DANIEL MILTZ INTERVIEW

 

NILAVRONILL TALKING WITH

POET OF THE MONTH

DANIEL MILTZ

October 2025

NILAVRONILL: Welcome to Our Poetry Archive. Since April 2015 we are publishing and archiving contemporary world poetry each and every month. Up to the last month we have published 126 monthly issues and 11 Year Books. I hope you would also like OPA very much, like hundreds of poets around the world.

DANIEL MILTZ:  Thank you for the warm welcome! Yes, I do. It reflects a rich and diverse collection that celebrates poetic voices from around the globe. I am sure many poets and poetry enthusiasts, including myself, appreciate the platform's commitment to preserving and promoting the art of poetry, fostering a vibrant community of readers and creators worldwide. I look forward to exploring the work you’ve archived and connecting with the global community of poets you’ve brought together

NILAVRONILL: Why do literature and poetry in particular interest you so much? Please give us some idea about your own perception of literature or poetry in general.

DANIEL MILTZ:  Literature and poetry interest me deeply because they offer a timeless mirror to the human soul. In a world that often demands speed, efficiency, and noise, poetry invites us to slow down, reflect, and feel. It distills emotion, thought, and experience into language that resonates beyond logic - it speaks to something elemental within us. For me, poetry is not just an artistic expression; it’s a form of existence. It allows us to translate silence into words, pain into beauty, and fleeting moments into something eternal. Where prose explains, poetry reveals. It unveils the unseen - the subtle shifts of consciousness, the unnamed longings, the deep truths we carry but rarely articulate. My perception of literature, and poetry in particular, is that it’s both a sanctuary and a bridge - a sanctuary for the self, and a bridge to others. It connects individual voices to the collective experience, across time, culture, and geography. At its best, poetry reminds us we are not alone - that someone, somewhere, has felt this way too, and found a way to give it form.

NILAVRONILL: Do you believe that your literary self is actually an extension of your soul?  We would like to know the factors and the peoples who have influenced you immensely in the growing phase of your literary life.

DANIEL MILTZ: Yes, I do believe that my literary self is, in many ways, an extension of my soul. Writing has always been more than just arranging words on a page - it’s how I make sense of the world, how I process feeling, memory, and motion. In many ways, my literary voice is the most honest version of myself - a distilled reflection of who I am beneath all the noise. In the early phase of my journey as a youngster, I was deeply influenced by the raw, humanistic storytelling of John Steinbeck and the rugged, survivalist clarity of Jack London. Their work grounded me - gave me a sense of place, of grit, of the quiet strength found in struggle. Much later, everything changed when I discovered Jack Kerouac and the Beat Generation. That wild, stream-of-consciousness rhythm, the restless energy, the hunger for experience and truth - it was like someone had put language to the restlessness in my own chest. Kerouac didn’t just inspire me to write differently; he inspired me to live differently. The people around me, too - wanderers, listeners, dreamers, the ones who spoke in silences more than words - have shaped the way I see and record the world. Writing, for me, is a soul’s echo - and those who’ve walked before me have taught me how to listen.

NILAVRONILL: Do you consider particular language, culture and nationality shape up the poet’s literary self? What is your personal experience being an American? I would like to understand how much and in what way your language, your culture as well as your nationality paved your literary self.

DANIEL MILTZ: Yes, I do believe that language, culture, and nationality shape a poet’s literary self - not always directly, but inevitably. They form the atmosphere we breathe, the rhythm of our thoughts, the lens through which we observe the world. Even when we try to write beyond borders or identities, those foundations are still there, quietly influencing what we notice, what we value, and how we choose to express it. Being American - especially as the grandchild of Eastern European immigrants - has given me a kind of double vision. On one hand, I was raised with the American ideals of freedom, individuality, and reinvention and that has deeply influenced my writing. English is my native language, but I’ve always been aware that it wasn’t the first tongue of those who came before me. That gap - between what was lost and what was passed down - lives in my writing as a kind of longing. Sometimes it comes out in themes of rootlessness or searching; sometimes in the cadence of my sentences. Culture, too, is more than tradition - it's a feeling. A kind of collective memory that lingers in gestures, silences, and intuitions. For me, that’s where a lot of poetry is born. So yes - my language, culture, and nationality haven’t just shaped me as a writer. They’ve given me my questions, my voice, and the contradictions I keep returning to.

NILAVRONILL: Do you think the primary obligation of a poet should be to communicate with the temporal as well as with the eternal essence of life and the universe? If so, how can one fulfil that particular obligation?

DANIEL MILTZ: I do believe the poet holds a unique obligation - or perhaps a calling - to engage with both the temporal and the eternal. Poetry, at its best, is a bridge: it captures fleeting moments and lifts them into something timeless. The poet listens to the pulse of the present while reaching toward the vastness that exists beyond it - the eternal questions of love, loss, meaning, and existence. The temporal is what roots the poem in life - the texture of a day, the shape of a conversation, the scent of a place, the political or emotional moment we are living through. The eternal is what gives the poem its resonance - the way it speaks across generations, across cultures, to something shared and enduring in the human spirit. Fulfilling this obligation requires a certain kind of attention - to both the world outside and the world within. It means being honest, unflinching, curious. It means cultivating silence and presence so that the small moment can reveal its larger truth. It also requires humility - the poet isn’t the source of all wisdom, but a vessel through which meaning can pass. To communicate with both the temporal and the eternal, a poet must learn to hold paradox: to see the ordinary as sacred, and the sacred as something that lives within the ordinary. It’s not about having answers – it’s about asking the right questions, with sincerity and with open hands.

NILAVRONILL: It is an established fact that every poet should create his or her own poetic language as a unique literary signature that would eventually keep him or her alive beyond his or her time. I would like to know your personal experience in this regard, and how can one achieve that unique literary language in his or her lifetime?

DANIEL MILTZ: I believe that every poet must, over time, create a language that is uniquely their own - not just in vocabulary or style, but in spirit. A true poetic voice is more than technique; it's a fingerprint of the soul. It’s what makes a line unmistakably yours, even without a name attached. That kind of language is what keeps a poet alive long after their time – it’s their lasting presence in the world. For me, finding my own poetic language has been a slow, layered process - one shaped by influence, but refined by introspection. In the beginning, I mimicked the voices I admired – Steinbeck’s earthy realism, London’s raw edge, Kerouac’s beatnik chaos. But over time, something quieter began to emerge: a voice that carried my own rhythms, my own contradictions - shaped by my heritage, my silences, my sense of wonder and restlessness. Creating a unique literary language means listening closely - not only to other writers, but to yourself. You have to write enough to start hearing what’s yours in what you’re creating - what recurs, what feels inevitable, what feels alive. It also requires courage: to break form, to risk awkwardness, to trust instinct over imitation. No one finds it all at once. It’s a life’s work - uncovering, refining, stripping away, and returning. But with each poem, each honest attempt, you move closer to a language that couldn’t have come from anyone else. And that, I believe, is the poet’s immortality.

NILAVRONILL: Is it possible to put into the words everything that as a poet you wish to express literarily? If not, why?

DANIEL MILTZ: No, it's not entirely possible to put everything into words. Language has limits - it can hint, suggest, evoke - but some emotions, experiences, and intuitions live beyond what words can fully capture. As poets, we try to get close, but part of the beauty of poetry is in what remains unsaid, just beneath the surface.

NILAVRONILL: Do you think literary criticism has much to do with the development of a poet and the true understanding of his or her poetry?

DANIEL MILTZ: Literary criticism can play a valuable role in a poet’s development and in the deeper understanding of their work. Thoughtful criticism helps a poet see their writing from outside themselves - it can reveal patterns, tensions, or blind spots they might not recognize on their own. At its best, criticism isn’t about judgment but about dialogue - it challenges, clarifies, and deepens the work. It also helps readers engage with poetry on a more meaningful level, uncovering layers that might otherwise go unnoticed. That said, a poet must also learn to hold criticism lightly - to take what serves growth and leave behind what doesn’t resonate. Ultimately, the inner compass matters most, but honest, intelligent critique can help refine and expand a poet’s voice.

NILAVRONILL: Literature encompasses every aspect of life; it blends the various shades and textures of human aspirations as well as drawbacks. It also lights up the new horizons and new dimensions of human capabilities relentlessly. I would like to know your particular viewpoints; how do you relate all these in your own writings?

DANIEL MILTZ: I see literature as both mirror and lantern-reflecting the intricate realities of human existence while illuminating paths we’ve yet to walk. In my own writing, I strive to capture that duality: the quiet despair behind a smile, the fierce hope beneath silence, the contradictions that make us whole. Each word is an attempt to trace the contours of what it means to be human-our longings, our failures, our capacity to transcend. Through stories, I seek not just to describe life, but to deepen our understanding of it - to reveal the invisible threads that bind us to each other and to ourselves.

NILAVRONILL: How would you evaluate your contemporaries and what are your aspirations for or expectation from the younger generation?

DANIEL MILTZ: I regard my contemporaries with both admiration and a critical eye. Many are unafraid to confront uncomfortable truths, to experiment with form, and to dismantle inherited narratives. Their voices, diverse and unfiltered, reflect a world in flux-restless, fragmented, yet fiercely alive. However, in this creative surge, I sometimes sense a haste that risks depth for immediacy, clarity for cleverness. From the younger generation, I hope for a renewal of patience and purpose. I don’t expect them to follow tradition blindly, but to question it with sincerity and engage with language not just as a tool of expression, but as a vessel of meaning. I hope they write bravely-not only to be heard, but to understand; not merely to provoke, but to connect. My aspiration is that they continue to expand literature’s horizon while remembering its root: the profound human needs to tell, and to be told, a story that matters.

NILAVRONILL: Humanity has suffered immensely in the past, and is still suffering around the world. We all know it well. Are you hopeful about our future? What role can literature in general play to bring a better day for every human being?

DANIEL MILTZ: Yes, I remain hopeful-though not with blind optimism, but with a hope tempered by awareness and responsibility. Humanity’s history is marred by suffering, injustice, and cycles of violence, yet it is also marked by resilience, compassion, and the relentless pursuit of meaning. This duality is where my hope lives: in the capacity of individuals and communities to learn, to change, and to imagine better ways of being. Literature, in this context, is not a luxury - it is a necessity. It transcends borders, languages, and ideologies, allowing us to inhabit the lives of others, to feel what they feel, and to see the world through their eyes. In doing so, literature fosters empathy, which is the beginning of justice. It preserves memory, warns against forgetting, and dares to speak when silence is complicity. A poem may not stop a war, but it can awaken the conscience of one who might. A novel may not dismantle a system, but it can plant the seed of doubt in a mind lulled by comfort. Literature can envision the world not only as it is, but as it could be-and in that vision lies the quiet power to reshape reality, word by word, soul by soul.

NILAVRONILL: We are almost at the end of the interview. I remain obliged to you for your participation. Thank you for sharing your views and spending much time with us.

DANIEL MILTZ: Thank you – it’s been a real pleasure to share these thoughts with you. I’m grateful for the depth of your questions and the space to reflect on the craft and spirit of poetry. I appreciate the opportunity and your thoughtful engagement throughout the interview.

 

DANIEL MILTZ --Born in South Detroit, Michigan and resides in Hampstead, NH. Freelancer Writer & Poet. Devoted 40 years to the Engineering business in Government Aerospace Programs as a Mechanical Engineering Designer. Won over 1600 accolade awards from numerous Poetry Forums and in 250 anthologies with two published books to date. As a young aspiring writer, he was fascinated and guided by the spontaneous prose and poetry written by the writers of the 'Beat Generation.' Writing poetry has been Daniel’s passion since his early bohemian days living in California.