Poetic Reflection Week 19: Steven Federle

Tell us about yourself.

I am a teacher. I teach English and Literature to kids in grades 6-8 at a Catholic K-8 in Vallejo, CA, as well as college composition and critical thinking (literature) at Solano College in Farifield, CA. This means that I am constantly engaged by helping students of all ages to find their own, unique voices in written and verbal expression.

Tell me about your blog, the name, what does it mean to you?

The name is simple... just poems...that's all I write. It is important to me because I want to make my work available to as many readers as possible. It is also a place for me to college the poems (better than stakes of paper to gather dust).

My blog link:

http://stevenfederle.blogspot.com/

When did you start blogging?

I started in 2010.

Your first poem? Remember?

That was a very long time ago. I wrote love poetry to my high school sweet-heart (we've been married now 38 years, so I guess it was effective). I wrote more political poetry in college (in the 70s) and, as I recall, imitated Yeats shamelessly.

What are your writing inspirations?

Nature, my everyday life (the people I love), my sense that God is all around me constantly... sometimes I start out to write on one topic and then the words take over and I wonder, at the end, where the poem came from. I write about baseball, cats, rain, wind, trees, fog... political outrages, Jesus... this list is not comprehensive.

How do you define poetry as “Good”? Do you revise your work?

I revise it constantly.. it usually starts out with three or four times the final word count.. I believe in concise writing (though you wouldn't know it by this rambling "interview").

When did you start writing poetry? Do you write fiction as well?

As I mentioned before, I began writing in high school (1960s)... no, no fiction.

Do you have a favorite author or poet? Favorite quote?

Very, very many favorites...John Steinbeck, Thomas Merton, Billy Collins, Edna St.Vincent Milay (I wish I could have met her!)

" The beginning of love is to let those we love be perfectly themselves, and not to twist them to fit our own image. Otherwise we love only the reflection of ourselves we find in them."
Thomas Merton

Why do you support Jingle Poetry Community, including Jingle Poetry @ The Gooseberry Garden?

Because this site is filled with people who just love to read and write poetry... who could ask for anything more?

What's your plan for your future writing?

I'll just write and post poem until, eventually, the metaphor becomes the reality and I will see God clearly, face-to-face (not in a hurry for that, though).