John Barton

“Writing can sometimes be exploitative. I like to take a few steps of remove in order to respect the privacy of the subject. If readers make the link, they have engaged with the poem.”

“I have always been very obsessed with time. Time's passage makes us all very vulnerable and because we all experience it in our own way, it can make us feel very alone.”

“Sometimes poetry is inspired by the conversation entered into by reading other poems.”

“The experiment of the poem is mostly intuitive. I write the first draft, pulling in the various elements that interest me, in the hope that their being combined will lead to some kind of insight.”

“My obsession with time informs my poetry so completely it is hard for me to summarize it. We want time to pass, for new things to happen to us, we want to hold on to certain moments, we don't want our lives to end.”

“If poetry alters the way in which the reader views the world, then it has had its desired effect.”

“Poets have to be sensitive to their audience, but it does not mean that they censor themselves. I realise my audience is diverse. Some will read with empathy and curiosity while others will take offense.”

“Most victims of my autobiographical verse are either far too polite, remarkably understanding unaware that I have written poems about them.”

“The poet must decide not to impose his feelings in order to write without sentimentality.”

“You can never step into the same book twice, because you are different each time you read it.”

“I feel very connected to poets across the country.”

“The community of poets I belong to is not as close as it used to be, if only for the fact that our lives have become busier: jobs, children, and the like.”