A.F. Moritz
in which I interview perhaps the most under-appreciated "famous poet" of the English-speaking world ...
A.F. Moritz, known to students, friends and colleagues simply as “Al”, and more formally as Albert, may be the most under-appreciated yet widely-garlanded poet currently writing in English.
Born in Chicago but long since resident in Toronto, Canada, Moritz has published more than 20 collections of poetry, translation and literary criticism. His work has received many awards, not least the Griffin Prize for Excellence in Poetry, also awarded to Derek Walcott, Seamus Heaney, and Anne Carson - among other international luminaries. I was fortunate to interview him for Ars Notoria Magazine recently, and cannot recall the last time I spoke to someone so utterly consumed by passion for his art.
I especially recommend this interview to everyone for Al’s comments on modern culture’s growing fatigue with the metaphors of science and technology, and our hunger for a more spiritual perspective on the world. As Al puts it, “human beings can relativise and subordinate the scientific and technological, and reestablish contact in the here and now with other forms of thinking, and other forms of experience…which are the thinking and the experiences that are in fact the most important, the foundational.”
You can read the full interview, and some of Al’s new poems from his book, Great Silent Ballad, here. Sorry I’ve been away these last few months - an extended break, then back to lots of literary and other news, of which more soon.
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