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What follows is an interview that Derick Varn conducted with Alec Kowalczyk.

How long have you been writing and publishing poetry?

1996.

Since you started have kind of trends have you noticed?

Increased awareness of poetry by the public. It's everyday presence on public transport, in the newspapers, on National Public Radio thanks to people like Robert Pinsky, Robert Hass and Garrison Keillor. And in conversation with non-poetry reading people.

Perhaps you can tell me how you started writing?

A long time ago in high school, with short stories steeped in horror. Occasionally poetry. Years later a lot of haiku. Finally, poetry and the occasional short-short story.

Any authors you have been particularly touched by that you discovered on the 'net?

Billy Collins and Jane Kenyon, two giants that anyone seems to like reading, including those who do not read poetry on a regular or any basis.

Do you read any internet literary journals or sites?

A few: Unlikely Stories, Off-Course, Branches Quarterly, Electric Acorn, Thunder Sandwich, Aabye's Baby, Southern Ocean Review, Comrades, Haiku Hut, Word Riot, Steel Point Quarterly, Tamafyhr Mountain Poetry, Rustlings of the Wind, Poetic Dimensions, Pegasus Dreaming, October Moon, PIF Magazine, Soul to Soul, Niederngasse, Dream Forge Webzine, Poetic Voices, WTC Memorial, Potpourri, Literary Lion, Stirring, Ken Again, Poetry Repair Shop, Moonwort Review, Dark Moon Rising, Stark Raving Sanity, Snow Monkey, Kavitanjali, 3rd Muse, Red River Review, and Decompositions.

How about print only journals, magazines, or 'zines?

To name a few: Limestone, Circle, Dreams and Nightmares, Yellow Bat Review, Bathtub Gin, The Paris Review, New Letters, Japanophile, Modern Haiku, Haiku Headlines, and Moon Reader.

How do you feel they compare? Do they at all?

I like both print and electronic magazines. Electronic magazines, of course, offer some unique features not found in the print magazines, sound and animated visuals being two of them. But then a bound magazine offers that comforting tactile experience ...

What kind of writing have you done and published on the internet?

Poetry, with some writing veering back toward the short-short story.

Do you feel your aesthetic has been influenced by the work you do or have read on internet?

The internet has influenced me to the extent of its speed and immediacy. Submissions are more frequent and less time consuming, and the feedback I get from readers is sometimes as quick as a matter of minutes.

Have you noticed any stigma related to internet publishing?

Any bias against it? I have not experienced any to date.