Tell us a bit about yourself?
I'm a huge music fan. I remember my mom listening to Helen Reddy, Barry Manilow, & Stevie Wonder in the living room & my dad would be listening to Patsy Cline, Jonny Cash, & merle haggard in the garage. And I Love live shows. That leaving it all for everyone to see on stage is so intoxicating to watch. I adore a great melody but for me, it's always been lyrics. Songwriters are poets to me.
Music and poetry go hand and hand,
when did you first start writing poetry?
I first started truly writing when I was 15 or 16 years old. I had an incredibly hard time talking to guys. I was awkward and self-conscious as we all are at that age. But words came easy, I could write something simple and leave an impression. My fingers worked when my tongue was tied.
What inspires you to write poetry?
Usually, it's a feeling. Or an insistent line running through my mind all day. Ever see Stewie on Family guy saying "mom" without stopping? That's my brain on poetry.
Have you ever written any short stories?
I used to write erotic short fiction on a website that caters to that kind of thing but it's been years. Not a big enough audience or feeling that I was touching or connecting with an audience.
What is your favorite subject to write about?
The human condition.
What we feel and how we connect.
Do you have a favorite poet?
I have many but not as much as I have favorite songwriters -
Jim Steinmann, Elton John/Bernie Taupin,
Jeffrey Isabel (Izzy Stradlin), Robert Plant/Jimmy Page, Myles Kennedy
What is your inspiration?
I want to be able to touch the reader so they see the world as I see it. Even if it's just for a moment. To find the beauty even in the darkness.
You were on Diaryland back in early 00’s, do you feel that blog or live journal is a dying animal?
I feel it has run its course. People tend to want immediate gratification, a blurb or better yet a vine to give them a sensation or an emotional response. I used to enjoy those sites because we connected and found like-minded souls. Nowadays people claim to want that and yet do almost the opposite.
They were a great place for me to find my voice.
Sites like that died out pretty quick because of myspace and then facebook.
Pathetic (a poetry website) and others are becoming an apathetic ghost town whose webmasters just don’t care about their creations anymore. Do you see this as the death of the community sites?
In a lot of ways, yes. Because now you can build a community page on sites like Facebook and have everything you need in one place. Without the traffic, it's hard to want to keep up almost obsolete pages. It's like a forgotten art form.
“Poetry is when an emotion has found its thought and the thought has found words” -Robert Frost
Do you think that poetry will continue to be around in this age of instant gratification and every changing fads? Do you think poetry has its roots placed firmly in our society?
Poetry is part of our human makeup. It's our dream speech. We babble and make noises before we speak. This is our brains own poetry and our first communication. It's our first music. And music is one of the only things that uses both sides of our brain. Poetry is always there, you just need the eyes to see it.
In the 80’s it seemed as though poetry was getting a bad rap as something everyone could do, but seldom were very good at. It seemed that the market was saturated with mediocre poets, nowadays it seems like poetry has become less imaginative and written to enrage or cause a prescribed response. What are your thoughts on this?
I had a taste of one of those sites early on. I bought the book I was featured in and the experience left a bitter taste. It was like everyone getting an achievement award.
I've had a little success since sending my work out but the backlash of those sites is that it seems journals and zines became more choosy about their subject matter or style they would accept. I'm self-taught and think rules for writing are in some ways outdated. Sound and voice get lost in parameters.
I understand going for the easy response. People will remember it if it's short or elicits a fast emotion like anger or fear. But is that writing or the literal equivalent to a video of the same nature geared for likes? I guess it's our job as writers to keep putting out quality to turn that tide. I know I don't plan on giving up any time soon.
Thanks so much for this Jen. You're a legend!
Thank you. I've enjoyed this a great deal.
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