Questions for Willie Watson

It was his poem “Boris and Sasha” that made me come up to him and ask for an interview – I simply wanted to find out more about this man of wit! And truly, about two weeks after the last Alchemy, we met in the comfort of his home. Between sips of coffee/tea and the sounds of his children playing or typing away on the computer, we discussed his life, writing, poetry and literature. 

·         On Prague and himself

How did you get to Prague in the first place?

(Takes a sip of his coffee, then puts the cup on the table) Well, I was living in Los Angeles,  working as a travel agent. And I really did not like my job at all – it was a dead-end thing, just an office job. I was still single at 44 and so when the chance to come to Prague and teach English came up, I was like “Wow, great, that’s a way to get out of here!”

Did it appear online?

No, I met someone at the gym one night who said she just came from teaching in Prague. She wasn’t particularly enthusiastic about it, but I was just wow, that’s the coolest thing I ever heard of! And so... yeah, a few months later, I was here.

That quick?

Yes, yup. 

What was your plan, to live here?

Yes, I just had the idea to get a teaching certificate and then travel around the world – but by the time I finished my first teaching course, I was already teaching, I already had a job. But then I thought I’d like to try other countries. So I went to Thailand – hated it, couldn’t wait to get back to Prague and I’ve been here ever since.

What did you not like about Thailand?

I didn’t like Bangkok. A big filthy city – and the place where I was teaching was a long way from where I was living, so I spent a lot of time on buses. Also there were problems with the visa and since I didn’t feel like returning back to Prague, I continued to travel. Went to Malaysia, where they was a bit of a misunderstanding about the VISA, ended up in a detention centre for a week, then I was sent back to the States... (laughs) Asia left a bad taste in my mouth.

So about your first impressions of Prague, were they positive?

Oh yeah! It was just within a week when I realized this is a good city.  It was the typical expat story at first - the cheap beer and women.

Have some things changed since then?

Well, the first year was about the beer and then women, then I left, came back, got married. Then I’ve got locked in the teaching and then the poetry readings.

Alchemy?
Mmm, actually... No, it was Beef Stew then – that was the name of the fore-runner of Alchemy. Alchemy is basically Beef Stew reformed under a different name and taken over by Ken Nash, so I then began going to that. But before that I wasn’t writing, just I would only occasionally write something, like a joke for friends. Today my works are on Amazon, Kindle, but I haven’t gone through a publisher – except Create Space.

Would you call Prague a good place to live and write in?

Yes, Prague is a brilliant place to live and write in! It’s an inspirational city.

What about Los Angeles?

Los Angeles is a sh*thole! But... with anywhere in the world, I think - it’s more about who you are with and what your situation is. Like Asia left a bad after-taste, but the food was excellent. And Los Angeles has beautiful beaches and is a great place for actors or my brother who loves living there, but... it just wasn’t for me, I wanted to get out of LA! 

Do you have a favourite part of the city?

Uhm... no, not really!

Or where do you write most of the time?

At home. I don’t know... I think that with poetry it’s different than with short stories or novels, that it’s a much more long-term work process. I think that the key central lines can pop up anytime, when you’re walking, taking the tram, a bath... And the rest streams out from that. So no, I don’t have a favourite part of Prague. But there is a park near my home where I go for a walk when I’m bored or there are a lot of things on my mind and I walk around until an idea pops up in my head.

Do you push yourself into writing a poem every day?

Hm, I’ll just say what I write every day. I write a blog everyday (www.gurukalehuru.com) – 250-500 words is my goal, but I’ve been going over 500 words lately! (Laughs) So once I finish the blog, I write a couplet that has to be 140 characters of less so it can go on Twitter. So when you say if I write a poem every day, I do write a rhyming couplet every day. But a poem? No, but Alchemy does keep me going, I try to write 4-5 poems a month and one song parody per month, but I don’t know for how much long I can manage that! It’s much harder than poems.

Do you have a university degree in anything? English? Creative writing? Teaching?

I don’t. I only took a few community college courses here and there, mostly Journalism. So no. But the last creative writing course I took was in Brooklyn in New York, so I would’ve been... 21. So year ’76!

How long have you been in Prague?
I came here in the spring of 1998, now it’s 14 so... it’s been 16 years.

How would you describe the English literary circles in Prague?

Well it’s... it’s the best literary environment I’ve ever been in. I think... that it’s weird... that it’s a little fragmented.

Why, how?

I mean, you got Alchemy, then Lucien Zell’s Secret Cords readings, you got Prague Revue, you got your magazine... You got all sorts of stuff! It’s weird that you’ve got so many literary magazines in such a niche market! And there’s more than one English poetry reading, it’s like “How many of us are out there?” (Laughs)

Image credit: Anna Hupcejová

So how many of them do you attend or participate in?

Just Alchemy.

For how long are you at Alchemy?

First I was Beef Stew until when it ended in 2000, I think.

Was it the same format at Alchemy?

Not exactly. When Ken Nash took it over, he changed the format to add the idea of the featured reader, until then it was only open mic. So yeah, he revived it, so people would come up to a see a specific idea. While when it was only with open mic, it was like “Oh God, not.,-“ (laughs)

Have you ever been a featured reader?

Yeah, yeah, at Alchemy a couple of times. Though I wouldn’t say it was a major success, I’m comfortable with being in the open mic section. 

Is there a specific reason why you always perform last at Alchemy? “Best for last”?

No! No, no, no. It kind of happened a few times in a row as coincidence and it became like a thing that set me out as a trademark and so, I just got on it (smiles).

·         On writing

What was the first thing you ever wrote?

That was the one question that I saw on the list that I just don’t know how to answer! I remember writing a couple of things like notes in grade school... Tried limericks, thinking it should be easy, just 5 lines – but it’s not easy! But I can’t remember what the first thing I wrote was.

How would you, in a single word/sentence, describe your poetry?

Okay, if it’d be one word, it’d be “light”. Not meant to be taken too seriously, no subtleties, symbolism... It’s just light. I will write about anything - if it rhymes, great. Lately I’d say I’m not even choosing topics – if the words are there, I write it as long as I don’t hate it.

Would you call yourself self-critical?

No, I’m not self-critical enough. But I did read a few things over the years at Alchemy that were just bad. I just thought wait, what – what was that? (Laughs) Short and stupid. But it’s the short ones that are usually popular. But there were a few times that I lost the audience – with longer things like epics that I enjoy writing, for example. But still, not even half-way through reading them, I know it’s just... no.

That’s why the 7-minute limit Alchemy is good. You dislike the reader, he gets off soon. You like him, you can talk to him/her later. So, would you consider your work as lyrics (since you tend to give them rhythm/melodies) or poems?

Well, the ones that are lyrics are lyrics and the ones that aren’t, aren’t! But a couple of my poems were made into a song, even one that wasn’t even that lyrical, like about a monkey feeling at a zoo like he doesn’t belong there. I didn’t consider them lyrics, but now I like what my friend made from it.

What are your main sources of inspiration (books, music, real life events)?

Politics, though people don’t like my poems on politics that much... Then nature, like the changing of the seasons and it’s everywhere around us.

Do you ever experience writer’s block?

I wondered how to answer that... I think that writer’s block is a constant; it’s something that every writer deals with all the time. It’s not like a sudden barrier that’s in front of you every time you start writing a poem, like a resistance. But I’m sure it’s not just writers! There’s also scientists’, mathematicians’ block, when you just haven’t found the answer yet. Architect’s block! It’s a constant state, and sometimes you’re the river that flows through it and sometimes you’re the hammer that breaks it, there are different ways to get past it. You need time. But with poetry, you just need to get inspired.

 How do you tackle it?

You keep writing, turn up with some c*ap for a while and eventually come up with something that’s good.

Is writing poetry your profession or just a hobby?

It’s a hobby, because I never made any money out of it. I’d love to make money out of it and say that it’s a career, but I’m going to do it (poetry, blog) anyway. I don’t think really that people do it for the money always – I think Stephan King or JK Rowling would still continue to write even if they wouldn’t get paid.

If you could publish anything from your work, it’d be...?

My poems, they’re all I got. I don’t play any musical instruments and I’m tone-deaf so I can’t create music to my lyrics. But I do have a good sense of meter and rhythm, so I do write stuff that could be songs if someone else were to take and produce them. My brother Dennis, for example, did this, though it wasn’t that much of a success (yet).

·         Last questions on literature and the future

Do you have a favourite line from a poem of yours?

There are so many. I could look through my books and go like “I like that one... that one” but there’s not just one that stands out.

Is there a poet or writer who influenced you the most?

Gosh, so many! I’m a big fan of children’s literature and I teach, so stuff from Dr Seuss does stick with me and I was also a big Harry Potter fan. Then Jack Kerouac when I was about 20, then between age 10 to mid-20s I read only science-fiction, Kesey... And I love Tom Robbins. There are a lot of great writers out that that I wish I could write like.

Like who?

Like Tom Robbins. Such amazing stream of energy pouring out of the page! Just brilliant metaphor after brilliant metaphor Yeah, again, I don’t have the patience or discipline to write short stories or novels. 

Have you read any books by Czech authors?

Kundera’s “Unbearable Lightness of Being”. I liked that. Then a couple of short stories by Hrabal in English – then “War of the Newts”, “RUR.”.. But what I’ve read the most of in Czech was “The Dog and the Pussycat” (laughs).

How’s your Czech?

Good for everyday practical use, but I gave up after a few years living here, since I’m here to teach English. My wife is Czech, there aren’t many cases where I have to speak Czech.

Where do you see yourself in 5 years – as an expat in Prague and as a poet?

I think I’ll still be in Prague, still be teaching, but I hope I’ll be focusing more on the writing than on the teaching. I would like to perhaps write more on short stories or even a novel, but I’ll be still working on the poetry, of course. Specifically the rhyming poetry that I can say I do better than most. If I were to do free verse, there’d definitely be better people in it out there than me – but rhyme poetry, that’s my thing! The inspiration basically hasn’t dried up yet.

Before leaving, I played the beginning of the interview to him – “I didn’t know I speak that slowly!” he laughed and on this positive note, we bid our farewells with the usual “Until next Alchemy!” I already cannot wait to hear what the poet with a Cheshire Cat smile will come up with. But until then, I will be definitely checking out his blog www.gurukalehuru.com.

Anna Hupcejová