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Tony Zick is a poet and student living in
southeastern Michigan—no, not Detroit. While his studies at Eastern
Michigan University keep him on his toes, he continues to write and perform his
own poetry. He has competed with the Ann Arbor Youth Poetry Slam team and was
featured in HBO’s Brave New Voices documentary series. The National Youth Poetry
Slam Festival featured one of his poems in the Speak Green competition
sponsored by the Sundance Institute. According to his mentor Jeff Kass, “(Tony) read a poem called ‘The Pundit’ in Washington D.C., and [he had] the
audience rolling with laughter, and Joshua Bennett, one of the foremost youth
poets in the country, would shake his head and say, ‘this guy’s brilliant.’”* Currently, Tony balances family, school, and work, drawing inspiration for his
poetry from personal experience and his imagination.
MCW: Hi Tony.
Zick: Hi, Renee. Thank you
for interviewing me today.
MCW: Of course. Out of
curiosity, as a slam poet, has a poem ever gotten you into or out of a fight?
Zick: (Laughs) No. Never.
MCW: Just checking. When did you realize that you
wanted to write poetry? Did you write creatively before?
Zick: In elementary and
middle school, we had poetry and creative units. I always liked those, and I
noticed I was pretty good at it. I
guess I had a kind of “aha” moment when I was in 7th or 8thgrade,
and I had just finished a story by J.R.R. Tolkien. I think it was called the
“Tale of Aragorn and Arwen” or something like that. I was pretty moved by it,
and I thought to myself, “I want to be a writer!” In high school, taking
creative writing classes with Jeff Kass and participating in the Ann Arbor
youth poetry community took my love of poetry to a new level to say the least.
This past year, I’ve done a lot of thinking about my life goals,
and I’ve realized more that I
want to try and make writing poetry a part of my life mission. So yeah. That’s
that.
MCW: Would you consider yourself a Catholic poet?
Zick: In the sense that I am a Catholic who is
also a poet, definitely.
MCW: OK, so if I were to attach the adjective
“modern” as a descriptor for you—now, you're a modern Catholic poet—what would
you say?
Zick: I’m not sure where to draw the line
between Catholic and non-Catholic literature, if such a line can be drawn. Hmm,
me a modern Catholic poet. I guess I am having a hard time answering this
question.
MCW: Allow me to modify the question...would
calling you a modern Catholic poet feel oxymoronic?
Zick: No, not at all.
MCW: Why not?
Zick: Faith doesn’t diminish one’s ability to be
an artist. I would think that it would increase it because it allows you to see
the world more accurately.
MCW: Does religion inform your worldview?
Zick: Yes, it’s the center of my life. My aim,
whether or not I live up to it, is for every aspect of my life to accept and
respond to God’s Love.
MCW: Within your poetry and writing are there
particular themes that you find interesting or challenging to work with?
Zick: The theme of failed hopes is for sure both
interesting and challenging for me…also, excitement and gratefulness in small
things.
MCW: How have you used them in your poems?
Zick: Well, “The Raccoon” starts with me in the
middle of custodial work, feeling unhappy because it’s hard to rejoice or dance
or be excited while working. Then it sort of says, “well, you can dance even in
the midst of inglorious things because you have an inherent dignity given by
God, regardless of your surrounds or your failed hopes.” So I guess it’s lost
one hope and found another hope in that situation. Though I should add that I
like being a custodian.
MCW: Is there anything else that you would like
readers to know about you and your poetry?
Zick: Sure. For some reason, I often write outlandish scenarios,
such as going to visit a mountain goat that represents nostalgia or listening to
a talking raccoon speak to God about me. At other times, I use hyper-musical
language, similar to Hopkins, which is all to say that “strangeness” is often a springboard for my work.
The Raccoon
They say fast music makes you work faster
I say it just makes you dance
and you can't dance
not at work
not for show,
or even in the bathroom
where suddenly your cover could be blown
And the night goes on
like a relative projecting red-bomb warnings
and the headphones sing away
someone else's lovesick heart
or blue-suede blues
and, as I'm changing the bag in the day-care diaper pail
I am only moving on duty
the kind of duty with a “t” and a “y”
the kind of duty that doesn't feel like a gift
but an obstacle to Oblivion
and Oblivion is sexy as hell
Except that it is Hell.
I take up the last trash bags to the dumpsters
and open the lid
in reasonable peace, for a done day
and I see
a raccoon in the shadow of the bin,
it's face paranoid and sad
But regal it rakes itself out of the can
Slumps its loaf body over the edge
Points its wet nose straight at my chest
and sings, in perfect tune
“Oh ignominious Night! Fold your darkness away!
Alive! Alive am I! A paranoid rodent!
Royal black stripes on greasy grey fur!
The king or the Queen of all Raccoons
For all this suburban boy knows. But more!
God gives him gapes at the living!
For who is the giver of living?
Break him, oh Beauty
banish the crown of his heart and humble it hard
On a fleeting, sad-back animal feeding
on old crackers and yogurt in trash-bags, dancing
in this dumpster, singing praises, listening
for the sermons in our skin.”
*Source: Kass, Jeff. "The Curious Case of Anthony Zick."AnnArbor.com, 11 Feb 2010. Web. 1 May 2012. <http://www.annarbor.com/news/education/the-curious-case-of-anthony-zick/>.
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