Contributor's Notes–John Pluecker

Interviews and guest posts from the writers and artists of Versal 10. This edition features John Pluecker. John is a writer, interpreter, and translator. His work is informed by conceptual poetics and cross-border cultural production  and has appeared in outlets in the U.S. and Mexico, including the Asymptote, Picnic, Third Text, Animal Shelter, and HTML Giant. He has published more than five books in translation from the Spanish, primarily by Mexican authors. There are two chapbooks of his work, Routes into Texas (DIY, 2010) and Undone (Dusie Kollektiv, 2011). A third chapbook, Killing Current, was published by Mouthfeel Press in 2012. 

Have you been to Amsterdam? What did you do while you were here? If you've not been yet, what do you think you'd do in our fair town?

Never been to Amsterdam. If I went, I think I'd sit near some water, some canal, on some dike and drink a coffee. Then stay out all night.

What is the first creative thing you ever did?

Made a dam in a creek.

What is the dumbest thing anyone has ever said to you about being a writer?

"If you're not selling your work, you're doing something wrong. I have a friend that sells all his poems and stories and makes good money. You should talk to him."

If you were an angle, what kind of angle would you be?

Acute.

If you could meet a writer from the 15th, 16th or 17th centuries, who would it be? And what would you talk about?

Álvar Nuñéz Cabeza de Vaca. His years wandering through the land we now know as the state of Texas.

Tell us something few people know about you.

But then everyone would know.

Other than Versal (which has clearly been awesome), what's one great place you've been published?

Animal Shelter.

Why did you send work to Versal? Be honest.

My friend K. Lorraine Graham had mentioned the magazine to me, I think. I checked it out, bought a copy, liked it and sent in some of my work.

What has lasted you ten years?

My relationship with my man.

Tell us what you're working on right now.

A continuing collaborative experiment around language justice and language experimentation with my co-conspirator Jen Hofer: Antena. Last year, we did an installation at Project Row Houses in Houston, Texas—a temporary bookstore, reading room and literary experimentation lab—and we recently wrote a chapbook reflecting on our experiences.