1. Notes from his interview
John Foulcher
Notes from his interview

2. What poetry means to Foulcher
Doesn’t regard himself as poet
Sees himself as someone who writes poetry in spare time
Poetry is one person’s experience being communicated to others
Makes his poetry simple and clear so it can be enjoyed

3. Why did he start writing poetry?
He’s a teacher – lots of people write but you don’t realise how many
Didn’t like poetry at school
Teens like writing poetry because it helps them work things out
Wrote his first poem when 15, about unrequited love – it didn’t work!! But it helped him

4. How do you go about writing poetry
Hard work
Two stages: the end – easy part; trying to find the poem in the words – hard part
Poet is like a mechanic – tinkers about with words like it’s an engine

5. Is there a lot of wasted paper?
Les Murray (Australian poet) said there is a great waste paper basket
One poem works for every eight or nine that don’t
A lot of what is written is rubbish
Sometimes it just isn’t going to work – you’ve got to throw it away

6. Did he like poetry at school?
NO!!!!! Preferred music – Bob Dylan and Jimi Hendrix
Even though music gets to more people, why not write music? You don’t always have to make points to be heard
Wants to talk about what he thinks, but it might not be what he set out to say
Inspired by Wilfred Owen in Year 10

7. Wilfred Owen’s inspiration
The lines stayed with him about the horror of war
Listening / reading the poem made him see more than what he heard in Dylan song
The poetry was more real than Dylan’s songs
Other inspirations TS Eliot and WH Auden - complex

8. Australian poets Compare well with American and English poets
Australians more experimental now – Les Murray in particular; also Robert Gray – “great imagist”
Poetry is a minority art
Poetry is rewarding; it lasts afterwards

9. Concerns Violence and the struggle to survive
Beauty and violence of nature
Lighter and darker side
Reveals a lot about himself in his poems- a risk of writing poetry
Conscious references to the Biblical
Writes about isolation unconsciously