“What other professions have you worked in?”
Whew, lots. I cut back trees and shrubs under powerlines in the forests of Oregon. I checked the items in boxes against order forms in a sports company warehouse, which I liked because they let us skateboard on the loading dock during our breaks. I was a host on the 9PM to 5AM shift at a diner in downtown Seattle where everybody came after shows. I think the worst job I had was being a bagel boiler—I had to show up at 4:30 in the morning and spend my shift in a tiny tiled room boiling bagels in a big vat while another guy baked them. I only lasted a couple of months—it was like working in a sauna. These days I’m an editor of translated fiction, which both is and isn’t an “other” profession from poetry.
An interview on the Massachusetts Review website to go along with the poem “To A Wild Place” (print only) in a recent issue.