Alex Lemon talks about his poet's notebook at Profane

Alex Lemon is a tremendous poet, memoirist and just a general good writer. I was first drawn to his work in an 'introducing' feature in Pleaides (25:1), and ever since have always gotten a little excited when I see his name in a journal's table of contents. His work isn't as straight-forward as a writer like Billy Collins, nor as opaque as someone like Lisa Robertson. Here are two of his poems in Post Road Magazine (titled "Below the Nearer Sky" and "Silt"). Here is one from The Kenyon Review called "Your Life is the Bed I'm Gonna Lay Down In" (which strikes me a little as being sort of Dean Young-like, and definitely not in a bad way. I wonder if I associate the two poets more because of their medical ailments than their somewhat similar styles—Lemon's brain surgery and Young's heart transplant). Here is another from the Missouri Review called "I Knew You Before You Were".

But aside from just reading some of Alex Lemon's work, I was intrigued by this little bit of audio from him that was posted in the first issue of Profane Literary Magazine. Aside from the poem "Preparing for the Cure" which was published in the journal, he also has an audio clip simply titled "A Talk" where he discusses why he's drawn to poetry, he briefly discusses his writer's notebook and how his poetry notes are different from his notes for essays and nonfiction, and how he deals with inspiration.

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Profane Literary Journal is currently reading for their second issue. Be sure to read the journal here, and if you like the cut of their jib and feel your work would fit their aesthetic, give them a shout through submittable here. All submissions are text only, and they even have a nice feature where you can pay $5 and they guarantee to respond within 48 hours. This allows you quick feedback, as well as helps the journal stay afloat.