Damen O'Brien (credit Isaac O'Brien)Damen O’Brien is a multi-award-winning poet based in Brisbane. His prizes include the Peter Porter Poetry Prize, The Moth Poetry Prize, the Newcastle Poetry Prize, and the Val Vallis Award. His poems have been published in seven countries, nominated for a Pushcart, and highly commended in the Forward Prizes for Poetry. Damen’s first book of poetry is Animals With Human Voices (Recent Work Press, 2021). His new book of poetry is Walking the Boundary, available from Pitt Street Poetry.

Which poets have influenced you most?

All of the Australian and world pantheon of poets, but in particular: Kenneth Slessor, Gerard Manley Hopkins, T.S. Eliot, Les Murray, and W.B. Yeats.

Are poems chiefly inspired or crafted?

Inspired. But you can’t wait for inspiration – you’ve got to listen to the whisper of the white page and write down what it tells you.

What prompts a new poem?

Reading good poetry – reading anything good, really. Listening to the radio on the drive home from work. I have lost track of the poems that came from me thinking, ‘Oh, I didn’t know that. That can go in a poem!’

What circumstances are ideal for writing poetry?

A good night’s sleep. A nice cup of coffee. A buzzing café. Some inspiring music playing in my earbuds. I have Florence and the Machine on high rotation at the moment.

Roughly how many drafts do you produce before ‘finishing’ a poem?

One or two. ‘First thought, best thought’, supposedly. In all seriousness, one draft is not enough, but I have never been very interested in editing – it takes away precious time from writing. Like the stopped clock, I rely on being right every now and then. I have promised myself that I will try and edit my poems after each rejection. I am doing a lot of editing lately!

Which poet would you most like to talk to – and why?

When I was young, I sent Bruce Dawe long letters full of self-absorbed and naïve comments about poetry and he sent me gracious responses. As an adult, I nearly got to meet him, but he was ill then and died before I had that honour. I would have liked to speak with him as poet to poet.

Do you have a favourite Australian poetry collection?

There are many I treasure, but I return most to the Black Inc. series The Best Australian Poems. It’s no longer in production, unfortunately. I once picked up the full selection from a Lifeline sale. What was the previous owner thinking! So many hidden gems.

What do poets need most: solitude or a coterie?

Solitude, to write the poem – and a coterie, to boast to them why they should be published. And be believed.

Who are the poetry critics you most admire?

Those who are prepared to talk about what they don’t like, not just what they like. Critics who are prepared to risk the wrath of their peers by assaying honest appraisals. There are some critics in Australia who are that brave, but the industry is small.

If Plato allowed you to keep one poem or poetry collection in his Republic, what would it be?

Sharon Olds’s Stag’s Leap. Wow! It’s the best present of a book of poetry I ever received. No wonder it won her a Pulitzer.

What is your favourite line of poetry (or couplet)?

Let’s go with something ecstatic from Coleridge’s ‘Kubla Khan’. This poem is threaded in the wiring of my brain: ‘And all should cry, Beware! Beware! / His flashing eyes, his floating hair!’

How can we inspire greater regard for poetry among readers?

I don’t have the prescription, but perhaps we are asking the wrong question. I don’t read books on architecture, yet that genre has its community. I am sure no one is hand-wringing about the lack of regard for books on architecture. Poetry will find its audience, sometimes in strange ways. ABR does it right, providing a place for poetry among other genres – without apology, without a need to justify its inclusion.