And now for something… slightly different. Speculative literature comes in many varieties. Questions of “what if?”, “what was that?”, and “how could this be?” are posed and answered across varying mediums and forms. Poetry offers yet another gateway to the uncanny and my interviewee this time really puts the truth to this idea. Maxwell I. Gold is a Jewish-American cosmic horror poet and editor, with an extensive body of work comprising over 300 poems since 2017. His writings have earned a place alongside many literary luminaries in the speculative fiction genre.  His work has appeared in numerous literary journals, magazines, and anthologies. Maxwell’s work has been recognized with multiple nominations including the Eric Hoffer Award, Pushcart Prize, and Bram Stoker Awards.

Who is your favorite poet and why?

Dante Alighieri. As a poet, I often find myself re-reading The Divine Comedy and finding new interpretations, new forms of inspiration that I hadn’t thought about on a previous read. Also, his works tend to change as it relates to the use of metaphor, simile, and the historical relevance. I am always uncovering new interpretations through each read and identifying new ways that his poetry touches me. In particular, from Inferno VII (Infer. VII) as Dante and Virgil reach the tower at the edge of the river Styx:

Thus we made our circle round that filthy bog
keeping between the bank and swamp,
fixing our gaze on those who swallow mud.
And we came to the foot of a tower at last.

Dante’s representation of wrath and anger, according to the translator, is specific in how those trapped in the fifth circle succumb to it. While the image is so descriptive, and specific, I can’t help but conjure so many different feelings each time I read it.

I am curious about the notion of Dante’s works changing relative to “historical relevance.” Could you elaborate on this aspect a little more? Is it something you have seen in your own lifetime of reading Dante or are we talking about a broader timeline here?

I haven’t thought much about this in terms of my own life, and perhaps more as it relates to the world we are living in now. Dante was living and writing The Comedy during a time of extreme social and political upheaval when different interpretations of papal influence and power drove many of his countrymen, family, and friends to war. I don’t necessarily read either the whole poem or The Inferno as a parallel, though it has many facets that can be used by any poet or authors in modern times to help illustrate the current social and political polarizations we are living through.

Fun fact, and maybe this was an effect of reading The Inferno in middle school, but during the first term of George W. Bush’s administration I decided to craft my own version of Dante’s nine rings of hell. There were nine rings of American politics at the time with Dick Cheney at the center. It was rather crude looking back on it now, but I had a very politically involved family, so maybe I had a natural inclination towards the conflict in Dante’s poem.

When were you first made aware of this poet and when were you first drawn to their work?

The Inferno: A Verse Translation was the first copy I acquired some two decades or so ago at this point. I was eleven, out with my parents and we had to stop by Barnes and Noble because of course, what eleven-year-old needs more books? I had so many and there was always room for more.  I was drawn to the title and the cover art which was Visions of the Other World: Fall of the Damned by Dutch painter Hieronymus Bosch. I didn’t know much more about the book then and admit that many of the significant metaphors as well as religious, social, and political symbolism were lost on me at that time.

However, I was drawn instantly to the imagery and the language, and I was also reading a lot of ancient Greek mythology including Thomas Bulfinch, Ovid, Plutarch, and Homer, so it felt like a natural addition to those works and still does.

Is there one particular piece of work from this poet that you are especially fond of or that’s had a significant creative impact on you? What is that piece and what makes it so appealing or affecting for you?

The Inferno remains my favorite. I've read some of Dante’s Convivio which are several unfinished long poems he wrote between 1304 and 1307 while he was in exile, but I always come back to this portion of the Divine Comedy or The Comedy. I am in love with the drama and metaphor used in the poem as well as the complex symbolism. I’m speaking particularly about the verse translation and I’m always finding something new or weird or strange to pull from every canto.

How often do you revisit that particular piece or the poet’s work in general? What lessons have you learned at various times from the work?

I tend to re-read this version of the Inferno once or twice a year. Sometimes I will reference it when I am working on longer poems or narrative poems. I am very appreciative of Dante’s eloquent usage of language conveyed in a simplistic manner. The Comedy was actually written in Italian as opposed to the traditional Latin and at the time that was meant to have the text more available and widely readable by the population. When I am trying to compose a longer, or more narrative poem I often re-visit this translation of The Inferno.

Talk a little more about the attempt with The Comedy to appeal to a wider audience. How mindful are you of the audience when writing your own poetry? Are there any steps you take/have taken to potentially reach a wider audience with your compositions?

I think that’s the beauty of The Comedy: its simplicity. That’s why it has endured for over four hundred years. Dante purposefully wrote it in Italian so it would be more accessible to the readership of the day as opposed to the expected Latin. When I am writing poetry I try to take that into consideration, yes. It also depends on the piece and sometimes if the piece merits it. The Comedy is such a unique poem and is both poetic, philosophical, and symbolic. I know it sounds cliche, but I don’t know that one can plan out something like that. I try to incorporate many wider themes, cues from Dante as noted in earlier answers, and I have to see how they fit together, and how the music sounds at the end of the day.

Are there any pieces in the poet’s oeuvre that have not worked as well for you? If yes, which ones and why do you think that connection was not as strong?

To be clear, I am not a scholar on Dante. These are my thoughts shared as someone who’s had their own literary world shaped by his words as I am sure many others have, too, who’ve read the works of Dante. Over the years, it has come down to the translations I’ve read. For me, as a poet and someone who does not speak the language, I found the Signet Classics edition of The Inferno translated by John Ciardi less desirable. This edition seeks to keep the terza rima structure translated from Italian into English, and I was less fond of this compared to others that focus more on the imagery and symbolism.

This will tie somewhat into my next question, but as a poet reading other poets: what do you often find inspiring or educational in these pieces? Is it structure or more imagery/symbolism? Is this impacted in any way if the work is in English or if it’s in translation?

I am a sucker for symbolism and imagery. Those are tactics I often employ in my own work, but technique aside it is also how the same words have such a different effect on so many people. A person can read Blake and feel beauty in one sitting while a different person in the same sitting can be reading the same line and feel utter dread, or loneliness. Blake also has an effect on people. I think that’s the transcending aspect of reading other poets: seeing how those words manage to evolve over decades or even centuries. There’s something magical about it. I think that’s where my love of symbolism and imagery bubbles towards the surface.

What writing lessons have you taken, purposefully or accidentally, from your favorite poet?

Over the years, I’ve acquired an appreciation for his use of symbolism and metaphor as I’ve mentioned earlier and have attempted to utilize these in my own work. Not only that, but the heavy imagery alongside cookie-crumb symbols peppered throughout a much larger picture while simplistic in theory, can have a huge impact on a reader as they take the journey throughout a poem. Even if it is a 30 line poem or 300 word prose poem, the tactics have the same impact in my opinion. The reader is making a descent through some sort of unknown land or place until they reach the final ring, then, when they make their ascent, they turn back to see the landscape you’ve painted for them to appreciate.

Are there any works in your bibliography that you feel are closest to the work of your favorite—whether in terms of style, subject matter, length, rhythm, etc.? Talk a little about those similarities.

I’ve never attempted anything structurally like The Comedy as it relates to the rhyme scheme of terza rima. Though, I have written a few more narrative cosmic horror poems that mimic a poetic journey When I Swallowed the Sun, I Kissed the Night or Ex Oblivione: Nothing Out of the End. Those pieces weren’t structurally the same, but I suppose unconsciously I tried to incorporate the sense of scale, narrative, and dread.

Where does your writing diverge from your favorite poet’s? Are there any elements from your favorite poet’s work that you would like to incorporate in your own? If yes, what are these?

A more obvious point of differentiation, I think, is scale. I haven’t, yet, written anything on the scale of The Inferno, Purgatario, Paradisio, but I’ve often considered it and in fact I am working on an epic poem of sorts that is scheduled to come out in 2025 (almost 10,000 words). Admittedly, since working on these interview questions I’ve been actively thinking on other ways to incorporate Dante into my own work. Reflecting on his influence over me (consciously or otherwise). Another avenue I believe my work tends to diverge is the moral and religious tones. The symbols, if any that I have used, are less for any kind of moralizing and more for metaphor to paint a picture for something else.

One thing I love about poetry is how oftentimes sources of inspiration are referenced rather directly instead of the more oblique references one might have in prose. Could you talk a little more about that fluid relationship between texts that seems to be shared from poet to poet across generations?  

Symbols and metaphors are a great tool for poets and in poetry, and oftentimes whether you’re utilizing something as simple as a rose, or a rainbow or more mythic themes like Cerberus who was the ancient guardian beast of the underworld; they provide a jumping off point. I use Cerberus as an example here because Dante has a very specific image of Cerberus in the Inferno, but the ancient beast-hound conjures a particular image and thought in everyone’s mind’s eye. Vigilance, loyalty, fear, even wrath at times. I won’t go on about Dante’s Cerberus, though more importantly it is that reference point and the idea or that which Cerberus represents as a poetic symbol which is fascinating whether you are reading Ovid, Hesiod, or Dante.

If a reader wanted to start reading your favorite poet, what piece would you recommend they start with?

I’d recommend the Inferno: A Verse Translation by Robert and Jean Hollander. There are certainly other verse translations out there, but what I do like about this one is that it has the Italian on the left side of the page (not that I speak fluent Italian). It also has commentary for each section line by line. I actually have three or four editions of The Comedy.

If you could ask your favorite poet one question about their work, what would it be?

Dante was a poet, philosopher, and politician, and historians argue he finished The Comedy while in his exile from Florence. I think it’d be interesting to ask him if he’d revise the Nine Circles, or if he saw them as fluid, ever changing with the socio-political climate of the day, or the time of those who are reading it.

What do you have coming out next on the writing and publishing front? What are you working on now?

I actually have an epic poem coming out in 2025 titled Songs of Enough: Endless Cycles of Black Dreams and Spirit Bile from Hippocampus Press (still not as long as The Comedy, but one day) and another poetry collection in 2026 titled Neurotica: Poems that will be released by Shortwave Publishing. I’m very excited about that book as it will be Shortwave’s first poetry title. I’ll have a few poems coming out in various anthologies between now and 2025.

A few anthologies coming out soon I’m really excited to be a part of include: Dark Spores: Stories We Tell After Midnight Volume 4, A Crack in the Code: Cybertronic Stories of Rebellion, Don’t Ask, Ghosts Tell: An LGBTQ+ Horror Anthology, Even Cozier Cosmic, all include my poetry. And of course a few I can’t mention at this time.

Thank you for taking the time to chat with me about your favorite author. Well, one of your favorite authors!

Where can readers find you online?

I am @cybergodwrites on all social media platforms except Twitter. And of course, my website: thewellsoftheweird.com where I occasionally tell the world what I am up to!