MENTORSHIP RECIPIENT

Mentorship Recipient: "Midnight Bike Ride"

Mentor Commentary:
​Ali Black

On the Revision Process for "Midnight Bike Ride"

by ​​Ben von Jagow

“Midnight Bike Ride” was a fun poem to write. I move around a fair bit and as a result, I’m always having to acquaint myself with new cities. One of my favorite ways to do this is by bike at night time. There’s something to be said about touring the streets of a city while it sleeps. With no traffic or pedestrians, the road opens up. Time cultivates a relationship between bike and rider and that was what I wanted to depict with the poem.
 
Ali was helpful from the get-go. She confessed that she rides bikes herself so I think she knew what I was trying to accomplish with the poem. Together, we discussed which lines were unclear, which words needed changing, and the overall image the poem was trying to convey. She was honest and concise and an absolute pleasure to work with. I haven’t received much formal instruction with my poetry but I feel like I can step away having learned something valuable.  
 
Thank you again, Ali.
​

​Ben von Jagow

​Ben von Jagow is a writer from Ottawa, Canada currently living in Denmark. His poetry has appeared in journals such as The Stockholm Review of Literature, Porridge Magazine, and The Literary Review of Canada, among others. For more of Ben’s work, visit benvj.com.