The Many-Pocketed Poet
Interview by Linda M. Castellitto
Jack Prelutsky, poet and anthologist and singer and guitar-player (and sometime woodworker), has been entertaining us with his charming verse for nearly 30 years. And, after three decades, his creativity and whimsy have not waned -- as evidenced by the poems in It's Raining Pigs & Noodles, published last summer, and the very funny story-in-verse, Awful Ogre's Awful Day [excerpt], due out in September. I recently had a fast-paced, wide-ranging phone conversation with Prelutsky, in which he told me the origins of some of his poems, sang a few ditties, and talked about what it was like to write with Dr. Seuss looking over his shoulder.
You started writing in your 20s, or so I read. I often hear from authors that they'd reached a point where it was now-or-never, try-or-die. Was that so for you? What was the pivotal moment or thought or thing that got you writing?
I was about 23 when I started. I always knew I was different, used to go out with women and almost all the women used to say, "You know, you're different." I wasn't fishing, I'd say, "Well, why?" and they'd respond, "You're just different." I was just different from other guys, which is probably why I got beat up so much.
I always knew would be some sort of artist, but didn't know what. I tried pottery, opera, choruses, dinner theater, terrariums, at one point sculpting and drawing (I used to invent funny little critters). Then I started working in a book and music store in Greenwich Village, teaching guitar, and singing in coffeehouses. I would go to sketch groups and draw. I really enjoyed the subject matter, but I wasn't good at it.
Then I decided to draw from and on my own imagination, and everything came out perfect. I invented animals and birds -- I had about two dozen. After working on them for six months, I sat down and just for fun wrote two dozen poems to accompany the drawings. It was for no one to every see, but a friend sent me in to an editor. She took one look -- I didn't know first thing about kids' books -- and said you're very talented, we want to publish you.
It wasn't an epiphany, it was a serendipity. I had a gift I'd never suspected. That woman, Susan Hirschman, encouraged me to write about real animals. I grew up in the Bronx and spent a lot of time at the zoo, so animals were something I could write about. She is still my editor now, and is going to retire as publisher of Greenwillow Books, an imprint of HarperCollins, in August.
What are you reading now?
My reading is extremely eclectic. Lately I've been teaching myself computer graphics, so I'm reading a lot about that. I read books of trivia, of facts.
What's on your bookshelf?
On my shelf right here? How to Be Well-Versed in Poetry, Shakespeare...every once in a while it's good to read a little Shakespeare.
What are you reading now? What kind of poetry do you read?
What am I reading now? I don't know! Wait, hold on...how quickly I forget. Recently, I finally read Angela's Ashes, and A Walk In the Woods. I read about nature, animals, I collect all children's poetry -- I have about 5,000 books here now. I've read most of it. I look for poetry in English because it's the only language I r