#012: Anthony Anaxagorou — Push Past Self-Doubt and Think Like a Poet

Jun 11, 2022

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How does a poet see the world? How can we move past self doubt and keep writing after rejection? In this episode we talk to Anthony Anaxagorou about how his journaling practice helps him generate ideas for his work, what his editing process looks like, and why he might spend eight or nine hours working on a single poem. Anthony is candid about his experience of failure and rejection, shares why we should be wary of the temptations of ‘prize culture’ (always seeking validation through the next prize), and why it’s crucial to develop our own internal value system to sustain ourselves and our writing. He even reads us some of his poetry!

ABOUT ANTHONY ANAXAGOROU

Anthony Anaxagorou is a British-born Cypriot poet, fiction writer, essayist, publisher and poetry educator. His second collection After the Formalities was shortlisted for the 2019 T.S Eliot Prize. He was awarded the 2019 H-100 Award for writing and publishing, and the 2015 Groucho Maverick Award for his poetry and fiction. He’s the founder of one of London's leading poetry nights, Out-Spoken, and the independent publisher Out-Spoken Press.

SHOW NOTES

[03:22] The experience of writing a book during the pandemic

[04:41] Anthony talks about his uncle and how he influenced him as a writer

[08:07] On failures and why it's important to ask yourself searching questions and see rejection as part of your job

[11:48] What is prize culture and why does Anthony think it's dangerous?

[14:06] Measuring success and creating your own value system

[15:04] Anthony reads his poem, "Uber"

[18:31] On being dissatisfied with his own work

[21:53] On why he carrys a notebook with him all the time, and a writing habit he got from Lydia Davis

[22:34] Anthony’s morning writing exercise

[24:15] Anthony talks about his writing process, including 7-8 hours of focusing on one poem

[27:43] How do you stop feeling intimidated by the academic side of poetry?

[31:32] Anthony reflects on what "pushing your writing as far as it can go" means to him

[34:32] Anthony shares the exercises he gives to his students to help them in writing a poem

[36:38] What is the loaf of bread analogy, and why is playing with timelines when you write essential?

[37:40] Resolving the poem and the idea of leaving the reader with questions

[39:15] How do you know when a poem is done?

[43:33] On being in conversation with the reader and why the writer is only half the conversation

[46:13] Anthony shares how he started his London-based Out-Spoken open mic nights

[49:44] Anthony reads his poem, "After the Formalities"

QUOTES BY ANTHONY:

“The more you read, the more you get a sense for how poems work. And it's literally just from reading and you get a sense of where things end and where is an interesting place to end. If you think along the lines of—if you think the word interesting as opposed to kind of definitive. Then it kind of—it swaps. I just want to be interesting on the page. I don't want to be correct. I don't want to be certain. I want to be interesting.”

RESOURCES:

Connect with Anthony:

Twitter: @Anthony1983

Facebook: anthonyanax

Website: anthonyanaxagorou.com

Links from the show:

After the Formalities by Anthony Anaxagorou

How To Write It by Anthony Anaxagorou

Suppose a Sentence by Brian Dillon

Uber by Anthony Anaxagorou

After the Formalities by Anthony Anaxagorou

Authors/Poets mentioned: