Domenico Capilongo’s latest book of poems is a blast-to-the-past, more specifically the 1970s. It’s a series of prose poems based on words added in the dictionary the year the poet was born. It’s Capilongo’s third book of poetry and fourth book overall. His books came close to winning major awards such as the F.G. Bressani Literary Prize and the ReLit Award. He has taught high school creative writing for over two decades and is a Karate instructor and former National level Karate competitor. Pick up a copy of his latest collection of poems, titled 1972, and travel back in time to bell-bottoms, disco, and comb overs.
Where did the idea of this book come from?
The idea for this book came when I was late-night-surfing-the-net and came across a post encouraging a visit to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary website to try out their new Time Traveler feature. The feature allows you to enter any year you like and then it spits out the list of words added to the dictionary for that year. I put in the year of my birth, 1972, and was fascinated by the list of words.
I set right to work by doing free-writes to each of the words and allowing whatever childhood memory to surface. I also limited myself to memories of seven years and under.
What was your writing process like?
Well, I decided to do daily long-hand free writing in a journal. I didn’t want to overthink things so I tried to write as fast as possible and let whatever memory come out. I collected as many old family albums as I could in order to inspire any imagery details that I could. I also tried to write as much as I could in our backyard and garden. My favourite place to write was under our grape pergola.
What was your biggest challenge in writing this book?
The biggest challenge was the late stage edits. It was fun transcribing the poems from my journal to a document but then the hard work really began. I had to edit each piece down to tight prose poems that didn’t go on-and-on. I also had to choose to lose some words that just didn’t work at all. It was really challenging to edit each piece and I really must thank my first reader, first editor and wife, Lynda Anthony, who did all the painful work of editing out the fat.
All the poems are in this prose poetry form. Why?
Well, I’ve always loved the prose form and been inspired by amazing writers such as bpNichol, Daphne Marlatt, and Dionne Brand. I think this style of poetry really lends itself to a stream of consciousness voice and a smooth flow of imagery and language like no other form. I just found that in writing this collection the memories were coming faster than the Million Dollar man and in the transcribing stage, the prose poetry form fit best.
How does your Italian heritage influence your work?
I think my Italian heritage still has a strong influence on what I choose to write, mostly because I’m still trying to write about what I know or feel and being of Italian descent is so much a part of me. I speak Italian, listen to Italian music, eat and cook Italian, watch Italian films, visit Italy, and even dream sometimes in Italian, and yet. I am not Italian. I am still very much interested in exploring this unique cultural mash up that I’m very much a part of.
Is that you on the cover?
Yes, it’s me. The editor, Antonio D’Alfonso, who I really must thank for believing in my work, asked me to submit some photos for the cover. We landed on that one. I think it really captures the feeling of the 1970s for me and also the feeling of the poems in this collection. The way I’m looking a bit to the side in the photo is basically where the poems come from or come through. I was really channelling the spirit of that little boy and how it felt like to grow up during that time in a young immigrant family. Also, it really shows how, at the time, blending your clothes with your wallpaper was the height of family event photos.
There are so many light-hearted and humorous moments in these poems. Was that hard to achieve?
I didn’t really think about it. I just tried to become that little boy again and let the word guide my memory. I guess the humour comes out of the childhood idea of trying to have fun and noticing the things around me that I enjoyed at the time. It was a really interesting time for music, fashion, children’s toys, and entertainment. There is so much fun to draw from. I just let it all come flooding back.
Do you have a favourite word or poem in the collection?
I don’t have a particular favourite but I really enjoy reading the poems where a narrative gets revealed and you forget about the source word. There is only one poem where I break from the constraint of writing from my childhood self and write about the writing of the poems themselves. That was fun.
Do you have any advice for writers trying to write about memories?
The key for me was not to get caught up with accuracy or with getting it right. The thing about memory is you will only remember what you need to remember in the moment. Your mind will only let you have it in pieces. You’ll know this because when you retell it to someone who was there too, they remind you about a different part of the memory. It’s kind of the joy and the curse of it. Don’t be a documentarian, just have fun writing about the feeling, not the exact details. Take time to enjoy writing about memories, before we all forget them.
What are you working on now?
I’ve been editing a short novel about a young man who is writing a letter to his unborn child and I’m also writing a series of poems about Sicily written in a long-dead Italian poetic form.
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