FUNNY ROMANCES TO WARM YOUR HEART
Here’s my first ever videotaped interview conducted by our nine-year-old daughter, Kayla.
Have a beautiful holiday season!
PS If you comment on this video when it’s posted in my publisher Morning Rain Publishing’s fun holiday party event for readers and authors HERE at 7:30 pm EST Thursday, Dec. 11th (posting time – you can comment any time after that all night long) then you will be entered in a draw to win MRP books and book related prizes!
Happy Friday everyone! I’m pleased to announce I’m reviving my Interview with a Poet series! I’ll try to feature one new poet here every week. Please let me know if you’d like to be featured by contacting me in the comments section below, or drop me a line via email.
My first featured poet of 2014 is Alexis Spencer-Byers.
Alexis Spencer-Byers was raised in San Francisco; completed a degree in English at Amherst College in Massachusetts; engaged in various types of community development work in Jackson, Mississippi; and currently lives in Los Angeles, where she works as a church administrator and freelance copy-editor. While in Jackson, she co-founded Koinonia Coffee House, an inner-city café and community gathering place.
I haven’t met Alexis in person yet, but we’ve exchanged a lot of great emails and discussion board posts. We met back in early 2009 on Aaron Sorkin’s Screenwriting discussion board on Facebook, and have kept in touch ever since. I love her poetry, and am so thrilled that I can feature her here today.
Her recent poetry collection is titled Another’s Treasure.
Here’s our interview:
When did you start writing, and why? What keeps you at it today?
I started writing in the fourth grade, when my teacher, Mr. Kritikakos, gave the class a short story assignment. We were supposed to imagine that a famous person came to have lunch with us and write about the experience. I chose the royal family of England as my lunch guests—speculating that since Princess Diana and I shared a last name, we were actually distant cousins. This assignment introduced me to the joy of exploring possibilities beyond what I had experienced in my day-to-day life.
Later, as I continued to write stories, novels (none published and really all quite bad), and eventually poems, I discovered how wonderful writing was, not just as a way to imagine alternate realities, but as a means of making sense of actual realities. This is its main value to me today—it helps me to process the things I experience, observe, fear, wonder about, etc. As I am not at all talented in more visual arenas (drawing, painting, interior design, etc.), it is also my one shot at contributing something of beauty to the small corner of the world which I inhabit.
Tell us a bit more about yourself? What do you do for a living, what are your hobbies, and when/where do you write?
My vocational life is a complete hodge-podge at this point. I work part-time as a church administrator and also freelance as a writer/editor/proofreader. On a volunteer basis, I have begun serving with a few organizations in the Los Angeles area that work with incarcerated and formerly incarcerated youth and young adults. Some of these organizations are specifically writing-focused (Street Poets and InsideOUT Writers), and it’s a real joy to see writing provide a means of creative expression, emotional release, and self validation to young people who may never have thought of their voices and stories as having value.
Does watching baseball count as a hobby? Because that is how most of my discretionary time has been spent the last few years. I also enjoy various types of puzzles (jigsaw, crossword, etc.).
I mostly write at home (often after jumping quickly out of the shower, because something has suddenly occurred to me as I washed my hair), in the car (I promise I pull over before starting to scribble!), or at Street Poets’ weekly Seeking Peace poetry circles.
Tell us about writing Another’s Treasure. What was the hardest part? The most rewarding part?
The poems in Another’s Treasure were written over the course of nearly 10 years, but I didn’t start thinking about assembling them into a collection until about 3 years ago. I put together a manuscript over the next year or so, and then sought feedback from a few family members and fellow writers. One thought that came back was that the California section did not feel as finished as the Mississippi section did. (At that point, I had been back in California for just a couple of years, after living in Mississippi for almost 15.) So one of the challenges was to do enough California living to have more things to say about it!
The greatest challenge for me, though, is that sending my words into the world leaves me feeling incredibly vulnerable. Sharing any writing is risky, but sharing work that is largely autobiographical and very personal makes me feel like so many parts of myself (including both my writing ability and my life choices) are on display and open to judgment. Of course, that ties in closely to the most rewarding part: having another person resonate with my experience or ideas. There is nothing quite like hearing someone say, “I’ve felt just like that. Thank you for putting it into words!”
Of course, this ties in closely to the most rewarding part: having another person resonate with my experience or ideas. There is nothing quite like hearing someone say, “I’ve felt just like that. Thank you for putting it into words!”
Can you share one poem from it here and explain a little about why you wrote it?
Speaking of vulnerability… The theme of Another’s Treasure is the idea that beauty can be found in (and art created from) the “scraps” we find in the world around us—whether those are literal bits of metal, paper, glass, etc. that we assemble into sculptures or mundane bits of life experience that we write about in a poetic way.
I had done a number of poems that explored this theme externally, but eventually I realized that I needed to be brave and do a little introspection. At the time, I had just quit a job that had seemed like a good way to get back into meaningful community development work (teaching at an inner-city after-school program) after spending a few years in my copy-editing cave, but which turned out not to be a great fit with my gifts and temperament. I had to wrestle with the fact that not only did I not have an illustrious vocational history, but I also did not have a clear sense of a career path ahead of me. As someone who has spent a lot of time chasing various (often somewhat outlandish) dreams, the idea of allowing my life to take shape around me and finding value/meaning in “small” things like once-a-week volunteer commitments, investing in individual relationships, and even writing poems rather than longer works like novels or screenplays was foreign and a bit unsettling.
I stagger into the quarry
limping under the oppressive weight
of a beautiful
but ill-fitting
burden.
As I tenderly relinquish
the latest in a series of boulders—
each lovelier than the last
and all smeared
with the sweat, blood and tears
extracted by the double-edged pick
of imperfect discernment
and hard labor—
joy at the release
mingles with the gnawing emptiness
that now rests
upon my ravaged shoulders.
As the anxiety mounts,
I frantically survey the field
searching for another massive stone
I might be fit to carry,
not yet seeing the exquisite mosaic
taking shape upon my back:
multi-colored remnants of rock
some smoothed by time,
others still bearing
jagged edges
all mementoes
of seasons past—
reminders of small successes
instructive failures
unexpected adventures
and opportunities
momentous occasions
both glad and grievous
and the richness of life shared with others
still learning to embrace
a yoke that is easy
and a burden that is light.
What’s the coolest place your poetry has taken you to? It could be a place, or an experience, or even a person/people you’ve met because of your poetry.
This is such a great question! While it’s a bit strange to call juvenile hall “cool,” I think that’s going to have to be my answer. For many years, I had been concerned about violence among young people and the high rates of juvenile incarceration in the U.S., but I hadn’t found a way to involve myself in work to address these issues. Then, shortly after moving to Los Angeles, I made the acquaintance of some folks who served with an organization that ministered to incarcerated youth. They told me that many of the young people they interacted with were interested in poetry (which seemed highly unlikely to me, but who was I to question their testimony?), and they suggested that I come visit one of the detention facilities with them. When I did so, I discovered that they were absolutely correct—for many of these youth, writing is a lifeline that helps them survive their time in detention and allows them to imagine a future different from what they’ve experienced previously. It has been my privilege and joy, over the last couple of years, to assist a few young people in compiling collections of their writing, and to encourage numerous others more generally to continue developing their talents and voices. I’ve also met a number of “alums” of various facilities/programs, and they are both powerful writers and amazing people.
Do you belong to a writing group? Are you part of the Twitter writing community or not? Can you talk about this a bit – do you find belonging to a writing community is helpful? Why or why not?
The closest thing I have to a writing group at this point is the Street Poets circle I attend. I find a great deal of value in this gathering, where writing is created and shared, both in terms of maintaining momentum in my own writing life and for the sake of being exposed to other styles of writing and presenting poetry. (Plus, I get to sit in a room with a bunch of truly inspiring folks!) I have not ventured into the Twitter universe yet. Frankly, the immediacy of it scares me a little bit. My style is to work something over and over before allowing it out in public, and that doesn’t necessarily seem compatible with the pace of online exchange. Perhaps this will be a growth step for me going forward…
Why do you think poetry survives, in this day and age of TV, video games, YOUTUBE, surfing…Why is it still alive and, some would say, thriving?
I think that as human beings, we long to connect and identify with other human beings. As I mentioned before, poetry is often very personal writing—a way of sharing our own experiences, emotions, questions, etc. There’s an intimacy to it that can make both writer and reader feel a little less alone in the world. Obviously, we can get some of this sense of connectedness—along with the entertainment—from video content as well, but maybe this is another pacing thing. We experience video at the speed at which someone else decided we should experience it (unless we take the trouble to slow it down). Poetry—written poetry, anyway—we can take in at our own pace and mull over until it’s had a chance to settle deep within us and work its healing/inspiration/affirmation/challenge/comfort/what-have-you.
Any projects in the works? Let us know!
No specific plans at this point, although there is a growing “Poetry Collection #3” folder on my computer. I had ideas, when I moved to Los Angeles, of trying my hand at screenwriting, but (for now, at least) that notion is on the back burner as I write in bite-sized pieces that fit well into my patchwork life and schedule.
Heather, thank you so much for this opportunity to introduce myself to your online community! (And for your wonderfully thought-provoking questions!) It’s such a pleasure and privilege to be a co-laborer with you in the work of creating poetry and making it available to those who might appreciate it and be encouraged by it. All the best to you and yours!
It’s been a pleasure, Alexis, and I am sure my readers will agree.
Another’s Treasure is available on Amazon and via Alexis’s website Alexis is offering a special pricing code HGS1411 so readers can get a discount there. Paperback orders for any addresses outside the USA can be placed via Amazon.
My first question for mark was one that I didn’t even think of asking (because I hadn’t noticed) until I reread his first collection Tender Mercies. What’s with the lowercase m in his given name, ‘mark,’ and Uppercase S in his family name?
“I firmly believe that the Work is far more important than I am. However, I do not wish to show any disrespect to my family as they are quite important. Not only to me, but in their own right and accomplishments. So, I honor them and leave my given name lower case.”
mark began his writing journey as a self-proclaimed “angsty” teenager, but argues that back then, he “had nothing to say that hadn’t been said before.” He got more serious about writing in 2008, and continues to write today because it has become habitual and “more importantly,” explains mark, “it’s become needful for me to do so.”
James Brush, author of the blog ‘Coyote Mercury,’ wrote about mark Stratton’s writing style in his recent review of Tender Mercies:
I don’t always get what mark’s getting at, but the ride, the language, is a pleasure, and sometimes a line or two finds a place in my mind, takes root and won’t leave me alone. So the book goes back in the bag and I carry it around some more, sometimes forgetting it’s there only to be happily surprised again.
The most challenging part of writing Tender Mercies for mark was trusting the poems, trusting “when they were telling me they were connected as I was making them,” he explains. The greatest reward, now that the book has been out a while, has been “learning that the poems have resonated with readers.”
He enjoys being a part of online writing communities on Twitter and Facebook, but it puzzles him at times. “The very fact that people from all over the world have read my little scribbles fascinates me and humbles me at the same time,” he says.
mark’s most recent chapbook Postmarks is, as he says, “a total DIY job, handmade and assembled by me.” mark even took the cover photo.
One of the poems, ‘Frank,’ takes on the persona of a dead speaker: I’ll see them when/they get here, They’ll hate it too./And we’ll laugh. /Like being dead isn’t such a big deal after all.
A sign of the times, perhaps, is that ‘Frank’ was sparked by a discussion on Twitter. “The “trigger” for this was a discussion on Persona Poems on the Twitter #poetparty,” says mark. “The story in the poem is true, except for the parts I made up. It was an exercise in writing outside of my own voice, and I was fairly pleased with the result.”
It doesn’t surprise mark that poetry survives, and in some places, thrives, today. “Poetry, in some for or another, will thrive and survive because it was in our souls, bone deep, to express ourselves. The form and patterns may change, but poetry will survive as long as human kind does. Poetry truly is a way to express in words that which cannot be said any other way.”
You can follow mark (lowercase m) 🙂 on Twitter and Facebook, and please take a moment to check out his books Tender Mercies and Postmarks ~ support the art of poetry; support an indie author!
Every poet knows that getting a solo book of poetry published is no easy feat, but Kris Bigalk wasn’t about to give up easily. The creative writing program director, mother and poet from Minneapolis, Minnesota entered “every contest under the sun,” worked on her manuscript constantly for three years, and spent hundreds of dollars on entry fees.
“At the end of that three-year period, I felt like I had nothing to show for it,” she says. “I had published poems in New York Quarterly, so one day I took a chance and politely emailed the editor. He liked the manuscript, and offered me a book contract. This was quite a surprise for me!”
Repeat the Flesh in Numbers will be published by New York Quarterly Books in March 2012.
Kris’s love of language and writing began at an early age. “I started keeping journals at eight or nine, to help process my emotions. What keeps me writing is the thrill of getting some words on the page and tinkering with them until they say something that I never knew that I knew,” says the founder and now director of Normandale Community College’s creative writing program—the largest Association of Fine Arts (AFA) program in the country.
What keeps me writing is the thrill of getting some words on the page and tinkering with them until they say something that I never knew that I knew. ~Kris Bigalk
Kris’s work has recently appeared in Rougarou, Silk Road, the cream city review, and other journals. She has chosen to share ‘Senor Squirrel,’ recently published in Pif magazine, with us, as it’s one many readers will identify with:
The habenero peppers were no accident.
I grew them
especially for you,
to watch you pluck a bright yellow bonnet,
turn it over in your hands like a topaz
or tourmaline, then sink your bicuspids
hard into the flesh, only to throw
it three feet into the air, your mouth
on fire with my revenge, tail stiff
and high as you raced for your burrow
as I laughed, counting the losses
I had suffered at your paws – tulip bulbs,
sunflower heads, sleepy mornings
interrupted by your family arguments
in the tree outside my window…
Me gusto, Senor Squirrel.
The back-story behind this poem is rather amusing. Kris’s family is engaged in an ongoing war with the two families of squirrels in her yard, and so far, “The squirrels are winning,” she laughs. “We have a total of at least eight squirrels, some red, some gray. They fight with one another and regularly decimate my flowerbeds and my vegetable garden. One year, I planted Habanero peppers, and Señor Squirrel is about what happened next.”
Kris likes to write with humor to draw in her readers and put them at ease at the start of readings. “My funny poems tend to be the crowd-pleasers, but I write an equal number of serious poems, and honestly, they are more fulfilling for me as a writer.”
Several of the poems in Kris’s upcoming collection began with a story or an off-hand remark she heard at a party. “‘My dogs are my kids,’ she said, and I said” is a poem in the collection that centers on how dogs are really not at all like children. It’s an uncomfortable fact that we live in a country where a lot of dogs eat better, dress better, and have better medical care than a lot of children do — and the poem draws attention to an ethical dilemma many dog owners had not really considered. When I read that poem at a reading, the huge range of reactions to the content of the poem makes it a new experience every time.”
As if Kris isn’t busy enough with her five children (a daughter and four boys, including twins!), running the largest AFA program in the country, tricking clever squirrels, and launching her March 2012 poetry collection, she’s just learned that two of her poems will be appearing in a fine art book featuring photographs, poems, and prose, entitled Open to Interpretation: Waters Edge. You can look for it at http://www.open2interpretation.com and learn more about Kris and her work at the following websites:
Author websites: http://krisbigalk.wordpress.com; http://nyqbooks.org/author/krisbigalk
Book website: http://nyqbooks.org/title/repeatthefleshinnumbers
Book Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gps3WMR8doc&feature=youtu.be
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5003761.Kris_Bigalk
Twitter: @KrisBigalk
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Repeat-the-Flesh-in-Numbers-by-Kris-Bigalk/267990013233226
Heather Grace Stewart 