I sent Erik Satie Watusies His Way Into Sound as
a chapbook—it morphed into what I call a “little book” after it was accepted
for publication at Ravenna—for
probably about 5 or 6 months to a multitude of different publishers. Actually I
take that back—as a little book I also sent it to open reading periods at Black Ocean and SpringGun Press, and it was a finalist at SpringGun.
Tell me about the title.
Had it always been Erik Satie Watusies
His Way Into Sound? Did it go through any other changes?
It was always Erik Satie Watusies His Way Into Sound.
Initially all of the poems in the book were also entitled “Erik Satie Watusies
His Way Into Sound” but as I put
together different iterations of the manuscript that changed rather
quickly.
It seems like there’s a
possible misconception among some poets who are trying to get their first book
published: that they must win a contest. Were you concerned about winning a
contest at any point? What advice would you give to poets sending their book
out now regarding contests versus open reading periods?
I’d try both, for sure.
Contests can be tough, but if you have a manuscript that you think is solid I
think you owe it to yourself to save up some $ and send to contests/presses
that you think might be interested. Who the judges are matters, of course, as
does a knowledge of the work the press has previously published. A well-written
query letter can also go a long way. But I think it really depends on what you
want to do with your life—if you want to teach at a university I think winning
a book prize contest can potentially be a big deal. But if you just want people
to read your stuff I’m not sure that’s always the case—there’s so many contests
out there that it’s difficult sometimes to differentiate them/ keep them
straight. But I think it’s always good to support presses you like via submitting
to their book prize contest(s), without question.
What was the process like
assembling the book? How many different versions did it go through as you were
sending it out?
It went through 3 or 4
different versions. I mean, Erik Satie
Watusies His Way Into Sound is loosely based around the life/work of the
weird avant-garde French composer Erik Satie, whose music/life I became
obsessed with a few years back. I was initially kind of scared of
writing/working on an entire manuscript devoted to one person, especially
because, although Satie is a well-known musician, he’s not Beethoven or Bach or
someone on a scale like that. People often don’t know who he is. But I kind of
(I hope) got around that in the manuscript via making Satie more of a
character in some of the poems rather than a strictly historical figure. All
the quotes I used of his in the book are entirely accurate—but I played around
with his persona sometimes. In Erik Satie Watusies His Way Into Sound Erik
Satie is not always just Erik Satie, to be obtuse about it.
How involved were you
with the design of the book—interior design, font, cover, etc.?
I was pretty much given
free rein by Kathryn Rantala, Ravenna’s chief
editor. My sister’s a graphic designer and she came up with the front/back
covers/ overall outer design concept and every interior decision—font, layout,
etc.—I had input on and the final decision over.
Musical notation also
makes its presence known in the book. Why did you decide to include this, and
what do you hope readers take from this accompaniment?
I thought it was fitting.
The “sheet music” poems in the manuscript—there are six of them—were inspired
by and composed while listening to the actual piece of music that the poems are
superimposed on. So I wanted to highlight the fact that while I was writing
certain poems in the manuscript I was also listening to certain Satie pieces of
music—namely all six of his haunting Gnossienne
compositions.
Did you suggest or have
any input regarding the image that was used on the cover?
Yes. The cover is an
image of the discombobulated head of Erik Satie with an open umbrella hovering
above it. After Satie’s death dozens and dozens of umbrellas, unopened, still
encased in their wrapping, were found in Satie’s apartment. During his lifetime
Satie was infamous for walking in the rain without an umbrella, writing songs
in his head whilst getting absolutely drenched. The fact that after his death
so many perfectly good and unused umbrellas were found in his apartment is telling
and I thought having an open umbrella above Satie’s head on the cover was
funny/ironic/somewhat morbid in the same way Satie as a person and musician was
funny/ironic/somewhat morbid.
What about the
publication of the actual poems in journals and magazines prior to the book
being published? Was there ever a concern for you to have the majority of the
poems published before you were sending out your manuscript?
No, not really. I think a
little less than half of the poems were first published in journals that I
really like and respect— Denver Quarterly, Free Verse, Hotel Amerika,
Western Humanities Review, Peaches and Bats, and Laurel Review, to name just a few. I’m not sure if a lot of the
poems—or all of the poems—are published in your manuscript it necessarily makes
it a “manuscript.” Journal publications or not, I think it’s really a matter of
putting together something that’s cohesive as a collection—and that can be
tough to do; as someone who often writes disparate, non-project-oriented poems,
I’m certainly no master at it.
How much work did you do
as far as editing the poems from the day you knew the book would be published
to its final proofing stage?
A lot changed. I
essentially expanded the book from a chapbook to a mini full-length/ “little
book” and I thus added a lot of poems and cut a few too. I reordered things, I
added new opening and ending poems, etc. The initial version of Erik Satie Watusies His Way Into Sound that
was accepted at Ravenna bears little
to no resemblance to the version that’s out in the world today.
What do you remember
about the day when you saw your published book for the first time?
I was psyched. I thought
it looked great. I took my dog Beckett Long Snout on a walk and I took myself
out to dinner.
How has your life been
different since your book came out?
I mean, not much has
changed really. I sent out review copies to a lot of different authors/magazines/presses,
and was lucky enough to get some good reviews (by Gina Myers at NewPages,
Weston Cutter at Corduroy
Books and Joshua Ware at HTML
Giant). A couple of journals solicited my work and made mention of the
book. I did some readings some places. But at the end of the day things are 98%
still the same. Which is a good thing.
If you struck up a
conversation next to someone seated on an airplane, and after a few minutes you
eventually told them that you were an author who had a book of poetry published,
how would you answer their next question: “What’s the book about?”
I would say it’s a
collection of poetry loosely based on/around the 19th and 20th
century French avant-garde composer Erik Satie. I would say that Satie was one
of John Cage’s favorite composers, that he invented “furniture music” (nowadays
known as ambient music), and that he was also known for his composition
“Vexations” that, complete with its 840 repetitions, can take up to 18+ hours
to play. That it’s loosely based on/around the life and work of a guy that
claimed to only eat foods that were colored white and refused to wash his hands
with soap and only slept with one woman his entire life. That you don’t need to
know anything about Erik Satie’s life or music to enjoy or “get” the book.
What have you been doing
to promote Erik Satie Watusies His Way
Into Sound, and what have those experiences been like for you?
I’ve given a decent
amount of readings—in Georgia, in Utah, in Nevada, in Omaha—and they were, on
the whole, great. I hope to give a few more in the future. And as mentioned
above, I sent out the book a lot and that yielded response as well.
What advice do you wish
someone had given you before your first book came out?
To quote the immortal
Yogi Berra, “A nickel ain’t worth a dime anymore.” Meaning publishing a book is
important but it’s the writing that’s more important and always should be.
What influence has the
book’s publication had on your subsequent writing? Are there any new projects
in the works?
Although it came out less
than a year ago, in November 2011—it’s still new to a certain extent— I write a
lot and moved on pretty quickly. In April I started sending out another
manuscript, one that’s a lot less “project-oriented” as compared to Erik Satie Watusies His Way Into Sound.
We’ll see what happens with that. Fingers crossed.
Do you believe that
poetry can create change in the world?
Poetry is made of
language and, on a second-by-second, minute-by-minute, hour-by-hour, day-by-day
basis, language definitely creates change in the world. So yes.
******************************************************************************************
Jeff Alessandrelli is the author of
the little book Erik Satie Watusies His Way Into Sound (Ravenna Press,
2011) and the chapbook Don’t Let Me Forget To Feed the Sharks (Poor
Claudia, 2012). He currently lives in Lincoln, NE, where he co-curates TheClean Part Reading Series. Recent work by him appears or will appear in Gulf
Coast, Salt Hill, Redivider
and Boston Review.
******************************************************************************************
