Quickie interview #3: Jon Woodward

Jon Woodward was born in Wichita, Kansas, and grew up in Wichita and Denver, Colorado. He currently lives in the Boston area and works at the Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology. His new book, Rain, is available from Wave Books. His previous book, Mister Goodbye Easter Island, was published by Alice James Books in 2003. His poems have appeared in Colorado Review, Barrow Street, The Literary Review, Denver Quarterly, and other journals.

What's the best movie you've seen of late?
Mary Poppins, the tale of a man (Bert, played by Dick Van Dyke) and his madness, in which hallucination and Victorian repression of desire mingle freely as he spirals ever further downward into a black magnetic abyss of one catchy tune after another.

First car?
Gray 1985 Honda Accord.

What's new on your iPod (or phonograph)?
(CD player) James Brown Star Time box set! and a CD of Balinese
music I'm listening into the ground

What are you reading that's fun?
The Golem, by Gustav Meyrink (more or less the same story as Mary Poppins)

What's your favorite exercise?
Surfing, or long-distance running.

What's your favorite piece of clothing?
A green wool army jacket, purchased because I wore out an identical one which was my grandpa's. I'm slowly converting my entire wardrobe to Army surplus clothes.

What are some of your guilty pleasures?
Steve Vai, a PBS documentary about Hank Williams I saw part of, rum.

Favorite recipe?
I like them all.

What's on your desk (at work)?
A jar of ten box turtle embryos from 1857 that I have to take a picture of tomorrow; Oxota, by Lyn Hejinian; a broken universal AC adapter I haven't thrown away yet

Boxer Rebellion or "The Pelican Brief"?
The Pelican Brief didn't result in as many deaths.

Rolling Stones or kidney stones?
Kidney stones