Dr. Brown's New Adventure

Peter Bryant, '26

Ensworth teacher Dr. Kevin Brown has announced that his next book, Jack Imagines a Different Map, will be released this fall. To find out more about the poems inside and Dr. Brown’s writing process, the newspaper team sent him some questions. Find out more about the book, read an excerpt from it, and learn about his authorial journey below.

Dr. Brown, thank you for agreeing to talk with us. We’re really excited for your next book to come out, and really want to know… Did any real-life experiences influence your story?

The book is a collection of poems, but it does center around a character named Jack. He's middle-aged, and his life isn't going the way he thought it would. Oddly enough, when I was working on the collection, slightly more than a decade ago, I, too, had hit middle-age, but my life was quite good. I find that my poetry tends to be the opposite of how my life is. However, I did want to write about somebody who wasn't happy in their work, as that's something I don't see too often in literature, especially in poetry. That said, a number of the details or even some of the events are inspired by people or times from my life.

What was the most difficult part of the writing process?

I produced these poems as part of my MFA in Creative Writing, so I was getting a good deal of feedback on them, both from professors and peers. With that many voices, it's often difficult to know which suggestions to take and which ones not to.

How did you filter out those pieces of feedback that you deemed unnecessary to the process?

That was one of my most significant challenges in pursuing a graduate degree in creative writing, as I wasn’t used to having to filter that many voices. First, I learned who to trust and who not to based on how well I thought they understood what I was trying to do. One of my professors said that her job wasn’t to make me write like her, but to be the best writer I could be. Not surprisingly, her feedback was often the best. Similarly, there were a couple of students who took the same approach, as they worked to understand what my purpose was, then make suggestions accordingly. There was one person who I always felt misunderstood my poetry, so I would make a note when she made a comment, as I tended to trust it less. Second, I had to learn to trust myself more. One professor gave me a good bit of feedback that I thought pushed my poetry in directions I didn’t want it to go. I tried out his suggestions, as I wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt, but then I changed many of the poems back to more of their original approach when I didn’t think they improved.

Was it hard to get your book published?

It was. I tried for several years to get it published, and I came close several times. I stopped for a few years, but then I sent it back out on January 1 of this year, this time to a press that published a short collection of my poems about fifteen years ago.

What’s the most exciting part of the publication process?

I could probably say that none of it is. I like the writing part much more than I like the "producing and selling a book" part. I did enjoy finding a cover photo, though.

How did you end up picking the one that you chose? Did it have any specific meaning to a single poem, or did you feel that it encapsulated the general feeling of the book at large?

I started out by doing a search on Flickr, where I had found previous covers, looking for poems with the theme of mortality. The ones I found were both too obvious and not quite what I was going for. They reminded me, though, of a photographer whose work my wife and I had seen in Asheville when we used to go over there on a regular basis. I found his work online and knew I was on the right track, as he focuses on decay. I found a picture of an old, broken watch, which worked perfectly, given my collection’s focus on time passing and how Jack feels like his life is slipping by. Since it seemed to sum up the overall tone, I reached out to the photographer and asked if I could purchase the digital rights for my cover. He very graciously agreed.

How do you handle writer’s block?

It's rare that I get writer's block. It's more frequent that I have ideas, but I don't have time to write them. When it does come, though, it doesn't bother me too much at this point in life. I trust that the ideas will come back at some point. If they don't, I have my day job. Since I view myself as a teacher far more than as a writer, that eases those concerns.

What inspired you to write this book?

Oddly enough, Dungeons & Dragons. I used to be more intentional about taking on some sort of challenge or inspiration to help me find ideas (see writer's block above). I played D&D a bit when I was in middle and high school, never seriously, but I knew enough about it to use it as a starting point. I found a number of terms from the game, and I used those as titles. When I was working through the poems with my peers and professors in graduate school, several of them said that they liked the poems, but not the titles. I agreed, and I started revising the titles. I went from that to figuring out that the speaker of the poems (or the person the poems were about) all seemed to have the same concerns, so I shifted that into the Jack of the title.

What’s one piece of advice you’d give to aspiring authors?

Read as much and as often as you can. Then, sit down and write, write, write.

Can you share your favorite scene or chapter in the book?

I don't know if it's my favorite or not, but one of the final poems I wrote was loosely inspired by a trip my wife surprised me with to The Lost Sea. Here's the poem:

“Jack Sees Clearly in the Dark”

My friends took me to the Lost Sea—

a local attraction most locals only enter

in elementary school. We heard about

caves and crags carved out, though

I still never know the difference

between stalagmites and stalactites.

The guide turned out the lights,

surrounded us with a darkness deep as

despair. Though we could not see

our selves, hands moved back

and forth in front of faces; one

young woman whispered, This feels like

death. Darkness is as much like death

as walking underwater is like being lame.

We could still hear our heartbeats, think

about what we might make for dinner,

consider our ancestors who existed here

or those who died elsewhere, like my Uncle

Louis, lost at sea in the second world war,

those who made the same mistakes we will,

misunderstood death. I stood looking

into the darkness, tried to find the reflectors

they placed on rocks to guide us to this spot.

How did you choose the title of your book?

It's the title of the next-to-last poem in the collection. I thought it summed up how Jack felt about life. He wants a different life, but he needs some direction getting there.

Do you have a favorite writing ritual or routine?

When I wasn't running, I used to love to go out for a walk in the morning, and I would work on a poem in my head. The ideal day was when I got into the office, and I had something I felt worked well enough to put down on paper. I still take walks on Sunday mornings, my day off from working out, and I still try to work on something.

What’s next for you as a writer?

I've been writing flash nonfiction essays (under 1000 words, often much shorter), and I'm enjoying that. They're a bit of a cross between a poem and an essay. Since so many poems are already narratives, it seems like a good combination for me.