I caught up with Michael Minassian about his latest poetry collection, "1,000 Pieces of Time." From his website:
Michael Minassian a graduate of Dumont High School, Fairleigh Dickinson University (BA), and California State University at Dominguez Hills (MA) was born in New York and has lived in New Jersey, California, Florida, North Carolina and Texas. A professor of English for 30 years at Broward College in South Florida, he also taught in Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Jamaica, England, and served as a consultant in Spain and Ecuador.
What was the spark that led you to become a poet?
There were two things, really, that sparked my interest in poetry. The first was my sophomore High School English class. The teacher, Mr. Meade, assigned the class to write a rhyming poem. He gave me an A and had me read the poem in front of the entire class. Throughout the term, he encouraged me to write more poetry. The second spark occured in the senior year of HS when we took a class trip to Stratford, CT to see Hamlet. It was my first time seeing a live performance of Shakespeare, and I was struck by the musicality of his language.
You bring a wide range of historical and mythological figures in your poetry. I like your poem "Christopher Marlowe Buys Me a Drink." Marlowe would be a good drinker partner as he was a rogue , and a raconteur. How did you come up with this conceit?
What better place to meet Marlowe than in a tavern or a bar? Marlowe is a fascinating character. Two months older than Shakespeare, he was an influence on Elizabethan theatre, including Shakespeare, and is credited with refining the use of blank verse. Suspected of being a spy for Queen Elizabeth, accused and arrested for heresy (for being an atheist), Marlow was allegedly killed in a brawl over a bill in a tavern in Deptford on the South Bank of the Thames. Here is the poem:
CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE BUYS ME A DRINK
At first, I don’t recognize
the person sitting
on the next bar stool.
His hat pulled down low
over his forehead,
I hear him order an ale
in a clipped British accent,
& realize his clothing
has a distinct
16th century look.
Christopher Marlowe? I ask.
Call me Kit, he replies,
fingering his wispy moustache,
and winking at me
with his one good eye.
We talk for a while
about theatre, exotic birds,
and the British monarchy,
but he makes no mention
of Ben Jonson or Shakespeare.
When I get up to leave,
he offers to buy me a drink.
These vagabond seasons
are out of balance,
he complains,
and somehow, I know
just what he means,
our hearts full,
dense as time.
© 2024 Michael Minassian
In " Darwin's Beard" you bring facial hair to the high holy. The white beard grows with the breadth of the great man's experience The beard becomes a metaphor for the life of a man. What is your take on this?
Darwin's influence on science and evolution is huge, and his beard grows along with reputation. Since God is often depicted with a white beard (think Michelangelo's "Creation of Adam") and because of the way the theory of evolution is often pitted against creationism, I felt the beard was the best metaphor to talk about Darwin's life. Since he lived and worked in the 19th Century, the pressures on him (and his family) must have been enormous, especially from the Church of England.
You seem to have a lot of fun with your poetry. Billy Collins thought, when he was starting out, that all poets had to be miserable. Do you think that is a popular misconception?
Yes, the idea that poets (and other writers) have to be miserable is a popular misconception. The stereotype of the depressed and derelict artist persists in popular culture. Poe is often used as an example of the poet with a dark cloud over his head. It's true that he abused alcohol but stories of his drug use are greatly exaggerated.
It is true that many poets have died by suicide (Berryman, Sexton, Plath, Hemingway, Woolf, for example) so perhaps that's where some of this misconception comes from, but they are in the minority.
I like to include humor in my poems. I think Collins, Charles Simic, and many other poets do the same. And I think it is great fun to take historical, mythical, or literary characters from the past and drop them into the 21st Century to see how they react and how others react to them.
Why should we read this book?
Using plain and direct language, 1000 Pieces of Time explores time's myriad possibilities as a vast array of characters come to terms with the past and the future. The poems are entertaining and designed to make the reader think about time itself. What is time? Does the past matter? How can we write our own personal narratives? Many of the poems have appeared online and in print in, among other publications, Baltimore Review, Comstock Review, Glimpse, Slant, the Somerville Times, Third Wednesday, and Verse-Virtual. My hope is that anyone can read these poems and come away richer for the experience.
