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Who is Jody Azzouni?

Well, you're not going to find out unless you ask. So, keep the questions coming.

Questions can be sent by email to jody@azzouni.com. Be sure to include your email address (we won't post it) and your name if you'd like recognition. Questions are answered within a few days.

All submissions become the property of Jody Azzouni and may be edited for content or length.

How long does it take you to write a poem? (Myra)

It varies. Actually sitting down and writing the poem can be anywhere from a few hours or so to five minutes. What gets me started with a poem is usually an image or several images and I can have those kicking around in my head or in notebooks or on scraps of paper for years; and then suddenly it comes together emotionally, I see how to put it together. So I guess the answer is anywhere from a few hours to five minutes and at the same time years.

Where do you get your ideas from? (Mudkrumpet)

All over the place, I'm constantly feeding my brain lots of reading all sorts of things talking to people all sorts of people and then stuff pops out of my head you know sort of a mix of what I've been feeding into it plus commentary.

What's with the cards? Who pays for them? Why? (David Gregory)

I pay for them. I like the idea: they're free it's like giving the poetry away (a Chinese poet I'd heard about used to write poems by the riverside – some river or other – and then toss them in afterwards. I thought about sticking poems in balloons and setting them off but I didn't want environmental groups hunting me down). Maybe there's some ego involved too.

Do you have any books? (Terry)

Sure. Doesn't everyone own at least a few book (how come I was asked that)?

Is it true that you're a philosopher too? What's the meaning of life? (Thales)

Yeah it's true I do philosophy of mathematics and science., philosophy of language too (I've published a book on mathematics). I don't know what the meaning of life is. Does it have to have one?

Have you ever read Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance? (Snu Gavronisham)

Yes.

What writers and poets do you like? (Susan B.)

Lots of prose writers, god, the list is endless: Amis, Nabokov, Dostoevski, Gaddis, Bradfield , just to name five off the top of my head (there are lots more). Poets, especially contemporary poets I'm not so pleased with: Walcott is very good., lots of the traditional stuff (you know, Shakespeare, Donne, some Pound, Stevens, etc., etc.,).

I think John Ashberry is overrated. So is Derek Walcott. (Alex Ginsburg)

Yes to the first opinion no to the second. He's a little obsessed with coconuts but I don't hold that against him.

Who do you think should get the Noble prize for literature? (Alfred N.)

Isn't that thing mostly political? (Don't take the remark personally, ok?)

I read your short story and I have just one thing to say: It's 'Jimmy Hendrix', not 'Hendricks'. (Sue Yong)

Different artist.

Who's your favorite writer? (Jay McInerney)

I sort of answered this question before; I don't know if I have an absolute favorite, that sort of thing changes over time. When I was a lot younger it was Shaw, I read every play Shaw wrote, his music criticism, but not his novels (tried to). There's been a lot of influence but I wouldn't call him my favorite writer now; I saw Heartbreak House a few years ago and it made my skin crawl. Sometimes you grow past things; it's very idiosyncratic. Now it's probably Gaddis but that's going to pass. (Sorry to disappoint you, Jay.)

Do numbers exist? (Penelope)

Yes and no.

Why are all of your poems so depressing? (Larry MacLaine)

That's so mean. I prefer to think of them as serious. After all, in the long run we're all dead, right? That's the cliché, but it's right isn't it? I guess I've always got the long view when I'm writing (who knows why). But there's always a lot of humor in what I do (laughing cheers us up doesn't it?). There's another thing too, a happy poem is almost invariably a sentimental poem (oh wow, let me tell you about my lovely parents, my friendly pets, the flowers and the rain), and those are invariably awful because it's so hard to be fresh about that stuff (we're happy in the same way; we're disturbed in all different ways). Anyway I'm generally upbeat.

How many poems have you written? (Anonymous)

Oh god lots. But most of them don't survive. I guess maybe a hundred and fifty to date I still take seriously. I write other stuff too: a handful of short stories and three novels.

I think I read about someone named Azzouni in the paper a long time ago. Something about Penthouse Magazine. Was that you? (bill@whitehouse.gov)

Er, yeah (normally I'd be worried about this question but I bet you're not who you claim you are) but it's not as lewd as it sounds. I sent a gift subscription to Edwin Meese. (I thought he needed it) and it got media attention for some damn reason.