Reader Meet Author: William Taylor Jr.

"Where you find meaning is your own business as long as it keeps you alive another day."

The act of finding is almost always more fulfilling than when you have actually found something. What William Taylor Jr has managed to capture in his first full-length collection in two years are the small struggles and joys along the daily search. The power in Taylor's work has long been his ability to cut clear the tiny pearl shining in the darkness, and in The Hunger Season he continues to see balance and in both simple and complex situations.

Coming later this month (Aug 20th) from Sunnyoutside, once I read Taylor's collection I knew it was time to contact him.

Orange Alert (OA): Your new collection, The Hunger Season. comes out later this month. What can you tell us about the collection?
William Taylor Jr (WTJ): The Hunger Season is my first full length collection of new poetry since Centennial Press published Words For Songs Never Written in 2007. It's been a few years in the making, and I'm pretty excited about it.

OA: This is actually your third time working with David and Sunnyoutside, what has your experience been like with him, and what is that relationship like?
WTJ: I truly enjoy making books with David. He is certainly the most professional editor I've worked with in the small/independent press. He puts a great deal of thought, work and art into everything he produces, and really does a lot to help shape the books we've made together.

OA: Inside The Hunger Season you seem to be searching for or hungry for something. It is almost like you are confident in your convictions but still searching for approval. What is it you are hungry for?
WTJ: I suppose a lot of the poems in this collection are about searching and striving for those moments when you can form some kind of temporary peace with life. When all the darkness and light, joy and suffering come together in a balance, and it all makes sense, just for a little bit. It sounds rather Zen, and I suppose it is.

OA: When building a collection like The Hunger Season how do you pick the pieces to include in the collection?
WTJ: Working on The Hunger Season was a continuous process of a few years. I wrote poems, and whenever I produced a decent sized batch that I was happy with, I’d send them to David and he would either accept them for the book or send them back to me with some editorial suggestions, or if he felt like they just didn’t feel right for the collection. We’d just go back and forth with batches of poems, hammering them into shape until we had the book we wanted.

OA: You have been nominated for Pushcart Prize in the past, what is the goal or defining moment or reward for living the life of a poet? Is there something you are looking to accomplish or is it more the spreading of thought itself?
WTJ: Having quality editors and publishers willing to make books with me is something I'm continuously grateful for, and knowing there are people out there that connect with my work enough to read and buy it. It’s always a special feeling to walk into City Lights bookstore every other week or so to find that the last batch of books I left with them has sold, and then buying a bottle of wine and maybe some dinner with money I made from my silly little books of poetry. I certainly can’t ask for much more than that.

OA: What's next for William Taylor Jr.?
WTJ: I’m going to do some readings to help sell some copies of the new book and then start working on the next one. I just edited a book of poetry with RD Armstrong of Lummox Press that will be released soon, and I’ve got a project in the works with Zygote In My Coffee.

Bonus Questions:
OA: If you could sit down to coffee with anyone (alive or dead) who would it be?
WTJ: Maybe coffee with David Lynch and an afternoon of martinis with Anne Sexton.

OA: What type of music do you enjoy and who are a few of your favorites?
WTJ: Growing up in the 80’s I loved a lot of the post punk stuff from the UK: Joy Division, The Chameleons, Echo and the Bunnymen, The Jam, etc. The Smiths being my favorite. And from the U.S. it was The Replacements, Husker Du and Dinosaur Jr. A lot of stuff on the SST label. These days I still listen to all of that and a fair amount of singer/songwriter type stuff: Elliott Smith, Mark Eitzel and Townes Van Zandt, among others. These days when I write I tend to listen to jazz. John Coltrane and Charlie Parker, mostly.

For more information on William Taylor Jr. please check out his collection The Hunger Season.