Tom Will is a poet who has, among other things, written Pale Townie (Apocalypse Confidential, 2023), a 999-line poem which keeps the heroic couplet end rhymes from Pale Fire (Nabokov/Shade) intact, while transforming the story into something quite different, very Tom Will. He's also recently published American Cats Are in a Big Country (2024, Farthest Heaven), a collection of 73 poems, all of which are very much worth your time and love.
We got to talk about the process of writing Pale Townie, why limericks are so funny, prose poems, clunk, Tom's future projects, and a lot more.
Tom tends to pace while talking. I decided to keep these parts and leave them unedited, because the full Tom Will experience involves periods of muffled audio and sudden clear exclamations. To deny these parts would be to deny the fullness of communication.
Tom's Recommendations
VERY IMPORTANT INFORMATION
Jack has published a novel called Tower!
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