By Yong Shu Hoong

According to Australian poet Michael Farrell, his poem Beautiful Mother "betrays several hauntings: not least a scene from television… of Kimba the white lion swimming back to the jungle, a vision of his mother in the sky encouraging him."

Born in Bombala, New South Wales, in 1965, he is the author of several poetry books, including ode ode (2002), a raiders guide (2008) and open sesame (2012). He also edited Out of the Box: Contemporary Australian Gay and Lesbian Poets (2009). Presently living in Melbourne, he recently submitted his PhD thesis on the beginnings of Australian literature.

1) What are you reading right now?
I am always reading a lot of things at once. Yesterday, I read some of Miles Franklin's My Brilliant Career; Livio Dobrez's Parnassus Mad Ward: Michael Dransfield and the New Australian Poetry; Ken Bolton's Sly Mongooose; Laurie Duggan's The Pursuit of Happiness; Ned Rorem's Settling the Score; Franz Kafka's short story, 'The Stoker'; Pete Spence's Perrier Fever; a couple of stories by Lydia Davis; Niyi Osundare's Selected Poems; Nigel Smith's Andrew Marvell: The Chameleon; Heather Love's Feeling Backward: Loss and the Politics of Queer History. Tomorrow's list would be different.

2) If you were a famous literary character in a novel, play or poem, what would you be and why?
Two of my favourite characters are Edmund in King Lear, and Gertrude Stein's Ida. But I don't envy either of their lives. There's something appealing about being Norman Lindsay's The Magic Pudding, but he is always being kidnapped and in a bad mood. Dominic Langton in A Difficult Young Man? I think it comes down to a choice between Elizabeth Bennet in Pride and Prejudice or E.M. Forster's Maurice – who both find love at the end.

3) What is the greatest misconception about you?
That I'm not Asian.

4) Name (1) one living author and (2) one dead author you most identify with, and tell us why.
1) For living author, I will say Nicanor Parra for still being alive. 2) Gertrude Stein, for persistence, individuality and humour.

5) Do you believe in writer's block? If so, how do you overcome it?
No.

6) What qualities do you most admire in a writer?
An ability to unnoticeably pull the rug out.

7) What is one trait you most deplore in writing or writers?
There are many others, such as a knowing or reductive tone… but I will say: management of narrative at the expense of style.

8) Can you recite your favourite line from a literary work or a piece of advice from a writer?
"Before the flowers of friendship faded friendship faded" / "Remarks aren't literature" – Gertrude Stein

9) Complete this sentence: Few people know this, but I…
Don't give away secrets that easily.

10) Over easy, or hard boiled, which?
Over easy.

11) What is your favourite word, and what is your least favourite one?
I like non-phonetic words like "leopard" or "enough", French words, Scots words. I dislike economic and military metaphors: such as "grow" used in terms of will, rather than organically. Not your business will grow, but we will grow your business.

12) What's one thing that you'd change about the Australian poetry scene?
A greater connection with the non-literary arts.

13) What object is indispensable to you when you write?
Dictionary.

14) What is the best time of the day for writing?
Early morning.

15) If you have a last supper, which three literary figures, real or fictional, would you invite to the soiree?
Emily Bronte, Oscar Wilde and Velimir Khlebnikov.

16) Using poetry, what's the most surprising thing you've managed to achieve?
International friends.

17) What would you write on your own tombstone?
"God Stand Up For Bastards" (Edmund, King Lear)

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