‘Excerpt From a Paris Review Interview I Hallucinated One Night Onto Sand Out Back’ by Joseph Goosey
INTERVIEWER
Are there any lines you regret writing?
AUTHOR
Every day. Every night, too.
INTERVIEWER
Conversely there must be lines you regret not writing. Ones that have either escaped your own brain or been written by others?
AUTHOR
The Lawrence Arms ...
INTERVIEWER
Is that a –
AUTHOR
The Lawrence Arms is a punk band from Chicago, Illinois. Still active today. They have a song called ‘Recovering The Opposable Thumb’, which is a great enough title by itself but in that song one of their vocalists, a hilarious and talented young man named Brendan Kelly, sings ‘Toby Keith’s horses and Toby Keith’s men have finally put us all in our place’ – think of it! Now think of it some more. I’d much rather have come up with that one line than to be so privileged as to be sitting here talking to you today while in exile on the Italian coast for heinous crimes against humankind.
From issue #14: autumn/winter 2022
About the Author
Joseph Goosey is the author of one full length collection of poems, Parade Of Malfeasance (EMP Books, 2020). A second, Climate Denial For Lovers, is forthcoming from Really Serious Literature. He lives in North Carolina.
