Beach writer John Oughton teams up with Nina West for Double Vision featuring art, poetry and photography

By JESSICA SHACKLETON

Beach writer John Oughton’s newest chapbook, Double Vision, was created with Nina West. It includes back-and-forth commentary on West’s art and Oughton’s photographs.

A chapbook is simply a short collection of work.

“I like them because you can do them yourself. I did the layout and put the type together with a little help from a designer and then we took it to a printer. It was done within a week,” said Oughton. “We wanted to do something quick and get it out there.”

Traditional publishing, though rewarding, can be quite lengthy, so Oughton and West chose the self-publishing route.

“The joy of doing this is that we can do it exactly the way we wanted. We chose the cover art, we chose the title. You have to negotiate some of those things with a publisher,” he said.

West and Oughton connected on social media and chatted about their work. West had a lot of work but not much had been published. Oughton thought it would be a great opportunity to work together, both responding to each other’s creations.

“We didn’t set many rules. Responses could be poetry or prose. When I gave her poetry and she gave me drawings we didn’t say, ‘Here’s what I was trying to do with this.’ So, we just took it as it was and responded,” he said. “It was quite an easy process.”

First published as an author in 1973, Oughton is an accomplished writer. He holds a Bachelor’s and Master’s Degree in English from York University and taught writing courses at Centennial College for 20 years before retiring.

He also attended the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics in Boulder, Colorado, where he took non-credit courses for two summers. This was during the Beat Generation of writers, and he worked with Allen Ginsberg and Anne Waldman.

“That was a big influence. I started taking writing more seriously after that because there were some big stars of the movement,” he said. “Writing was probably the first thing I discovered I was good at. Writing has always been easy for me. It hasn’t always been easy to make a lot of money from it.” 

Originally from Guelph, Oughton lived in Egypt and Iraq as a kid and later Japan and Nova Scotia. But he always returned to Toronto. He’s called the Beach home for about 10 years and now lives in the Victoria Park Avenue and Queen Street East area.

“It’s a great place to calm my mind and find incentive to write. I go for a walk along the Boardwalk and look at the lake. If it’s warm I take my kayak on the lake and paddle around,” said Oughton. “I find it a fruitful time where things cross my mind I hadn’t considered before. That’s my way of finding the right space.”

Oughton acknowledges that poetry isn’t for everyone, but he encourages people to forget what they’ve been taught about it.

“When I went to school and we looked a classic poem it was kind of like there was one right answer and we had to figure it out. In fact, that’s not how poetry works. You can read a poem and get any number of interpretations from it. It should at least convey a feeling, some kind of emotion,” he said.

“What a poem can do is take all those thoughts and put them into something that other people can access, see the world through someone else’s eyes.”

In addition to his latest work, Oughton has written poetry on numerous subjects, and has published more than 10 titles, including The Universe and All That, Time Slip, and Higher Teaching. His favourite work he’s done is Mata Hari’s Lost Words. 

As for advice for writers, here’s what Oughton had to say:

“Just write whatever comes in your head, start putting it down. Carry a notepad so you don’t lose stuff and keep at it. Also, look for a group of like-minded people, online or in-person, who will give you advice on your work and not put you down. Don’t give up. Lots of people’s early work is refused and they eventually become bestsellers.”

For more information on Double Vision, including how to purchase a copy, please contact Oughton through his website at https://joughton.wixsite.com/author/contact