It was even nice just to have one fan.
6. AA: Some of your poems combine free verse and rhymed verse. Why do you write your poems combining free verse and rhymed verse in one poem instead of separating free verse from rhymed verse?
RR: When I first started writing a lot of what I wrote came from enjoying music so you may see musical lyric style in what I write from time to time. I consider my change of styles similar to a bridge in a song, a change of pace to take the reader in a different direction and then I bring (them) back in the end.
7. Andrew: Who are your favorite dead poets? Why?
Randy: William Stafford. He combines something scenic or beautiful with loss or sadness. He also makes a statement without the reader directly knowing he has.
8. Andrew: Do you have a favorite living poet?
Randy: Yes.
9. Andrew: If yes, can you name the living poet? Why?
Randy: Dana Gioia. He writes in patterns that are similar to mine.
10. Andrew: Who among the (dead/living) poets influenced you?
Randy: Poets that write about beauty and sadness are at the top but also when I see young people writing on poetry sites. They keep (well) poetry alive.
11. Andrew: Do you write short stories? Novellettes? Novels? Essays?
Randy: No.
12. Andrew: Have you made book reviews before?
Randy: No.
13. Andrew: Do you have plans to write poems in rhymed verse?
Randy: Yes.
14. Andrew: Have you published a book that is not a poetry book? If yes, can you name the title of these non-poetry books?
Randy: No.
15. Andrew: Aside from writing poetry, what are your favorite hobbies/recreation?
Randy: I enjoy cooking, listening to music, playing and watching sporting events, watching the birds feed by the creek behind my house and learning about medieval, European, and US histories. I do a little bit of everything.
16. Andrew: Are you single, married, divorced or widowed?
Randy: Married for 1 year.
17. Andrew: What is the name of your wife?
Randy: Donna, she is a web developer.
18. Andrew: How many children?
Randy: None yet.
19. Andrew: Do you have plans to publish a second poetry book?
Randy: Yes.
20. Andrew: What awards have you received related to poetry?
Randy: Since this is my first published book I have no awards yet for my writing. But I have been nominated for (Best) Poem of the Year 2004 by Muses Review for "The Creek" and "The Love in Your Eyes".
21. Andrew: Have you acted in Shakespeare plays?
Randy: No.
22. Andrew: Where were you born?
Randy: Monticello, Illinois.
23. Andrew: Where did you grow up?
Randy: Monticello.
24. Andrew: What state are you living right now?
Randy: Illinois.
25. Andrew: What college course did you finish?
Randy: Banking.
26. Andrew: What is your job right now? You don't have to tell us where do you work.
Randy: I work in a purchasing dept.and keep track of inventories and production control.
27. Andrew: Did you write poems in grade school and high school?
Randy: In early grade school we wrote Christmas poems and we did some work in Haikus. Our high school did not offer poetry so I have no outlet for creative writing during that time. So I really never had the exposure to poetry during my teens.
28. Andrew: What poems or poetrybooks influenced you during your childhood days?
Randy: "The road not taken" and "Stopping by woods on a snowy evening" were two stables of my poetry (in) childhood. I guess I would say "the road not taken" since I was not as much a follower but more of a person that did my own thing while I still was able to make friends easily. So I would say I took the road less traveled and stopped along the way.
29. Andrew: Do you have a favorite childhood poem/s?
Randy: Like most children the poem "Stopping by woods on a snowy evening" by Robert Frost was a poem everyone knew and read. It was one (of) the few poems I knew at a younger age.
30. Andrew: Are you a writer by nature? Did you contribute articles to high school/college newspaper?
Randy: I would say no. I consider myself more mathematical. I was much better at mathematics than writing during my teens. In college, writing became an equal then later became more important. I never had a school newspaper in high school. And I took banking in college, with most of my classes being at night, I did not get (involve) in a college newspaper.
31. Andrew: Who chose the title "Tears rolling down the heartstring" as the title of your poetrybook? Why the title?
Randy: I chose the title. The emotion of my poetry is where I got the idea of "Tears rolling down" and "the heartstring" came from the phrase"Tugging at the heartstring".
32. Andrew: Have you transformed some of your poems into songs? If yes, did anyone sing it or was it recorded? (Some of your poems are like lyrics of a country song or a romantic song.)
Randy: No. But I wish someone would make one into a song. That would be a new step for my writing. I used to try to make them into songs myself but I really didn't know enough about the internal parts of music to make it sound the way I expected it to sound. But I would like someone like Edwin McCain use my poem in one of his songs.I like his style.
33. Andrew: What literary or poetry organizations did you join in the past and now? Are you an officer of any liteary/poetry organizations?
Randy: I had been part of poetry.com and a few other poetry sites but i never have not had much time in the last few years to do more than read the poetry. I have never thought about being an officer in a poetry organization. I am just happy with just writing for now.
34. Andrew: What is your official website?
Randy: Still in progress, but my publisher has a page for me at www.tearsrollingdownpoetry.com
End of interview.
You can read Randy's poem samples in this website by clicking the icon: Randy Redmond's poems. You can also buy Randy L. Redmond's book 'Tears rolling down the heartstring' by clicking the icon: Buy this book or visit Randy Redmond's book ads.
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