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I recently caught up with poet Max Heinegg, who has a new collection of poetry out. Heinegg works as an English teacher, brew master, musician, singer, actor and of course poet. He resides in Medford, and his poetry reflects the Somerville, Cambridge and Medford area.

Doug Holder: The title of your new poetry collection is Going There by the Lily Press. Where are you going with this

Max Heinegg

collection of poetry? In this part of your life are you taking a look at new territory, or revisiting the same ground?

Max Heinegg: The book is about literal journeys and the big life journey; it’s about going to work, seeing the country, and attending all of the human ceremonies: weddings, births, funerals, and all of the mundane things in between, which I try to present as often having more significance and complexity than at first glance. I think it’s about revisiting the past with clearer sight, but the poems range in age from less than a year, to in many cases five. There’s a lot of revision to try to make the work sing.

DH: One critic stated that your poems are like an arrangement of mirrors. Explain.

MH: I think they mean I present places, people, and experiences as they are but also from different angles (often in the same poem) to show things as they are but also from different angles to reveal depth. I’m looking for resonances as well as different vantage points, and to try to see things from the perspectives of the subjects I’m writing about.

DH: Among the many hats you wear is that of a brew master. I wonder is there a sort of poetry in the birth of beer?

MH: Yes. I think there are some similarities with writer’s block and then working on a piece. Making beer is about curiosity and enchantment, and then relying on experience and knowledge to help the beer become what it “wants” to be. Every beer is different and the arrival of every beer is exciting!

DH: Why should we read your book?

MH: I think the book is relatable on a human level. I write about family, teaching, travel, and aging, but I also write about Medford, Somerville, Cambridge, so there’s a local aspect to it. For people who enjoy accessible, narrative oriented poems with a focus on the sound of the language, I think the book will connect. I always ask myself if the work feels authentic and if it reads with energy. I think these poems do that and I’m very excited to share them.

Raspberry

This is what I left the city for—​
a sight to soak in, the ah
in yard, a pint in a palmful,
the fruit that grows itself.

In summer, when they sit
heavy, loose to the touch,
I yield to ants that drag a crown off,
& wait until a thin pinkie can
don the knit pink hat, then focus
& get at the fractal of

drupelet a fat lip,
level an igloo’s row,
sepal a present’s bow,
peduncle a bristling

the tongue plays lazy
pestle to, molars for
mortar. Seeds bitter-
sweet as the month is
plucked. One, not done.

From Going There.

To find out more about Max go to:  https://www.maxheinegg.com/biography