Wade Martin has been a member of the Writers’ League for one year and is attending the 2015 Summer Writing Retreat in Alpine. He lives in Austin, TX.

Scribe: In what genre(s) do you write?

Wade Martin: I am a poet, first and last. My career began as a philosopher, then novelist, then short story writer, until I finally found a medium that called to me. I’m not opposed to dabbling in other genres, but poetry is a wholly engrossing occupation at this point in my life.

Scribe: What authors would you like to have coffee or a beer with and which beverage?

WM: Earl Grey with C.S. Lewis, Laphroaig with Dylan Thomas and Guinness with T.S. Eliot.

Scribe: If you were stranded on a deserted island, what book would you want to have with you to keep you sane?

WM: The Oxford English Dictionary. I recognize that it isn’t a relaxing read, but it has everything I would need to create new story, and sand is enough of a substitute for paper to suit me. I mean no disrespect to my favorite authors and their work, but I’m afraid that arguing with a phantom Dante (or Virgil, or Beatrice) for the duration of my stay would produce more agony than pleasure. I’d rather attempt to learn and write in 14th CE Middle Dutch, rearranging sound and syntax as I saw fit, than pore over a beautiful masterpiece until I became annoyed at its formatting. Of course, that wouldn’t be the fault of the masterpiece – just my own idiosyncratic tendencies toward argument and insanity.

Scribe: What have you learned from your association with the Writers’ League?

WM: I took a workshop with Scott Wiggerman at the 2013 Summer Writing Retreat in Alpine which greatly enhanced by abilities as a poet. I have re-visited what I learned during the course of that week every week since. And I already know this upcoming 2015 Summer Writing Retreat with Scott will better my craft to a similarly life-altering degree.

Scribe: Where do you see your writing taking you (or you taking it) in the future?

WM: My hope is to write one good poem – something that gets it right, that touches people universally. Poetry has been my salvation, and it will continue to be my daily faith. What that means, how it affects the world – I can’t say, or even speculate, without overstepping my bounds. But I look forward to working on this craft until my dying day.

Scribe: Is there anything else about you that you would like to share with the world? An opportunity for blatant self-promotion!

WM: I’m working on a series of what I call “Parking Garage Haiku”, so if anyone knows of a good parking garage with bad parking that wouldn’t mind a poet walking about and jotting down criticism of an afternoon, let me know. Also, be sure to check out Poetry Foundation online – it’s been a wonderful resource for me, and is the classiest site dedicated to poetry I’ve yet to see.  Lastly, be sure to attend Poetry at Round Top in April – it’s local, it’s reasonably priced and it has been consistently life-changing since I began attending three years ago.