Since 2003, I’ve gotten to conduct 53 Q&As with contemporary poets and writers for various publications ranging from Ploughshares to the Brooklyn Rail to the Chicago Tribune to the Poetry Foundation website. But it all began with an interview with David Berman back when I was at Emerson College in graduate school, working as a staffer for the now-defunct (or really, re-born as Redivider) Beacon Street Review. I could not believe, back then, my good luck that someone as smart, funny, and talented as he was–both as a musician in Silver Jews and as a poet in the actually perfect Actual Air–would say yes to a request from a rando like me, but he did. He took me seriously and gave me answers that were goofy, sincere, self-deprecating, and poetic. I’ve been grateful to him ever since because whether he knew it or not, by respecting my effort when I was just getting started, he gave me the confidence–and fun–I needed to continue.
I’m so sad he’s dead. I’ve digitized the interview and am sharing it here. Thank you, David Berman, and RIP.
