kendall-mallon
American
I started writing poetry my junior year of high school while we were studying the Beat Generation. My teacher had us do an exercise called kick writing--essentially you just write without think. Just write. What came out of that I consider my first poem (entitled "The Start of it All"). Before that I dabbled in song lyric writing, but they were crude, overly emotion (in a juvenile sense), and immature. With the Beat Generation I fell in love with Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg; I would have to say my favorite poet is Ginsberg, and I draw a lot of inspiration from him. I mention Jack because I also follow his use of spontaneous prose. Jack and Allen had a great friend ship and worked off each other--while Jack wrote mostly novels, and Ginsberg solely poetry, they both have influenced my writing the most. Other Influences are: James Joyce, Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin, Herman Melville, William S. Burroughs, William Faulkner, P.B. Shelley, John Berryman, and Charles Bukowski to name a few.
