Interviewed by David Blaine

Tim Morris is a poet, photographer and high school teacher from Georgia.  He has written several chap books of poetry.  His latest, "Forgotten Elements: Observations of a Back Porch Philosopher” is available from LuLu Press.

DB. OK, first thing, is Tim Morris your name?  For some reason I was thinking it was Tim Didgman.  Hmmm, too many MySpace buddies perhaps.

TM. I think you are mistaking my old myspace url, didgman,
with my last name.  I use the moniker didgman because
I ply the didgeridoo.

continued...

DB. Is that what is pictured on the cover of your new book. a didgeridoo?

TM. Oh no, that's a photograph of an old, beaten-up piano that my neighbors have in their house.  I'm not really sure why they have an old beaten-up piano in their house, but it was a good photo-op for me.  A didgeridoo is an ancient Australian aborigine instrument.  It is simply a hollow log played like a trumpet. 

 DB. Tell me, where were you born, raised.  Rural, small town, city?

TM. I was born in a small town just south of Birmingham,
AL called Bessemer.  Before I moved away in 1986, it
was very rural, but now I hardly recognize it.  It was
been plagued with suburban strip malls and fast-food
joints.  In '86, we moved to Mobile, AL.  My father
was transferred with his job.  That's where I "grew
up", so to speak.  That's where I call home.

DB. Family, only child, siblings?

TM. I have one sister.  She is eight years older than me,
so I was basically an only child.  By the time I was
eleven, she had moved on to college.  She is an RN in
Tuscaloosa, AL.

DB. What'd your folks do to earn a living?

TM. My mother had the toughest job in the world - a
full-time mom.  Looking back on it, I would have hated
to have been stuck home with me all day long!  My
father worked in the corporate world most of my life.
He was on the sales side of the coal mining industry.
That is what moved us to Mobile from Bessemer; he had
to be located at the Alabama State Docks to oversee
the exportation of the coal to Asia and Central
America.  Now, he owns his own car-detailing business,
but is semi-retired.  He works for a few hours in the
mornings, then heads home to work in the yard.

DB. When did you realize you had an interest in writing?

TM. Not until college.  I disliked reading, writing,
literature, etc. in high school.  I took a lit. class
my freshman year in college that required us to write
a poem.  I forget what I wrote about, but for some
reason, I got hooked.  maybe it was teacher or peer
feedback, I don't know, but that is when I began to
write.  That was in 1989. 

DB. What influenced you as you pursued that?

TM. I guess the poets I was reading at the time.  I read
Ginsberg's "America" in one of my text books and fell
in love with the style.  Until then, I had thought
poetry was formal, metered, with rhyme.  I didn't know
you could write about whatever and actually use curse
words!  From there I began reading Charles Bukowksi.
That was it.  I was hooked.  I became a Bukowski
fanatic.  My writing grew grittier and darker.  I
began reading at coffee houses in the area and was
getting really good feedback.  People liked my stuff.
I've been writing ever since.

DB. Tell me a bit about what, when and where you've
published.

TM. I really haven't been published that much.  I got a
few things in the college newspaper and have been in a
few underground 'zines here and there, but that's it.
I'm a bit lazy.  I should submit more than I do, but I
just don't do it.

DB. Any novels?  Short stories?

TM. I can't write prose.  I've tried time and time again
to write short stories, but they just don't come.  I
think the idea of describing scene and setting over a
few pages instead of a few lines troubles me.  I tend
to believe less is more.  I have written a few plays,
and quite enjoyed that, but poetry is my drug of
choice.

DB. Is this new chapbook your first?

TM. It is my first official chapbook.  I have self-published
six others simply using my home computer, a
photocopier, and a stapler.  I've actually sold a few,
too.  But the new one, Forgotten Elements, is my first
real book.

DB. This book, "Forgotten Elements: Observations of a Back Porch Philosopher", is available through LuLu, right?  Who is the publisher if it isn't self published?

TM. Oh, this one is self-published, too.  I simply meantit wasn't printed out by me on a home printer andsaddle-stapled.  This new book is professionally printed, bound, etc.  It will look like a real book, not something thrown together in my basement.

DB. When you started off to college, did you know you
wanted to teach?

TM. No.  As I said before, I really didn't care for
English/Literature.  I went to college with the hopes
of being a photojournalist.  But, I then took my
first American Lit. course from Dr. Lloyd Dendinger,
the man who would become my academic advisor.  After
taking his class, I was hooked.  I began reading
voraciously and started to take writing much more
seriously.  I changed my major to English with a
concentration in Creative Writing.  I was in my junior
year when I realized I wanted to teach.  I wanted high
school students to love literature.  I wanted to show
them it's not all boring rhyme and meter or dry
stories that have no relevance today.  Literature is
exciting.  Words and ideas have meaning in this world.
 Young people have a voice, and that voice matters.

DB. Was it always going to be English?

TM. Yes.  I've never dreamt of teaching anything else.

DB. Where did you go to school?

TM. The University of South Alabama in Mobile.

DB. What other jobs have you held down?

TM. I was in retail for a long, long time.  From there, I
moved into advertising sales.  I worked for the
Atlanta Journal-Constitution selling advertising space
to mom-n-pop businesses.  After that, I worked for a
small radio station and another small newspaper.
Sales wasn't for me, though.  The pressure of beating
last year's numbers was too much.  I was very grumpy
with my family and was on my way to having an ulcer.
Luckily, I got a job offer from a school system
looking for people who had never taught before.  They
were introducing a new teaching style that was a
radical departure from the old-school style of the
teacher-focused classroom.  Georgia has a program for
people who want to leave the corporate world and enter
into teaching, so I signed up for that and here I am!

DB. I read your poem about the inspiration your
daughters give you,
is your family a large influence on your writing?

TM. Oh yes.  My daughters and wife are my life.  Most of
what I write about is from my imagination, but if I
mention my family in my work, it's true.  They do
inspire me so!

DB. Even though you've gone the route of university
education, do you consider
yourself an insider writer, or outsider?

TM. Hmm, this is interesting.  I'd have to say an outsider
with one foot just inside the door.

DB. Why?

TM. I write about unconventional subjects in
unconventional ways, but I understand the need for
rhythm, metaphor, etc.  My poetry is definitely NOT
academic, but it's not directly from the street,
either.  Does that make sense?  Let me put it this
way; I wouldn't feel comfortable reading at an urban
coffee house nor would I feel comfortable reading at a
suburban library.  So in other words...there is no
place for me!

DB. How long have you been a teacher now?

TM. August 2, 2007 will begin my fourth year.

DB. What classes do you teach?  Are any of them
specifically creative writing?

TM. American Literature is my specialty.  Luckily, I am
the only person at my school who WANTS to teach it, so
I'm pretty much guaranteed I'll get each semester!  I
have taught Creative Writing, but do not enjoy it.  I
teach at a public school.  If the PE classes are too
full, they dump the overflow kids into classes like
Creative Writing because they don't fill up during
registration.  So, you have a lot of kids in there who
don't give a crap about it.  This coming year, I have
volunteered to teach The Bible as Literature.  This
should be interesting. 

DB. Do you encourage your students to submit their work
for publication?

TM. Yes, I do.  But, I also warn them to be careful; there
are too many "publications" out there that prey on
high school students.

DB. "Prey on," tell me what you mean by that, please. 

TM. There are a few publications out there, I'd rather not give their names here, that will tell a student they have had a poem selected for their anthology and all the poet has to do is send them $50 for their very own copy.  The trick is, the poem doesn't get in if they, the poet, doesn't buy the book.  I think that is cruel.  You see ads all of the time asking poets to send in their poems plus $25 - $30.  I tell my students that no one should ever pay to have their work published in a journal or magazine.  If they want to enter a contest, make sure the reading fee is reasonable; $5 for three poems with the grand prize being $250 is ok, but a $20 reading fee with a grandprize of $75 is not.  Does this make more sense?

DB. Is there a student publication for them?

TM. At my school, we have a student literary magazine that
is published annually.  There are a number of great
websites they can search to find a magazine that fits
them.  Student Ink is a national publication that i
highly recommend to them.

DB. Do you actively help with that?

TM. When I have time.  I usually help with the editing
process and have written a few recommendations, but I
want them to go through the process on their own.

DB. Have you had any students go on to be successful,
(frequently) published
authors?

TM. Not yet, but there is hope!

DB. Have you seen any with that kind of promise?

TM. Oh yes.  A few of these kids would amaze you!  They
blow me away constantly.  I can't wait to see what
they can do once their writing matures.  Oh my God!

DB. When students ask about becoming a writer, how do
you advise them?

TM. I tell them to NOT major in English.  I advise them to
get a degree in Business, Economics, Medicine,
anything but English.  I tell them that because not
all of them are cut out to teach.  One doesn't need to
have a degree in English to be a writer.  I tell them
to read constantly.  Read your favorite genre, but
branch out.  If they write poetry, I tell them to read
John Grisham.  If they write short stories, I tell
them to read Tennessee Williams.  I also tell them to
constantly revise their work.  All good writers revise,
revise, revise.  Have a thesaurus handy.  Build your
vocabulary.  Write about what you know; the truth is
stranger than fiction.

DB. You are familiar with Taylor Mali's poem, “What a
Teacher Makes”?

TM. Oh yes.  I ran across it by accident at YouTube.Com.

DB. How does that make you feel?

TM. I love it!  I wish I had written it.  The American
public has such a vile attitude toward educators
simply because we don't make the big bucks.  I would
love to see one lawyer, doctor, corporate headhunter
do what I do for just one hour.  Just one.  They
wouldn't be able to handle it.  I left the corporate
world so I could make a real difference in the real
world.  I tell myself at the beginning of each year
that if I get to one of them...just one...my job has
been done.  Luckily for me, I've gotten to more than
one.  I almost cried when a girl came up to me and
told me she reads for fun now, and I was to blame.
The feeling I get when I read a poem by Longfellow and
the class falls silent in awe is much more powerful
and rewarding that closing a $100,000 deal.  Having a
child come up to you and tell you you've made a
difference in their life...there's just nothing like
it.  Yeah, I know Taylor Mali's poem; I live it every
day!

DB. Thanks for all you do for America's future writers,
Tim, and thanks for the interview.

TM. You are very welcome!

You can visit Tim at MySpace, The Back Porch Philosopher. 

You can order his book, "Forgotten Elements: Confessions of a Back Porch Philosopher", from LuLu

You can visit David at A. Hello Whiskey.

Last update : 20-06-2007 07:39

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