Poet, lawyer, and social activist James R. Whitley was born in Mount Verson, New York and holds degrees from Cornell University, Boston University, and Harvard University. His poetry has appeared in journals including Coal City Review, Icon, Peregrine, Poetry Forum, and Xavier Review. His first poetry book, Immersion (Lotus Press, 2002), was selected by Lucille Clifton as the winner of the Naomi Long Madgett Poetry Award. He is also the author of the chapbook Pietà (Pudding House Publications, 2001), which was selected as a finalist in both the Summer 2000 National Looking Glass Poetry Chapbook Competition and the Maryland State Poetry & Literary Society’s 2000 Chapbook Contest. His most recent chapbook, The Golden Web, was released last month by Wind River Press.

TPR: Who are your biggest influences?
WHITLEY: Some of the biggest influences on my writing include Robert Hayden (terribly overlooked, but absolutely wonderful poetry), Hopkins, Poe, Borges, Rita Dove, Sharon Olds, Louise Glück, etc.

TPR: What drove you to writing?
WHITLEY: I think I was initially drawn to writing after experiencing the erudite humanitarian work of Robert Hayden and the literary exploration of Emily Dickinson while studying in high school. Later, I remember being particularly drawn to the power of more confessional works of Sylvia Plath and Sharon Olds while in college. During my college years, I found writing to be such a cathartic experience that I began seriously reading, studying and practicing the art.

TPR: What person in your academic career was most important in the development of your prose?
WHITLEY: I think my ninth grade teacher, the late great Mark T. Rifkin, with his sincere love of literature was most important. I can still see him half-swooning while reading the beautiful work of T.S. Eliot and Sara Teasdale!

TPR: If you could change one thing about your past in writing, what would it be?
WHITLEY: I don’t think I would change anything. Since I feel that I’m learning as I go along, I think every step I’ve taken thus far has been a necessary one. Sure it would have been nice to have been successful and recognized right from the start, but I think there is an excitement, an importance one feels when really struggling to improve one’s art—especially when you feel you are making progress, moving toward something better than where you were previously. While there are definitely earlier poems in my body of work that I now regard as naïve and rather rough, when I wrote them I was doing what felt right at that time. Every stage in one’s development matters, is necessary and irreplaceable. To change any step I’ve made would have taken me down a different path and I happen to appreciate the path I’m on now.

TPR: What was the thing which pushed you into submitting your work for the first time?
WHITLEY: About a dozen years ago, I showed a very good friend of mine a large mess of poems I had written and been storing in a closet. When I told her few people had seen my growing collection before her, she bluntly asked why I wrote poetry. I responded because I like the way poetry allows me to communicate messages, stories, images, etc. I feel are important and want to share. She just looked at me and asked “Whom can your poems ever communicate with if they’re always in the bottom of a dark closet?” Within a few weeks, I began submitting my work for publication and haven’t stopped since.

TPR: How do you handle rejection?
WHITLEY: You get used to it. The first few rejection slips were devastating. As many probably do, I took them so personally—I must have been rejected because my work is just bad in some absolute sense. After a while I realized, as I hope most writers do, that you gotta keep writing and trying to get your work out there. Be a tough critic when reading your own work, know what you are trying to say with your work, revise as you see fit to better say it, and don’t banish your hard work to the bottom of some dark closet just because of a rejection slip. Keep working on your art and sending it out into the larger world of readers and I truly believe that, eventually, it will find someone who appreciates what you are saying and how you are saying it.

TPR: What has been your proudest moment in publishing?
WHITLEY: I’ve had several proud moments. One was when I sent out my first poetry manuscript (Immersion) for the first time and it won the Naomi Long Madgett Poetry Award, selected by Lucille Clifton that year. Yet another was when I performed at an early poetry reading and dozens of people from the audience rushed to buy my book and get my autograph after hearing my work. Still another was when I arrived to give a reading at an event in Detroit last year and having several attendees approach me to tell me how much they’ve enjoyed my work and why certain of my poems had touched them so.

TPR: What do you do when you can’t write another word?
WHITLEY: I stop writing. And I don’t worry that more ideas won’t come later on, because they will. I know of writers who force themselves to write even when nothing seems to be “inspiring” them. In these times of hectic schedules, long work days and looming deadlines, I understand the pressure to write “something” and not always wait for the light bulb to go off first. That never worked for me. If I write in the absence of inspiration, I can almost feel the lack of passion, meaning and excitement in the work. First and foremost, I treat my poetry as an art, not a business. So when I really can’t write another word, I simply stop and work on more technical editing matters or just wait until that necessary fire returns. As a savvy instructor used to say to me “Sometimes the magic is strong.” And sometimes it’s not.

TPR: How did your style evolve?
WHITLEY: My style is still evolving. While there are elements ofmy work that I feel are beginning to distinguish my “voice” from that of other writers, I am constantly exploring and experimenting when I create new work.

TPR: How do you get and record ideas?
WHITLEY: Any way I can. My creative triggers are many and somewhat unpredictable, which makes the process of creating new work exciting for me. I have worked on and from computer files, paper files, post-it notes, notes in book margins, scribblings on napkins, etc. When an idea hits, I try to jot the essence of it down immediately so as not to lose it. Of course, many gold nuggets are lost, but one does the best one can to hold on to the promising images, phrases, titles, and other ideas.

TPR: On what are you currently working?
WHITLEY: Right now, I have at least five or six works in some stage of progress. I am writing new poems and can already see the forms of two future collections taking shape as I proceed. Also, I am working on a novel, a musical and a nutrition book. And, believe it or not, I am equally excited about all of the projects.

TPR: Where do you see yourself in ten years?  Twenty?
WHITLEY: In ten years, I see myself still writing regularly and further developing my voice, perhaps with a bit more recognition for my efforts. In twenty years, I imagine there will be even more completed and published work, a bit less hair perhaps.

TPR: What is the worst writing advice you have ever heard?  The best?  Why?
WHITLEY: I’m not sure about the worst, but I have been given some bad writing advice. For example, on editor told me I should accept her changes to a manuscript, which I didn’t agree with. When I suggested we discuss our thoughts about the potential changes, she insisted there was no need to discuss anything. I think it’s harmful to the development of one’s voice to follow without question the advice of another writer, especially another writer who feels he has the “right” answer, but refuses to hear your ideas or challenges. Never be afraid to share suggestions and constructive criticism, but don’t let someone change your message if you are committed to delivering it, or alter your unique voice. Another bit of advice that’s bad, for me at least, is “constantly revise your work.” I feel there is a point where I’ve reworked and massaged the work at that time to do what I want it to do and I feel comfortable sending it out into the world. If it’s not ready, I don’t send it out. Once it’s out and particularly if it’s accepted for publication, I think it would be patently false of me to radically change what I’ve put out as ready to be experienced. I know of authors that publish collections of their work decades after it was originally published who make significant changes to the work. To me, this is like altering an old photograph, which is lovely and cherished not because the image is necessarily perfect, but because it captures the image, the idea at a given point in time. The idea is tantamount to “fixing” the nude body of a Titian painting to conform to some modern day perception of what a woman’s body should look like by painting over parts of the original. Bad, very bad. Perhaps the best writing advice I’ve been given is to embrace energy and movement. It was a bit confusing, perhaps vague, but I appreciate it. I try to make that advice mean something as I move forward with my work.

TPR: What do you say to young authors just starting their careers?
WHITLEY: I think I’ve thrown out a few bits of food for thought already, but I can add don’t rush to publication. The goal should be to produce good work, which will get published, not to get published. If your goal is simply to get published, I dare say the art of writing is not your focus. Read and study much more than you write initially. There may come a time when that is not necessary, but it is important to understand the history and context and options of literature before charging headlong into darkness. Also, think of your work as “adding” something vital, something necessary to the world of letters. How is your voice different from the many others out there? Why should readers take time to experience your work rather than someone else’s? What is unique and irreplaceable about what your work is offering?

TPR: What have been your best/worst experiences in publishing?
WHITLEY: There have been many of both. There is no feeling quite like knowing your work has connected so strongly that a reader is actively seeking out more of it. Among my worst experiences are the times I’ve worked with inflexible editors.

TPR: Of what would you like to see more in the literary world?  Less?
WHITLEY: I would love to see more innovation, more risk. While I understand that the business of publishing constrains editors and publishers, the artists themselves should set out to create with a sense of a freedom from the constraints of the business. I read too much “safe” work. Too much that is predictable and seems to be mimicking what the writer read of some previously successful writer’s work.

TPR: What is the best training for authors and poets?
WHITLEY: Careful avid reading of others’ work, and sharing work and feedback with others. This can be done through formal schooling or outside of that arena. Be aware that there are advantages and disadvantages to both.

TPR: What do you think of e-publishing?  Where is it headed?  What can be changed and improved?
WHITLEY: With the internet already so popular and becoming increasingly so everyday, e-publishing will become more and more popular. The past few years have seen the prestige of electronic literary journals increase dramatically and the most lauded artists publishing work electronically. It seems this trend can only continue. Those involved in e-publishing must focus attention on quality over quantity to overcome lingering biases the culture may have for hard copy printed media. The recognition and legitimacy of e-publishing as a viable alternative to more traditional modes will necessarily grow.

TPR: Where can readers obtain your books?
WHITLEY: My latest chapbook The Golden Web (Wind River Press) is available at http://whitley.windriverpress.com. My book Immersion (Lotus Press, 2002) can be purchased via amazon.com. My first chapbook Pieta (Pudding House Publications, 2001) is available from that publisher’s website.