Ian Chandler: Poet Interview
Here’s the next Top 25 poet from the 2013 April PAD Challenge (the November Challenge sort of knocked me off track): Ian Chandler. Ian’s poem “and your hands shook” is…
Here's the next Top 25 poet from the 2013 April PAD Challenge (the November Challenge sort of knocked me off track): Ian Chandler. Ian's poem "and your hands shook" is compact and packs a punch.
Ian is currently attending Malone University with a double major in creative writing and philosophy. He loves to read, write, play music, and perform magic. His poems have been published in A Celebration of Young Poets anthology and a short story of his was published by The Nerve. He also reviews albums for Surviving the Golden Age. Learn more at his blog: http://ianchandler.wordpress.com.
Here's his Top 25 poem:
and your hands shook, by Ian Chandler
when I gave you a diamond ring
found in the ashes
and you wept when I said, "It's all that was left"
remembering your bedroom
their bedroom
a glimpse into when they promised each other
each other.
and your hands shook like flowers.
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Where are you located?
Canton, Ohio.
Who are your favorite poets?
e.e. cummings, Billy Collins, Frank O'Hara, John Donne, and an assortment of others.
As a reader, what do you like most in poems?
I like mellifluous language, phrases that stick around in the mouth sweetly. Images play a big role for me. If a poem has a great image, I'll love it. Words that paint are the best kinds of words. Description and scene are important.
What were your goals for the 2013 April PAD Challenge?
I wanted to take my poetry to the next level and produce a good amount of raw material I could later develop. It was a lighter version of NaNoWriMo for me, a way to keep myself in a writing routine and accustom myself to that attitude.
What's next for you?
I recently started a blog and have good feelings about it. I'm starting to revise more poems and focus on some short fiction pieces. Who knows where the Imagination will direct me.
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Where will your imagination take you?
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Robert Lee Brewer is Senior Content Editor of the Writer's Digest Writing Community and a person who usually writes very short poems. However, he reached a stopping point on a seven-pager this week (woo-hoo!). He's the author of Solving the World's Problems, which contains no poems that go beyond two pages. Follow him on Twitter @robertleebrewer.
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Check out more poetic posts here:
Robert Lee Brewer is Senior Editor of Writer's Digest, which includes managing the content on WritersDigest.com and programming virtual conferences. He's the author of 40 Plot Twist Prompts for Writers: Writing Ideas for Bending Stories in New Directions, The Complete Guide of Poetic Forms: 100+ Poetic Form Definitions and Examples for Poets, Poem-a-Day: 365 Poetry Writing Prompts for a Year of Poeming, and more. Also, he's the editor of Writer's Market, Poet's Market, and Guide to Literary Agents. Follow him on Twitter @robertleebrewer.
