Pshares Quickie Interview #1: Chris Salerno

Christopher Salerno's Whirligig was just published by Spuyten Duyvil Publishing House (NY). Other poems can be found in Verse, The Colorado Review, Jubilat, Jacket, The Tiny, The New Hampshire Review, Agni online, Carolina Quarterly, Barrow Street, Free Verse, Electronic Poetry Review, Lit, River City, Forklift Ohio, Spinning Jenny, GoodFoot, and in the anthology, The Bedside Guide To No Tell Motel. He teaches Composition, Poetry Writing and American Lit at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, NC. Visit his blog.

First Car?
86 Ford Escort.

What was your favorite book and band in high school?
Take me down to the Paradise City where the grass is green and…
I liked Kerouac’s On the Road at the time. I could relate to him sort of, because we both played sports.

Which crowd did you hang out with in high school?
All of them. Whomever would have me (read: total follower).

First job?
Liquor store stock boy (read: beverage technician).

Car now?
1975 Volkswagen Beetle.

Favorite book now?
This week: Joshua Clover's Totality For Kids; Mark Salerno’s Method (No relation by the way).

What's new on you iPod or CD player?
Sun Kil Moon. John Prine. Sound Team.

What's the best DVD you've rented of late?
Blue / White / Red.

What are you working on these days?
A freelance article about Pet Cremation; a talk I'm giving at the Public Library on 1960's American Poetry; a jar of organic peanut butter; a new book of poems; my 1975 Volks.

Anything coming out soon?
The two title poems from my recently published book, Whirligig are coming out in the next VERSE magazine...there’s also a poem coming in Cannibal. And there are a few reviews of Whirligig coming down…one in the next H_NGM_N.

What are you reading that's fun?
The Rasputin File—on a recently found file of letters and testimony regarding Rasputin. My great-grandfather was a Palace Guard for the last Czar (Nicholas II). I like to imagine him with the butt of his rifle subtly tripping a hurried Rasputin on his way to see the tsarina.

What's your favorite exercise?
Non-military. Also walking.

What's your favorite piece of clothing?
Shirt I bought while walking to a reading in NY a few weeks ago.

What are some of your guilty pleasures?
NHL hockey, a healthy dose of situation comedy, 24 hour news, petting zoos.

Favorite recipe?
Spinach Croquettes.

What's on your desk?
My lousy feet. Cereal bowls. Typewriter (working). A video of Amiri Baraka. My credit card and a bunch of bills. A permanent marker.

Boxers or briefs?
Boxers.

Stones or Beatles?
Beatles (with extreme prejudice).

Porn name (first pet's name + first street you lived on)?
Chester Spring.