Taking Flight: A Conversation with Poet and Skydiver Blair Hamelink

Blair Hamelink’s journey as a poet is as daring as his life in the sky. Born in Dunedin, New Zealand, and now residing in Colorado, Blair has spent the past 15 years in the United States, working as a skydiving instructor. His unique perspective—shaped by both adrenaline-fueled freefall and the meditative practice of writing—infuses his poetry with an unparalleled rhythm and energy. With a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature from Southern New Hampshire University and a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing and Poetics from the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics, Blair’s literary foundation is deeply rooted in the Beat tradition, surrealism, and the music of language itself. His latest works include Ill Weathers & Other Fates (Quillkeepers Press, 2024) and his full-length collection Sky-Mammals (2024), each exploring the interplay of movement, struggle, and freedom.

Sara Gaines

The Call to Poetry

For Blair, writing was less of a choice and more of an inevitability. Drawn to the wild, sprawling surrealism of poetic verse, he found early inspiration in Bob Dylan’s music, particularly in the singer-songwriter’s distinct rhythmic phrasing. “Dylan uses a sort of iambic-drawl when he sings, similar to the iambic rhythm that Shakespeare used,” Blair explains. This sense of movement in language captivated him and led him down a literary rabbit hole, from the works of Dylan and Jack Kerouac to Shakespeare, Dostoevsky, and beyond.

Blair’s Dutch heritage also plays a role in his creative lineage, with figures like Bosch, Bruegel, and Van Gogh influencing his artistic sensibilities. Interestingly, he recently discovered Jacques Hamelink, a Dutch poet who shares his last name and bears a striking resemblance to his brother. “Perhaps poetry lives in your blood,” he muses, reinforcing the idea that the artistic spirit can be an inheritance as much as a pursuit.

Writing as Rhythm and Ritual

For Blair, poetry is inseparable from rhythm. As a jazz enthusiast, he sees poetry as something spontaneous and free, yet guided by an underlying beat. “I always think of poetry in terms of rhythm first and foremost,” he says. His writing rituals reflect this philosophy—whether strumming a bassline on his guitar, walking on a treadmill while reciting Dylan Thomas, or letting words loop in his mind like a jazz improvisation. “Writing should feel like an engine propelling itself forward,” he says, reinforcing the physicality of his creative process.

Enrique Gautier

Inspirations and Influences

Blair’s literary influences are as varied as they are profound. While his favorites change week by week, constants include Dylan, Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, Samuel Beckett, Yusef Komunyakaa, and Sylvia Plath, among others. He admires poets who embrace their “inner moonlight” and write with a fearless sense of individuality. “A writer has to be shameless,” he asserts, quoting Philip Roth. This unfiltered authenticity is something he strives for in his own work.

Themes of Flight and Freedom

Given his background as a skydiver with over 15,000 jumps, it’s no surprise that flight is a recurring theme in Blair’s poetry. His work frequently features birds—particularly albatrosses and seagulls, both deeply tied to his homeland of New Zealand. His upcoming collection, In Pursuit of Liberty & Fledge, examines flight as a metaphor for self-discovery and breaking free from constraints. “We are all weighed down by something,” he reflects. “To finally break free is a triumph.”

Alex Driscoll

His poem “Guttural” explores his time at the Jack Kerouac School, capturing his transition from skydiver to poet. The title itself refers to a linguistic term describing a raw, throat-born sound—a fitting metaphor for the struggle of finding one’s artistic voice.

The Creative Process

Blair’s approach to writing is deeply organic. His ideas often come while in motion—running, driving, or even freefalling. Once he has a concept, he fills notebooks with freewriting, poems, prose, and even sketches, shaping the collection’s tone from the outset. Interestingly, despite once admiring Kerouac’s unedited spontaneity, he now finds joy in revision, refining his work through ten to twenty drafts before feeling it is complete. “Editing is where the magic happens,” he admits.

The Art of Sound and the Individual Voice

At the core of Blair’s poetic philosophy is a belief in sound, rhythm, and the fearlessness to follow one’s own path. “A poem doesn’t have to make sense—someone will make sense of it,” he says, echoing wisdom passed down through generations of artists. Whether structuring his poems with color-coded diction or channeling the polyrhythmic feel of jazz into his work, Blair approaches writing as an act of both discipline and surrender.

One of his favorite recent poems, “The Poet’s Ossuary,” examines solitude and the poet’s relationship with words as living entities. Inspired by Bob Dylan’s lyrical allusions, the poem blends the Gothic with the surreal, portraying poets as solitary figures surrounded by a sea of language. It reflects Blair’s own journey as an artist—unafraid to take risks, unconcerned with convention, and constantly pushing the boundaries of what poetry can be.

What’s Next?

Blair keeps multiple projects in motion at any given time, ensuring constant creative momentum. He is currently finishing Private Swells, inspired by Robert Lowell’s struggles with bipolar disorder, while also working on Arch-Angelic, a philosophical inquiry into skydiving as a hedonistic act, and Smudgey Hamlet, a dramatic work reimagining Hamlet in a modern world of pharmaceutical haze. His literary ambitions remain as boundless as the sky he so often falls through.

As he continues to evolve as a writer, Blair Hamelink remains committed to his unique artistic vision. Whether plummeting from the sky or crafting intricate verses, he follows his own rhythm—always seeking flight, in one form or another.