Love of women fuels love of poetry BY CHRIS MURINO Staff Writer Jack Wiler SOUTH BRUNSWICK - Jack Wiler started writing poetry to get girls. It may be hard to believe, since his poetry is certainly not lovey-dovey. However, his poetry is described as perceptive, often humorous and sometimes heartbreaking. Wiler read 11 of his poems at a monthly poetry series at the South Brunswick Library on Sunday, presented by the South BrunswickArts Commission. Wiler stood in front of the group of about 15 and prepared to read his poetry. He is 56. He is balding and wears glasses. He said he is good at reading poetry, and he is, reading it with such force and conviction it sounds as if he has read it thousands of times before. But, when Wiler reads his poetry, it does not sound like poetry. It's more like stream-of- consciousness and he often sounds like a combination of Spike Lee and Jack Kerouac. Wiler has had two books of poetry published. His first, "I Have No Clue," was released in November 1996. His second, "Fun Being Me," came out in September 2006. "The first one's a younger man's book," he said. "It's a little bit more lighthearted, if you can say my work is ever lighthearted." "Fun Being Me" was written after Wiler was hospitalized with AIDS. "The second book came out of my illness to some extent," he said. "I had direct exposure to death, which most people don't get until they're dead. It had a profound effect on me. I'm not dead and I'm not planning on dying for quite some time." His illness has changed him as a person, as well. "Until this happened, I just did [nothing]," he said. "I thought I was paying attention, but I was just doing my stuff." Wiler also edited Long Shot magazine for 12 years, an independent magazine that debuted in 1982 and has since stopped publishing. He has been writing since he was 17 years old, but only "seriously" since he was 28. "I was committed to writing good poetry," he said. Wiler gets his inspiration from many sources, including his job at Acme Extermination in New York City. "It's a rich source of material," he said. "You've got life, you've got death. If you're writing, a piece of it should be brought from real life anyway." However, Wiler said he never writes from a pre-planned topic. Instead, he writes about whatever is "lumping around" in his head or about things that make him think of other things. "I thought you wrote when you wanted to talk about something," Wiler said. "Actually, it's the opposite. You write because something wants you to talk about it." Wiler loves doing poetry readings. His first one was in 1978 at the Poet's Café in Hudson County. "It's the only time you get a pat on the back," he said. "Here, you get an immediate response, good or bad." "You hope that someone hears what you're trying to say," he added. "You want them to feel something. I don't know what they'll feel, because they're the reader. I want a visceral connection with the reader." Writing poetry, however, is not all fun and games. "When you write, you usually have to talk about things that are uncomfortable," he said. "That's not too much fun, you know?" Then, Wiler writes a great poem. And everything's just perfect. "There's a physical rush," he said. "It doesn't happen often, but when it does, it's a cool thing. I enjoy playing with words." Wiler writes for himself first. "The Poem Where I Say Thank You" is the favorite poem he has written. "It talks to me in a very personal way," he said. "When you write, you're writing for an audience. The first audience you're writing for is you." Growing up, Wiler liked science fiction and fantasy stories, like "The Hobbit." He eventuallymoved on to Victorian literature andAmerican detective fiction. Some of his favorite poets are Bukowski, Allen Ginsberg and Robert Frost. However, other than Walt Whitman, he hated poetry in high school. It was, indeed, his desire for females thatmotivated himto start writing poetry. "It's the primary impulse behind anybody," Wiler said. "Why do people become musicians? Because they love the playing of these notes? I don't think so."