Jeff Richey
(1988)
How would you characterize the influence of your YWW experience in your life?
My YWW experience was an exercise in serendipity. I came to study poetry (and did), but left a novice songwriter and session musician. I arrived as a fairly conservative youth from Georgia but departed as a budding bohemian interested in mysticism and philosophy whose journey eventually led to China and Japan, not to mention Massachusetts and California. YWW’s most memorable and lasting influences on me took place outside of the formal program to which I was committed, but it was YWW’s free-wheeling, border-crossing atmosphere that made such influences possible.
What’s the best advice you can give a Young Writer (in general or in your specific genre)?
Study the work of writers whom you admire and don’t sacrifice your artistic growth on the altar of originality (an overrated quality, in my view). Experiment with modeling your own work after theirs, but don’t be afraid to discover your own voice. In my experience, one finds one’s voice only after successfully imitating the beautiful voices of many others. “Irish poets, learn your trade, / Sing whatever is well made…” (W. B. Yeats, “Under Ben Bulben,” V, 1939)
What do you find yourself most often reading or listening to lately and why?
As far as poetry is concerned, I’m still inspired by the great Chinese and Japanese writers: Wang Wei, Bo Juyi, Bashō, Ryōkan. The work of Alan Shapiro, Mary Oliver, Billy Collins, and my teacher Stuart Dischell also reward repeated reading. Musically, I savor classics by The Kinks, Big Star, and Brian Wilson, while more contemporary artists who interest me include Fleet Foxes, Band of Horses, and Stornoway.