David H.W. Grubb
The Interview
Make sure to clear your throat just before things begin.
Dress is less important than address so look each one of them
in the eyes and take your time.
Do not shuffle papers. Do not pick at anything.
Do not attempt to sip tea. Don’t crack a joke.
Inevitably there will be that distant laugh, the sound
of the real world, the rumble of somebody’s stomach,
a colour or phrase that keeps crackling in your head.
Inevitably too there will be dates, names, recollections, bits from
a past life that roar inappropriately or signal distress or the
extended response that appears to have a life of its own.
Do not look at your watch. Do not exaggerate. Do not
boast or badmouth. Keep to your script.
There will be moments of light relief; pass on.
There will be showstoppers; keep going.
Don’t ever let the candidate see how nervous you are.
Dress is less important than address so look each one of them
in the eyes and take your time.
Do not shuffle papers. Do not pick at anything.
Do not attempt to sip tea. Don’t crack a joke.
Inevitably there will be that distant laugh, the sound
of the real world, the rumble of somebody’s stomach,
a colour or phrase that keeps crackling in your head.
Inevitably too there will be dates, names, recollections, bits from
a past life that roar inappropriately or signal distress or the
extended response that appears to have a life of its own.
Do not look at your watch. Do not exaggerate. Do not
boast or badmouth. Keep to your script.
There will be moments of light relief; pass on.
There will be showstoppers; keep going.
Don’t ever let the candidate see how nervous you are.
magazine list
- Features
- zines
- 10th Muse
- 14
- Acumen
- Agenda
- Ambit
- Angel Exhaust
- ARTEMISpoetry
- Atlas
- Blithe Spirit
- Borderlines
- Brando's hat
- Brittle Star
- Candelabrum
- Cannon's Mouth, The
- Chroma
- Coffee House, The
- Dream Catcher
- Equinox
- Erbacce
- Fabric
- Fire
- Floating Bear, The
- French Literary Review, The
- Frogmore Papers, The
- Global Tapestry
- Grosseteste Review
- Homeless Diamonds
- Interpreter's House, The
- Iota
- Journal, The
- Lamport Court
- London Magazine, The
- Magma
- Matchbox
- Matter
- Modern Poetry in Translation
- Monkey Kettle
- Moodswing
- Neon Highway
- New Welsh Review
- North, The
- Oasis
- Obsessed with pipework
- Orbis
- Oxford Poetry
- Painted, spoken
- Paper, The
- Pen Pusher Magazine
- Poetry Cornwall
- Poetry London
- Poetry London (1951)
- Poetry Nation
- Poetry Review, The
- Poetry Salzburg Review
- Poetry Scotland
- Poetry Wales
- Private Tutor
- Purple Patch
- Quarto
- Rain Dog
- Reach Poetry
- Review, The
- Rialto, The
- Second Aeon
- Seventh Quarry, The
- Shearsman
- Smiths Knoll
- Smoke
- South
- Staple
- Strange Faeces
- Tabla Book of New Verse, The
- Thumbscrew
- Tolling Elves
- Ugly Tree, The
- Weyfarers
- Wolf, The
- Yellow Crane, The