Video: Stephen Dobyns | Interview on the Craft of Poetry

An interview with the poet, novelist and essayist Stephen Dobyns on the craft of poetry. Conducted by Carol Frost, the interview took place in August, 1997 at the Catskill Poetry Workshop.

Video producer: Gerard Meola

Catskill Poetry Workshop founder: Carol Frost

Running time: 48 minutes

Email subscribers may click on the title of this post to see the video.

Stephen Dobyns has published twenty-four novels in a variety of genres, as well as fourteen poetry collections and two non-fiction works about the craft of poetry. In much of his work, Dobyns uses the ridiculous and the absurd as vehicles to introduce more profound meditations on life, love, and art. His journalistic training as a young writer has strongly informed his voice. His poetry has won numerous accolades, including a Lamont Poetry Selection (Concurring Beasts), a National Poetry Series selection (Black Dog, Red Dog), and a Melville Cane Award (Cemetery Nights).

Poetry

• Concurring Beasts (1972)
• Griffon: Poems (1976)
• Heat Death (1980)
• The Balthus Poems (1982)
• Black Dog, Red Dog (1984) 
• Cemetery Nights (1987)
• Body Traffic (1990)
• Velocities: New and Selected Poems, 1966-1992 (1994) 
• Common Carnage (1996)
• Pallbearers Envying the One Who Rides (1999) 
• The Porcupine’s Kisses (2002)
• Mystery, So Long (2005)
• Winter’s Journey (Copper Canyon Press, 2010)
• The Day’s Last Light Reddens the Leaves of the Copper Beech (BOA Editions, 2016)

Fiction

• A Man of Little Evils (1973)
• Dancer With One Leg (1983)
• Cold Dog Soup (1985)
• A Boat Off the Coast (1987)
• The Two Deaths of Senora Puccini (1988) 
• The House on Alexandrine (1990) 
• After Shocks/Near Escapes (1991)
• The Wrestler’s Cruel Study (1993) 
• The Church of Dead Girls (1997)
• Boy in the Water (1999) 
• Eating Naked [SS] (2000) 
• The Burn Palace (2013) 
• Is Fat Bob Dead Yet? (2015)

Charlie Bradshaw series

• Saratoga Longshot (1976) 
• Saratoga Swimmer (1981) 
• Saratoga Headhunter (1985)
• Saratoga Snapper (1986)
• Saratoga Bestiary (1988) 
• Saratoga Hexameter (1990)
• Saratoga Haunting (1993)
• Saratoga Backtalk (1994) 
• Saratoga Fleshpot (1995) 
• Saratoga Strongbox (1998) 
• Saratoga Payback (2017) 

Nonfiction

• Best Words, Best Order: Essays on Poetry (1996)
• Next Word, Better Word: The Craft of Writing Poetry (2011)