THC: How do you read your own poems?

EO: I try not to interpret them very much. Usually it is unhelpful if I want to continue to write in a natural way. Interpreting my own work blocks me on what I am currently writing, even it is different.

THC: What do you do about writer’s block?

EO: Usually if I get writer’s block it is because I am taking things too seriously. I try to write something playful. What I like that I’ve written comes from writing something and playing with it. I try to go back to that.

THC: How much have you written so far that will be part of your final thesis?

EO: I don’t know. It will depend on what I have at the end. I’m trying to just keep writing for the rest of the semester. I’ll take stock later. Writing a creative thesis seems to me to be an opportunity to develop a style or voice that will run through all of my poetry and unify it, and I hope that I’ll be able to work toward this throughout the year. And it’s a chance to focus on the kind of work I love most and feel the least conflicted about doing. I would like to keep writing poetry, and to publish books.

David D. Kornhaber ‘02 was theater editor for Crimson Arts in 2000. His thesis is a play.

The Harvard Crimson: What had you done before your thesis writing-wise?

David Kornhaber: I took a fiction workshop freshman year and two playwriting workshops sophomore year, one through the English department and one with the Dramatic Arts Committee. I’ve had two of my plays performed at college, one in the Loeb Experimental Theater and one in Leverett Old Library.

THC: What’s it about?