WILMINGTON — It was a long and winding road that brought Philip Gerard to Wilmington, North Carolina. But a road well worth traveling. Though his journey came…
Darren C. Demaree is the author of fourteen poetry collections, most recently
Unfinished Murder Ballads, (Backlash Press, 2020). He is the recipient of a 2018 Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Award, the Louis Bogan Award from Trio House Press, and the Nancy Dew Taylor Award from
Emrys Journal. He is the Editor-in-Chief of the
Best of the Net Anthology and Managing Editor of
Ovenbird Poetry. He is currently living in Columbus, Ohio with his wife and children.
INTRODUCTION
Developing a writing practice and a reading practice takes time. There are so many little things that have gone into my own routine to make it challenging, to make it inventive, and to make me feel like taking chances on language, on subject, on different poetic forms is worth all that time spent not knowing if it’s actually being successful. I think being a confident writer comes not with production or success, but by being unafraid to fail. It’s so damn hard to look at it this way, but th