Writing Poetry: Interview with Debut Poet Eric D. Goodman

Introducing Eric D. Goodman—an award-winning author of six novels, short stories, and articles featured in over 100 prestigious journals and magazines. His highly anticipated debut poetry collection, Faraway Tables, is set to release on October 1. Already receiving praise from notable voices like the poetry editor of Fleas on the Dog Poetry Journal, this collection promises to be a standout. We sat down with Eric to discuss his poetry writing journey and the inspiration behind Faraway Tables.

You can pre-order his book here for 20% off!

What inspired you to begin writing this poetry collection?

Faraway Tables was a product of the pandemic. Most of what I write is fiction and creative nonfiction. I tend to submerge myself in a subject and really focus intently on what I’m writing about. When COVID sent us all home to shelter in place, you would think that it would result in more focus time. For me, it seemed harder to focus intently on one subject matter. There were more distractions, and I was finding it more difficult to focus on longer forms—both writing and reading. I turned to poetry.

I found it more appealing during those pandemic days to pick up a book of poetry and read a few poems at a time than to sit for long periods of time with a novel as I normally might. Likewise, I started writing more poetry.

At the same time as being distracted by the world’s shutdown and the excessive death counts every day, it became a time of introspection. The world had changed, and we were changing with it. It seemed like a time to look inward, and to look back—and to look forward.

Poems lend themselves to that. I found that the kinds of things that I normally might jot down to file away as an idea to use in a future story or novel instead became the basis for poems. That allowed me to cover more ground and to explore more thoughts and ideas.

Ultimately, the goal of my writing is usually to consider different perspectives, connect people, and to promote understanding. The reason I wanted to do this through poetry instead of prose was very much tied to where my mindset was during the pandemic.

What do you hope readers experience when they read your poems?

I’d like readers to find poems in Faraway Tables that they can relate to, that they feel a connection with. Those “a-ha” moments when a reader nods or smiles or things “I know that feeling” or “I’ve been there.”

It would be great to put new ideas in a person’s head, to help them understand something from a point of view they hadn’t considered before, to allow for them to learn something new. But I also like the idea of connecting to the reader by conveying a thought or feeling that they can instantly feel or understand as though it were their own.

What are other authors/books that have inspired you in your poetry writing journey?

Most of my favorite writers are novelists and short story writers. I’m a big fan of John Steinbeck and Flannery O’Connor. For more modern authors, I like George Saunders, Alice Munro, Jonathan Franzen, Jennifer Egan, David Mitchell, and Elizabeth Strout. I mean, way too many to mention.

When it comes to poetry, one of my favorite poets is Billy Collins. That’s not always a popular answer with hardcore modern poets, but he is probably the most popular poet in the world, and there’s a reason for that: his poetry is accessible.

I like the work of Mark Doty, M.S. Merwin, Linda Pastan, and Lawrence Ferlinghetti. I also like the work of a number of local poets, like Elizabeth Spires, Shirley J. Brewer, Charles Rammelkamp, and Sherry Audette Morrow.

During the pandemic, I read a number of collections that included various poets as well as literary journals, one of the last sanctuaries for poets.

What was your favorite part of writing this poetry collection?

I liked the freedom of being able to move from one short subject to another. Being primarily a prose writer, I tend to spend a lot of time on one passage or subject. With poetry, I was able to spend some time on one poem, then shift to another and maybe come back to them both the next day or week. Working on a collection of poetry seemed more flexible than working on a novel or even a short story or article.

Has your book changed significantly from the first draft to now?

The poems themselves haven’t changed significantly (aside from being whittled down and polished). But the collection has. When I began, I wasn’t even sure I was writing a collection, thinking they might just be isolated poems to publish in literary journals or magazines. But then a collection began to form.

At first, I had planned to actually call the collection “COVID -19, -20, -21, -22, -23,” given that these were the musings of a pandemic era that we thought would quickly pass but seemed to drag on. But as time did pass and as other themes and types of poems began to emerge, I realized that I shouldn’t limit the scope of the collection to the pandemic.

That was the origin, but it is bigger than a pandemic, spanning decades of memories and bottled-up thoughts. It’s about what came before the pandemic and what comes next. It’s about the world that is out there waiting to be explored as well as the one that no longer exists and can never be visited again.

How will you celebrate the launch of your book?

We plan to have a book release party followed by a book release reading. I also plan to do a number of readings at book stores, book festivals, and literary events.

I mentioned that I enjoy making connections with readers when they read my work. The same is true in person. I enjoy connecting with readers and other writers at literary events. When Faraway Tables comes out, I expect the communal table of readers and writers to become a little closer. That’s one of the great pleasures of releasing a book—the connections you make with readers as they read your work, and in person when you have the opportunity meet and discuss.

About the Author

A native of Baltimore, Eric D. Goodman is an award-winning author of six previously published novels. More than a hundred of his short stories, articles, and travel stories have been published in literary journals, magazines, and periodicals. Eric’s recent poetry has been featured in more than twenty publications, including Gargoyle Magazine, and The Main Street Rag. Learn more about Eric and all his writing, not just poetry, at EricDGoodman.com.