Wanda Waterman
Volume 22 Issue 17 2014-04-25

Patrick Woodcock uses poetry to document the suffering of humanity in war-torn countries—a kind of poetic nonfiction. (See Voice review of Echo Gods and Silent Mountains: Poems, his book of poems based on his time in Iraqi Kurdistan.) Recently he took the time to answer Wanda Waterman’s questions about his formal and informal education and some of the close calls he experienced in Iraq. (Also read the first and second parts of this interview.)

Unwitting Mentors
As with many poets, university wasn’t a great fit for Patrick, who openly admits to having despised it. But he later realised that all of his learning, even his formal education, had been a huge boon to him, preparing him for the nomadic life he now follows.

“It was nothing like I expected, and I was too immature and too far-gone in many respects to be there. I’m still amazed I graduated. It wasn’t until I moved to Poland that I understood how much university had helped me. And since then I have taken every possible chance to continue studying.” (Read the rest here.)