Daniel Aristi’s poems, “Ventreverre/Bellyglass,” “Closing Down a Secret Service, and Heyou” appeared in our Summer ’15 Issue and are available to read here.
Tell us a little about “Closing down a secret service.”
The one thing I tried to do was to come up with a new, original topic. I’ve written quite a bit about women and relationships during the past months and I wanted to do a piece that described something completely different… and this idea of retrenchment for Cold War spies and operatives came to mind. The image that really kick-started the process was the Cold War as an enjoyable cold beer, and I kept on building from there. The final, more streamlined version of the poem benefited from the very kind advice of poet Connolly Ryan at the University of Massachusetts.
What was the most difficult part of this particular piece(s)?
Like for every poem of mine, the ending – I can get poems started quite easily but the last sentence is always a long struggle.
Recommend a book for us which was published within the last decade.
I am going to cheat a bit here: any reprint of On the Road and Dharma Bums by Kerouac.
If you could have a drink with any living author, who would it be? Why?
Tina Chang. I find her poetry brilliant in a serene manner, flowing without unnecessary complications and with beautiful imagery blooming gently all the way.
What are you working on now? What’s next?
Some more poems and flash fiction hopefully for publication in various magazines I really like and – even more hopefully – for a chapbook (any willing editors out there?)
Our thanks to Daniel for taking the time to answer a few questions and share her work. Read Daniel’s three wonderful poems here: www.sequestrum.org/three-poems-by-daniel-aristi.
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Daniel Aristi was born in Spain. He studied French Literature and Economics. He lives now in Switzerland with his wife and two children. Daniel’s work has been recently featured or is forthcoming in Puerto del Sol, Berkeley Poetry Review, and Fiction Southeast.