Photo credit
Unnameable Books, NYC

Biography

Alice Burdick lives in Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia. She is the author of many chapbooks, pamphlets, folios and four full-length poetry collections. Deportment, a book of selected poetry, came out in 2018 from Wilfrid Laurier University Press. 

Alice's poetry has been described as playful, surreal and imagistic. She often writes about daily life as well as internal and external landscapes, and doesn't shy away from satire or the anti-sentimental lyric. Influences have included Emily Dickinson, Marina Tsvetayeva, Frank OHara, Lorine Niedecker, Ted Berrigan, and Anne Waldman.

Her work has also appeared in several anthologies including Surreal Estate: 13 Canadian Poets Under the Influence and Locations of Grief: An Emotional Geography and she has authored three cookbooks. She co-founded the independent bookstore Lexicon Books, and is also a mentor and workshop leader.

Micro-interview

Did you read poetry when you were in high school? Is there a particular poem that you loved when you were a teenager?

I have loved poetry since I was a child, but especially since high school and onward. I loved Frank O’Hara's “Having a Coke With You” — and still do!

When did you first start writing poetry? And then when did you start thinking of yourself as a poet?

I started to write poetry in earnest when I was around 16 or so, after attending a wonderful extra-curricular class called The Dream Class in Toronto. I didn’t start to think of myself as a poet really until I immersed in the micropress/small press scene in the early 90s (when I was in my early 20s).

What do you think a poet’s “job” is?

I believe the job varies. The primary job is to perfect your craft — and that means reading a lot of other poets widely, and editing frequently. To explore new realms with your poetry, to follow where it leads, down unknown paths, to change.

If you had to choose one poem to memorize from our anthology, which one would it be?

Because I love Frank O’Hara so much, I’d go with “The Day Lady Died!” But of course, there are so many very excellent poems from which to choose.

Publications

Title
Book of Short Sentences
Publisher
Mansfield Press
Editors
Stuart Ross
Date
2016
Publication type
Book
Title
Deportment: The Poetry of Alice Burdick
Publisher
Wilfrid Laurier University Press
Editors
Alessandro Porco
Date
2018
Publication type
Book
Title
Holler
Publisher
Mansfield Press
Editors
Stuart Ross
Date
2012
Publication type
Book
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