RK: I have three ledger books from 1921-1923 I bought in a junk store. SK: How did you get started with your current project? It's almost like you trip into it like a mud puddle and the stain on your pants is exactly what you need-the work takes you around a corner, and is better than anything I could contrive ahead of time.įront and back of a poetry/art postcard by Ron Kovatch. I get smarter when I make works on paper. I looked at old drawings, and sometimes I'd cut them up, and I'd make postcards out of them combined with pieces of text. I put a postcard in the Poetry Mailbox for a friend and told her I'd planted it there, and I became addicted to doing that. Short fragments really appealed to me, and I'd put some of those fragments combined with material from my studio into the box. So when Elizabeth started the Poetry Mailbox two minutes away from me, I started to walk by and put in fragments from books I was reading. A friend gave me a book of Jim Harrison's poems, telling me, "this guy speaks your language," and I related to it. But up until I moved to Tucson I didn't own a book of poetry. I went to a reading at Casa Libre that Elizabeth gave and I had great reverence for her work.
When I came to Tucson, everybody I met was a poet or an artist. I've always written, but I never took it further than thinking seriously about the title of a drawing or a sculpture. As for poetry: the Poetry Center opened a door I didn't know was there. When I see a palo verde beetle walk by, it's three inches long and I'm distracted by it in a wonderful way. I wanted to be challenged: I don't think an artist should be comfortable in their studio, pumping out wares. The first time I came here, I drove over Gates Pass, and I said, "I'm moving here." My wife and I fell in love with Tucson, its beauty and its extremes. Ron Kovatch: Those are really connected questions! I lived in the Midwest all my life, and as a kid I always wanted to see the saguaros. Sarah Kortemeier: What do you love about Tucson, and about poetry? This interview has been edited for length. Photos of the Poetry Mailbox by Elizabeth Salper. The Poetry Mailbox is the brainchild of poet and Urban Poetry Pollinator Elizabeth Salper: it's set up as a public art installation where neighbors can leave poetry for one another. This month, I spoke with visual artist Ron Kovatch about a project he's undertaken at a Poetry Mailbox installed in Tucson in the Broadmoor neighborhood.
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