ob mclennan is a prolific author and tremendous supporter of the small press scene in canada. last time i blinked he produced paper hotel and probably a dozen other projects, including his work with above/ground press and his new efforts at poetics.ca. find out the latest at rob's website. [photo of rob in Ireland by Stephen Brockwell]
cancon
reading your work gives me the impression that you work mostly within the structure of a personal poetic - what are your notions surrounding writing and reading poetry?
rob mclennan
If you write of the world, you have to live in it, too. I read a lot of poetry, sure, but I also read novels, history, comic books, newspapers, Sports Illustrated, go to movies, watch television, etcetera, & all of it falls into the work, at one time or another.
As far as contemporary practice goes, I think to publish a work, you enter into a context that includes every other work, & to be unaware of what's happening around you, makes it harder to move further through it all, as opposed to merely repeating.
There's a joke I'm working through in a particular manuscript, subtitling "the news." with "or, poems loosely based on the life of rob mclennan." I think it's pretty funny, & might as well call it, right? That being said, if I deliberately go through this aesthetic in this particular manuscript, then perhaps I can go in some other direction with the next project. I don't want to be in any place for too long.
cancon
are you a full-time poet?
rob mclennan
Well, that's what it looks like, doesn't it?
I've been writing full time since early 1991, but poetry is just a part of what I do, really. I've been writing fiction for years, with a first novel done after seven years, & doing the rounds for two. I've got two more half done, & another I'm currently working on. I've been working on a memoir, two collections of essays, a collection of interviews with Canadian poets, & a book of postcard fictions (& it might be years before some of them see the light of day), but poetry is still the main focus. After seven full collections, three more are forthcoming, five more are finished, & I'm working on a number of others.
I'm actually working on three different collaborations begun over the past year - one with a photographer, another with a visual artist, & a renga with Stephen Brockwell, Dean Irvine & Shane Rhodes (who all currently live in Ottawa).
But at the same time, I've had two shows of visual art over the last few years, & have been working on a genealogical project since 1995 - researching every McLennan/MacLennan in Stormont & Glengarry Counties. Currently, I'm still in the 1800's, with at least 45 unrelated families. It's nice to have a large, obsessive project that's completely non-literary. But who knows, maybe someday I'll get a non-fiction book out of it. A problem to be seen in twenty years, perhaps.
cancon
what has all that genealogical research taught you? any great family legends or secrets coming out thus far?
rob mclennan
No huge secrets, but I've learned that where my father lives now, we got the original land grant to in 1845. From 1860 to 1941, we lived next door, but then moved back (because my grandfather wasn't the oldest). It's been pretty entertaining going through, despite hours of scouring deeds/abstracts, marriage/birth records, and the often bad handwriting in 19th century census logs.
cancon
you're a huge supporter of the small press scene in canada. how do you perceive the growth of the big box bookstore in canada?
rob mclennan
big box anything is a bad thing, appealing only to the lowest common denominator instead of working to know the work, and appeal to the range of styles, forms and interests that exist. All the weird American small press stuff I want to read, for example, I have to order direct from the publishers or authors. Chapters seems to only acknowledge the new formalism.
cancon
in the 10+ years you've been writing full-time, what kinds of changes have you seen in the small press scene?
rob mclennan
Changes? Hmmm, not really that many, I don't think. Presses rise and fall, shift in purpose, etcetera. There are always those in it for the long haul, and those who aren't. I suppose for myself, I'm finding I have less interest in those in it for a few minutes, until they realize they won't get the money or attention they thought they deserved. It gets pretty old pretty quick.
cancon
i've seen you read and you've cultivated a stage presence - what was early rob mclennan like on stage?
rob mclennan
Pretty bad, actually. I asked the writer Susan Musgrave for advice, once, at the end of a tour I did with her and others in 1998, and she suggested that the work was strong enough, and that I didn't need to make all the bad jokes between, all that shtick. Let the work speak for itself.
cancon
you've been everywhere, man. what's the most interesting place you've had the chance to read in canada? any places you haven't been to that you're itching to check out?
rob mclennan
As far as Canadian places I've read, its pretty hard to pick which is a favorite, whether through the Olive series in Edmonton, through filing station or dANDelion in Calgary, or the Ottawa International Writers Festival. I thought it was pretty funny a few years ago, being invited to read in the rare books department at McGill, housed in the McLennan Library. I tried to convince them that I was returning to take back what was rightfully mine.
I wouldn't mind getting into some more of the festivals, those are always fun, able to hear/see all sorts of folk I wouldn't be able to otherwise. I haven't read at Calgary/Banff or Vancouver yet, or Blue Metropolis in Montreal. Also, I'd love to be able to do more non-Canadian readings, to see what some other folk are up to. Hell, I'd love to get back to Ireland and read in Dingle again...
cancon
what's the strangest thing that's happened to you while onstage?
rob mclennan
The whole thing of it is strange, really, but I can't think of anything specific.
The three times my mother has heard me read, she ends up either making some strange sort of remark, or laughing at the wrong places. It's usually pretty funny, but always at my expense. Odd to see where my sense of humour comes from, since she's not really funny at home (I think it's the introduction of an "audience" that changes her).
& every time I read in Edmonton, I end up saying something that makes Andy Weaver shoot me that embarrassed & pleading "shut up & read" look.
cancon
there's a new rob mclennan publication every six minutes, it seems -
ever had writer's block?
rob mclennan
Not really writers block, since I'm working on almost six million things at once, whether poetry, fiction, essays, interviews, reviewing. If I get stuck in one, I just move over to another. There are plenty of ways to get the mind going. The last few months, I've been fiddling mostly on a novel, which is slow going (they're hard). I'm using it partly for the sake of trying something different, & to slow down the poetry manuscripts. I write, I'm a writer, so "stopping" I don't really see as an option. I really wouldn't have anything else to do. Also, I've been sending more poetry submissions to non-Canadian places, to see what the options are. To engage, so to speak, with a new range of options.
cancon
what got you writing in the first place?
rob mclennan
I've always been involved with making things - scrapbooks in grade one, odd little books, puppets, taking photographs, fake newspapers, that sort of thing. When I was around ten years old, everyone thought I'd be a visual artist, because I drew all the time. I took thirteen years of piano lessons, until I moved away (getting another piano remains a goal). As far as specifically writing, it was a girl in grade two that got me writing my first official piece, a bad poem slipped into her desk. Someone else tried to take credit for it, but it didn't work. Neither did the poem, for what I wanted. I remember that everyone was impressed that I knew how to use the word "shimmering" properly. I remember, how my mother knew about the poem before I got home.
cancon
i recall reading a frightening stat a while ago about how much the average canadian writer is able to make. what are your thoughts on the funding structures and other financial opportunities currently out there for canadian writers?
rob mclennan
Well, I figure there either has to be enough funding in place, or enough sales to keep a writer alive. These days, there seems to be neither. I'd much rather be selling books than worrying about the random lottery of the grant system. But I still worry. I can't afford not to.
cancon
what's one question you've always wanted to be asked?
rob mclennan
My lord, I have no idea.
How about, "How does a beautiful, funny, ruthlessly clever, &, dare I say it, charming man such as yourself remain single?"
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