My influences are fairly diverse. The best bet is to divide them into a few broad categories:
If it weren't for rock 'n roll, I might not be writing at all. As a kid, I loved to bring a new record home, and read the lyrics as the record spun on the turntable (this was, after all, a few years before the cd came on the scene). And as it turns out, a number of lyricists were essentially poets in their own right -- or at least came awfully damned close. Among those who matter most to me I'd include the almost surrealistic imagery and search for meaning expressed in Bob Dylan's early work, the romanticism and sense of isolation of Neil Young, the quiet and not-so-quiet despair of Roger Waters' best writing (all of which occurred before Pink Floyd's The Wall album), and the raw jadedness of Lou Reed. It was the punk and new wave explosion of the late 1970s and its aftermath that probably most inspired me (in large part because of the DIY mentality of most of its participants), and I owe an enormous debt to Brian Eno, Wire, and Jello Biafra of Dead Kennedys fame. Eno's absurdism, Wire's imagery, and Jello's on-target satire all played a role, of course. But perhaps what really hit me was that each of these three artists relied on very few lines to make their point (okay, so Jello can get a little longish in spots -- so what?). They made the act of creative writing seem do-able to me when I was just getting started. Add to that the poetic musings of a number of rap artists and their predecessors: Gil-Scott Heron, A Tribe Called Quest, Guru, Digable Planets, among others. These cats are drawing on a number of traditions including beat poetry and bebop jazz. The Last Poets used to call what they did "jazzoetry".
With the possible exception of the Romantic Era writers (such as Shelley), I mainly read sci-fi and fantasy during my teenage years. It wasn't until I got to college that I began to contemplate the great mysteries of life -- namely women and beer. I discovered numerous other writers who had written extensively on those two topics, and had plenty to say about many others -- including life's meaning (if any). The work of the Beats has probably had the most impact -- especially the work of Kerouac and Michael McClure. I also groove on one of the Beats' kindred spirits, Charles Bukowski. With deceptively simple verse and coarse language, he manages to profoundly capture all that is truly human. The Existential philosophers and writers, especially Nietzsche and Sartre, had an impact on my world view during my early college years, and not surprisingly their influence resonates in my writing to this day. I also owe a debt to the work of Vonnegut, whose cynicism pokes plenty of holes in humanity's attempts to take itself seriously, and who gave us the greatest religion that never existed -- Bokononism, which was of course founded on shameless lies.
It was the discovery of haiku, though, that truly changed my life. In the work of Basho I finally found a vehicle to express my ideas. Haiku often seemed much like snapshots to me -- simply descriptions of the on-going scenery from the perspective of the writer without any overt attempt to give meaning to the end result. Practice in writing haiku boosted my productivity as a writer, but improved the quality of my longer pieces as well. Now, when I run out of text, I stop (to paraphrase Colin Newman).
Music has been very important to me over the years. My tastes have evolved tremendously over the years, from heavy metal and progressive rock during the late 1970s and early 1980s; to punk and industrial during most of the 1980s; grunge in the early 1990s; folk and blues in the mid 1990s; and jazz, minimalism, hip-hop, and electronica today. I especially find instrumental music most conducive to writing. Both jazz and early industrial music (e.g., Cabaret Voltaire's 1979-1982 period) have been particularly useful for haiku writing. My longer works seem to require more of a rock, folk, or blues background, and not surprisingly, many of my longer poems read like lyrics.
