Alan P. Hayes

About Me

I was raised on a defunct goldfish farm in Western New York. In 2000, after a lifetime wasted on trivial matters, I began making pictures. I live in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, with my wife and five cats and am almost eight years old, counting in dog years. I can be reached at dead@generousmedium.com

Why do you write?

Don't really know. It's just what you do. Many years ago, as a kid of sixteen, I had the good fortune to be attending a college freshmen orientation that happened to include a presentation by the jazz saxophonist, Archie Shepp. I don't remember anything about that session, except that Archie started off by asking us a question, "How many of you here are creative?" Everyone sat there, and then a few of us (I being one, I'm happy to be able to say) timidly snuck a hand up out of our laps. Archie gave us a little while, taking in the response. When everybody had had a chance to declare, he yelled out, "YOU'RE ALL CREATIVE!"
That's all there really is to it, that and giving yourself over to it.

Any favorite authors? Books?

Authors:
William Burroughs, Gary Snyder, W.B. Yeats, Richard Yates, Wendell Berry, Ursula Leguin, Rex Stout, Phil Dick, Andre Dubus, William Strunk, and on and on...

Books
Tristram Shandy, The Complete Book of Nonsense, by Edward Lear, Fowler's Modern English Usage, Gravity's Rainbow, Jayber Crow, Barber of Port Royal, Leguin's Earthsea cycle, Junkie, Earth House Hold, Frank's The Americans, Walker Evans's Many are Called, anything by Lee Friedlander and on and on...