master the middle ground

rob mclennan: How did you come to poetry first, as opposed to, say, fiction or non-fiction?

George Stanley: In third year high school (grade 11) my English teacher required all his students to write poems. At the end of the term he took three of us aside — me, my friend Manuel, and a boy named John. He told the three of us that we had talent as poets. (Actually only two of us had talent; Manuel was writing John’s poems for money.)

More than once I have tried fiction but could not master the middle ground, middle distance. For me everything was either cosmic or closeup.

- George Stanley, in interview with rob mclennan, as part of rob's 12 or 20 (or 21 or 19 or 45 or...) questions series, this time hosted at Dooney's Cafe. You can read the whole interview here.