You know him simply as the brains behind Pathetic Poets Society, the one responsible for creating, maintaining and managing the website that so many poets from abroad all call “home”. Gavin Roy is much more than the founder and site administrator of PPS, among other pursuits, including fatherhood he is also a fine poet.

I had the distinct pleasure of speaking to Gavin on the telephone recently and found that it was almost impossible to interview him about his writing because we fell easily into digressions about everything under the sun, from fatherhood to spirituality, weather and business.

When we did eventually circle back around to the purpose of the call I could almost see him smiling through the phone line while telling me that the writers who influenced him as a child included Dr. Seuss and Shell Silverstein. As a teenager he enjoyed the work of Douglas Adams, particularly “Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy” which he read in excess of 45 times. He also appreciated the writing sensibilities of English cannon greats such as Shakespeare and the Romantic poets.

Humble. Down to earth. Patient. These are a few of Gavin’s qualities that were evident to me while subjecting him to the list of questions I grilled him with during the interview:

“Did you ever imagine you would create a “home” or a “salon” of sorts for poets, and for so many different voices from across the world? Do you see yourself as a visionary in terms of bringing poets together who would likely otherwise not influence one another?”

Gavin was quiet for a moment and then answered that while he was involved early in the Open Source Movement and worked in the IT industry, he never considered himself a visionary and in fact has difficulty seeing himself as one now.

“What do you perceive to be a writer’s responsibility, as a poet and as one responsible for publishing others voices?”

There was the sound of giggling for a few seconds and then a good natured reply of “ummm…the use of spell-check?”. All kidding aside though, he thoughtfully pauses and adds being true to oneself, feeling satisfaction with what you have created, examination or exploration of the self in the work and then asks why all these tough questions. We laugh again for a few minutes and I promise to wind it up soon. Only a few more questions…

“As a writer what are your major concerns – what do you most want others to glean from what you have to share? What are the major themes or focuses of your writing?”

Without question he says that intolerance is something that concerns him and that he wants to challenge people in the place where they stand which is the theme of his poem “Someone smells of Intolerance”. Day to day life, his wife Michelle and spiritual concerns are the chief subjects of the poems he’s written to date.

The following is a list of the highlights of Gavin M Roy's poetry:

• on michelle #1
• Baby DMZ (a sonnet)
• It Starts With a Prayer

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