First Friday Open Mic at Dagny’s  Coffee (Summer 2019)

There were poets and musicians, new faces and seasoned performers at Dagny’s Coffee during the summer 2019 at First Friday Open Mic. 

Below are interviews of poets who performed during the summer.  An in-depth interview is made of Julie Jordan Scott by Carla Martin.  Julie hosted the Open Mic on May 3, 2019 and on July 5, 2019.  Additional interviews and their poems include Austin Yi (performed June 7, 2019) and Mateo Lara (performed August 2, 2019).

Open Mic June 2019
Photos by Kern Poetry

 

Open Mic July 2019
Photos by Kern Poetry

 

 

Interview with Julie Jordan Scott 
By Carla Martin

Q.  Julie, you hosted in May and July of 2019, and did such a fabulous job! I was wondering if you’d care to share some of what you know about poets and poetry in our community and beyond?

A.  First, I love hosting Poetry Open Mics. Many people in Bakersfield know me from my work in local theater. What they don’t know is that long before theater I was hosting Open Mic Night at Barnes and Noble, almost twenty years ago. I love encouraging poets and writers. I especially love creating community among writers and poets. That was one note of kudos I received when I hosted at Dagny’s. One of the people there said I made everyone feel welcome and affirmed.

Q.  What are some “happenings” you are aware of? Opportunities to submit poems, or read poems, etc.

A.  I spend most of my time with poets and writing poetry on social media. I need to improve my submitting skills!

In May, for example, I did a livestream series on Periscope and Instagram on Meditation and Poetry. What I loved most about this was sharing poetry found on the Poetry Foundation website which houses every single issue of Poetry Magazine that has been published since 1912. Visitors may print the poems there which is what I did during May and I encourage others to do as well.

Here is a link to the blog post I wrote introducing that series.

http://creativelifemidwife.com/2020/05/beingacomma/

Videos may be found on my Instagram page.  Here is one:

https://www.instagram.com/tv/CAqdI-TABnR/

I don’t know of any local events right now. I am not looking to be out and about much. I am at high risk after my illness in October, so I am better off staying at home. I know the Thursday night open mic at Dagny’s was doing some instagram lives for a while, but I don’t know if they still are.

Q.  Are there any issues pertaining to our region that you are passionate about? What should we be aware of?

A. In the past I was very interested in education and immigration. I am still interested in both but not as active.

Recently I participated in a Pride Parade in the Oleander area that was so fun. My daughter and I decorated our car and we represented the Empty Space theater. The Creative Crossings have done many murals in Oleander and beyond, some permanent and some chalk. Watching them grow and share so much exuberance in the community is my new local favorite.

Q.  Do you like to read poetry?  If you do, what poets have influenced you?  Who have messages you connect with, or styles you admire?

A.  I love reading poetry. When I was a newer poet, I didn’t understand the power of reading other people’s poetry: it felt like being in the classroom which I didn’t want to do! Once I started reading poets like Mary Oliver and Billy Collins I just kept going. I love finding prose writers such as Margaret Atwood, Louise Erdrich and Diane Ackerman who are also poets.

When I teach writing classes to adults, I always encourage poetry reading as a way to become better prose writers. As Samuel Taylor Coleridge said, “Prose = words in their best order; — poetry = the best words in the best order.”

Q.  What advice would you give to other folks wanting to create poems? How do you make a poem?Do you have a special place you go to, or music you listen to, etc.? Give us a glimpse into your creative process.

A.

1. Always carry a notebook with you AND/OR jot notes in your phone. I have a note folder in my phone I call “poetry jots” where I take notes on imagery, portions of eavesdropped conversations, interesting things I may say aloud or think that may become an interesting bit of poetry.
2. Write everywhere. It might sound counter-cultural, but I am opposed to having “one special place to write.” To me that is an invitation to being blocked. The more comfortable writers can get in more places – and become less self-conscious the more freely their words will flow.
3. Create a writing goal. My current everyday writing goal sounds enormous – which it is – and also tiny – which it is. Today is 198 of 377 consecutive days of haiku poetry I write every day in the morning and post on my Facebook page. In fact, I often assign my writing students to use haiku for lots of writing. Allen Ginsburg, one of the great beat poets devised something called “The American Sentence Poem” which is a seventeen-syllable poem without the three-line Japanese haiku structure of five syllables-seven syllables – five syllables.

Right now, until the beginning of August, I have added an additional challenge of writing a haiku at sunrise.

How this process works has definitely helped me during the pandemic because it requires me to leave my house and be in (urban) nature here in Bakersfield. I take a photo, I write a haiku to go with the photo, I post on Facebook and I go on with my day.

Some of them have bombed and others have been embraced. This helps the creative to learn some work will be a success and some work will flop. It’s all good, either way! What is important is every day I am intentionally putting my words out there into the world. It wipes away self-consciousness and sometimes it even inspires people.

Julie’s poetry blog:  https://juliejordanscott.typepad.com/jjspoetry/

See Julie Jordan Scott’s words and photos on Facebook. Here are a few selections.

The first one that started it all:

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10156937934987333&set=a.10156937936012333&type=3

Making my subject local historical places gets audiences interested:

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10156983044352333&set=a.10156937936012333&type=3

Art begets Art

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10157179265937333&set=a.10156937936012333&type=3

 

A poem by Julie Jordan Scott

Solitude, when it is a choice,
is better than
when it is a rant:

Interrupted like the loud
purr of my
neighbor’s lawn mower or
the too loud
drunken laughter of my daughter
that relegated me to my
very very very
visible porch dungeon
chocolate cake and I
are the sinews and the cartilage

ancient black out poem winks
“Interwoven” of deserted island pink
in a sea of gesso
smudgy innocence, breasts
undercover when I am stuck alone
in the clock tower…. apologies for less than
stellar poetry
accepted

I don’t even

So here’s the deal:
uniformity, lock step agreement is boring
(and that bulbous choice is an
utterance I don’t use lightly) feel the
frowning energy, mutterings airborne
and the appeal of the flibbertigibbet
nestles into the roots of my crown
smiling, Mona Lisa like.
Like Mona Lisa. akin to
Mona Lisa basking in her
mystery. people continue attempting
to fit into boxes marked “understood”
rather than rolling into the welcoming
womb of mystery, the antidote to
know-it-all’s snarkdom wouldn’t we as
humanity be better off if we accepted
it is in the not knowing and the moving
forward even with the fog swirling about
the antidote is in the airborne space between the
foot and the soil, the roll of the wheel, the
movement of the pencil on repeat

 

Interview with Austin Yi
by Carla Martin

Here is the poem Austin shared with us at Dagny’s on June 7, 2019:

Air Apparent
after Carl Theodor Dreyer’s The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928)

flurried utterances
                                          of consecrated smut
off shelves of humorless self-styled holy
men among other Hollywood martyrs
back from the marketplace, spruced up
in ashes gathered from
                                          burning bouquets
belonging to a girl no more an ornament
than a coal lump but
                                          just as bright;
wheezing through rerun lapses erected
to rank of mantra,
                                          a prayer, a state
of grace attained through the naming of
                            things that don’t belong
to them,
bungling branches hacked for that
original magic―

               the whole thing just faded away
                                                         the mount and the ramp
down
               the other side exactly as you    
                                                                     described
highly stylized  
                            grandiose but
no trick                                                      the little strength
                                                        of our universe
                                                                                    with its
               bonobo incontinence
and
               useless inclinations—
                                                       my best
                             friend on a beach
                                                                                    with a fistful of sand
                                            for home
                                                          has nothing to do
                             with self-
                promotion;
                                                          what a woman!

                                           delighting in trees
simply because their leaves
                                                                        move
                            if
                                           even by the very wind
              enkindling faggots
             of sapless wing
                                                            and limb
                                           below roasting soles
as soiled
as Christ’s

 

Q.  What inspired you to write this poem? What’s its back story?

A.  I watched “The Passion of Joan of Arc” for the first time in March and couldn’t help but see it as an allegory of the #MeToo Movement.

Q.  What poets do you admire? Who has influenced your own writing?

A.   Right now my Holy Trinity of Poets consists of Frank O’Hara, William Carlos Williams, and Audre Lorde. In O’Hara’s work I admire this sense of “programlessness” as his friend and contemporary John Ashbery puts it, or rather how he can create poetic structures based on the rhythm of a beautiful sentence rather than developing sentences to fit into an already-made form, like a sonnet. He reads like jazz.

I admire Williams for staying home when every other artist and writer sought ex-pat status. He also has more humanity than T.S. Eliot.

Reading Audre Lorde’s poetry empowers me. I haven’t come across a writer who speaks to the disenfranchised the way she does.

Q.  What advice would you give aspiring poets? Describe your creative process.

A.  I write poetry the way I doodle, in the margins of something “more important.” This means it’s impossible for me to intentionally sit down and write a poem. Instead, depending on the feeling I’m trying to capture, I’ll scavenge through notebooks, journals, receipts, napkins, anything, for phrases I don’t remember the origins to, compile them into a list on a word document or notecards, and begin arranging and rearranging, try to discover a rhythm and hopefully meaning beyond the nonsense of arbitrarily clustered phrases. It’s the weeding-out of sentences, words, and phrases that I find to be the closest thing to writing poetry. And the content of my notes can literally be anything, although I do prefer the eavesdropped conversation more than any other source.

 

Interview with Mateo Lara
by Portia Choi

Here is Mateo Lara’s poem shared at the Open Mic on August 2, 2019:

 

“Rest Here”

By Mateo Lara

time     to         rest here           the space above           your head above

the lie              here I pull                    us down together.

this                  which bastardizes light           which bastardizes ownership             

the joke of land           the split skin                the withered throat      hide the truth

the cursed land            here     the sleep eternal          us, quiet weakened things

broken-glassed room   mouth  ghost   bed      the confinement

the trap is freedom      the trap is open            ness     necessary

the shadow falls          the secret in our walls             voices escape, we finally        escape

now we ask for freedom         when we          though we       should have taken it from the

beginning.

 

Mateo emailed that “What inspired me to write the poem is the fight for immigrants on the border. Just having family dealing with the obstacles and struggles of finding safety in the violence and chaos that the U.S. has posed to immigrants, especially immigrants of color. It was a kind of evocation to rest, and ask for your freedom, demand it, despite the pain.”

Kern Poetry Interview with Jerry D. Mathes II

Interview by Carla Martin
Photographs by Kern Poetry

Jerry D. Mathes II was the featured poet for Dagny’s First Friday Open Mic Night, last year on May 3, 2019.  The event was hosted by local poet and poetry advocate, Julie Jordan Scott.

 

 

The interview with Jerry D. Mathes II 
by Carla Martin

Q.  What inspired you to write your poems?  What are their backstories?

A.  I am inspired by life to write poems. That thing that drives anyone to tell a story that is as innate as painting on cave walls. In poetry, I write about events that have an underlying transformational moment, an emotional turn that happens. In the poem, “Venus in Retrograde” I was driving out Highway 58 before sunrise between Tehachapi and Boron headed to Las Vegas, Nevada where my father had been hospitalized and was about to undergo heart surgery. My two daughters were asleep and I was alone with the road noise and Venus burning in the light of false dawn. I wrote the poem in my head as I contemplated the gravity of the trip, my rocky relationship with my father, and the drive, the journey itself. This is classic story telling. What is the physical action of the story and what is the emotional action of the story? I had my journal with me, as I always do, so scribbled out the lines as it rested on my thigh. I’d learned how to write on a steno on my thigh as a helicopter manager when I was a wildland firefighter, so it’s something I can do easily.  

 

Venus in Retrograde 

The girls and I drive east, 
Sunrise like a creamsicle, 
spread only the way a desert 
can make it, edged between jagged 
mountains and the freezer blue 
of a sky, failing before day. The half-light 
ripples the frost on the dry lake, 
and Venus hangs a punch hole in the dark sky. 

We travel to see my father, whose heart 
is battered with decades of cigarettes, 
industry, and the working class diet 
designed to keep the body burning 
through the long shifts of mining ore, 
hauling the nation’s freight, or the rejection 

of a first born son. The space around 
his heart has filled with fluid like so much 
sweat and tears of a lifetime of work, 
compressing it until it struggles to beat, 
to do its job. 

My daughters sleep as I drive and regard 
Venus through the windshield, fading 
with the sunrise. How the son always 
feels the pull of the father, no matter 
how far away he travels or long ago 
the last civil word. 
Venus maybe in retrograde, 
but it always returns along its frozen 
ellipsis, not to the heart, but close enough 
to see its light at its brightest. 

 

Q. Do you like to read poetry?  If you do, what poets have influenced you?  Who have messages you connect with, or styles you admire?

A.  I do like to read poetry. And poets who have influenced me are Walt Whitman, Emily Dickenson, Tennyson, Wilfred Owen, Langston Hughes, Richard Hugo, Jane Kenyon, James Wright, Anna Akhmatova, Allen Ginsberg, Robert Hayden, Phillip Levine, Yusef Komunyakaa, and others. I don’t really look for messages, but how a poet uses words and images and how they connect to the human condition. I like when a poet lets a poem have room to breathe and even if it adds up to a certain way of looking at the world, like in Levine’s “What Work Is” or Tennyson’s “Ulysses,” events within the poem led us there and we aren’t being preached at. Even political poets like Owen and Ginsberg work through imagery and in the end let the readers contemplate how they feel about the subject. You can look at Ginsberg’s “America,” and its litany of injustices, sense of protest, or those people on the fringe, where it seems a rejection of America and its values because “America I’ve given you all and now I’m nothing,” but in the end turns it upside down when he says “America I’m putting my queer shoulder to the wheel.” The same with Owen’s poem “Dulce et Decorum Est.” He isn’t saying the war is hell, stop the war. He is showing you the horror of war as it existed for him on the Western Front and the reader can see the horrors and come to their own conclusions, which is much more powerful as he comes to the final line in Latin that works against the idea of glory and honor in war. Poetry can reveal to us injustices, horror, or oppression and it can be celebratory, elegiac, or mythic in searching, but how it wrestles with these things is what is important to me. Aristotle wrote in Poetics, “the ending must be unexpected, yet satisfying.” He was talking about all narratives. It’s what gives us surprise or delight as we finish reading. It’s also important to remember the reader is smart and doesn’t need to be told most things, and it robs a reader of the satisfaction of discovery. For instance, in Whitman’s “The Artilleryman’s Vision,” the artilleryman is hallucinating the battle in his home in bed with his wife and “through the dark, I hear, just hear, the/breath of my infant.” He shows us and we are left to share the experience. You can see this also in “Starlight Scope Myopia” by Yusef Komunyakaa where we are looking through a night vision scope at enemy soldiers who “Gray-blue shadows lift/shadows onto an oxcart.” and what is flat and dark opens out into a larger world of humanity we couldn’t have predicted, and discover a revelatory ending. I think a lot about Richard Hugo’s “Degrees of Grays in Phillipsburg” about a trip to a played-out mining town and he shows us the wreckage and hope of life in this trip. It begins, “You might come here Sunday on a whim,” and if that isn’t inviting you into a world laden with meaning to ponder, then I don’t know what is. But for all these authors, it is the imagery that shows us the way, and not the author telling us, and the author trusts we are smart enough to get it. I have no use for preachy poetry. In fact, preachy poetry is more for the writer than the listener. As the poet Richard Hugo said, “I you want to send a message, call Western Union.”  

 

Q. What advice would you give to other folks wanting to create poems?  How do you make a poem?  Do you have a special place you go to, or music you listen to, etc.? How long does it take you?  Do you write in the morning or evening?  On the back of envelopes or on your phone? Give us a glimpse into your creative process! 

A.  The advice I give people who want to be poets is to write and read and write some more. Look at poems you like and figure out how they were constructed. A good thing to do is get a book on forms and learn how to construct formal poems that don’t sound stilted, archaic, or forced, and after that you can break the form and create what you want. Another exercise I learned in college was modeling. Take a poem you love and use it as a blueprint for your own poem. Copy the meter, the line length and the number of lines, but use your own words and imagery. 

I don’t have a special place, or music, or a particular time of day and compose poems with whatever is handy. A poem can take years or days to minutes to write, because that’s how it works. My creative process is to look at the world or think about events or things and what questions they raise for and how to work it out. Yeats said, “Out of the quarrel with others we make rhetoric; out of the quarrel with ourselves we make poetry.” The poet must be introspective and struggle with her or himself as they confront the world and, most importantly, confront themselves. Poetry, it’s a search for meaning.  

Kern Poetry Interview with Matthew Woodman, Kern County Poet Laureate

Interviews by Carla Martin
Photographs by Kern Poetry

 

Interview by Carla Martin
Here are four poems Matthew Woodman shared with us at Dagny’s on First Friday, April 5th, 2019:

The Fugitive
       “I’d like to settle down, but they won’t let me.”
        –Merle Haggard

Who wouldn’t want to shed
their stripes in the shadow
of Mt. Shasta, the most
voluminous strato-
volcano astride the
Cascade Volcanic Arc?

Of the five essential
features of the phono-
graph, Edison opens
with captivity and
permanent retention
of all manner of sound-

waves previously stamped
“fugitive,” reception
as a correlative
of regulation, San
Quentin California’s
oldest prison and the

state’s only death row. Es-
capes may be divided
into voluntary
or negligent, actual
or constructive, Haggard’s
parole and then pardon

inexorably linked
to his band of Strangers
and the birdseye maple
Fender Telecaster
with the two-tone sun-
burst finish. To listen

is to risk being moved.
We are brief engagements
of time and pressure in
eruptive, ecstatic
song. Who wouldn’t want to
be born in a boxcar?

 

Day and Night
       (after Rufino Tamayo’s El día y la noche, 1954)

we purchased a family membership
at the california living museum
the aquarium will open
after the new year after the holiday
lights we watched the cougar
sleep we practiced deep soft stuttering
hoots on the great horned owl
we croaked and clacked the ravens
we followed fox tracks through
the powdery soil outside the cages
a turkey vulture spiraled over
head I told my son something dead
might be on the menu soon
his great grandfather recently passed
and dividing classifying diurnal
nocturnal but then why is the owl
awake sometimes things slide
through the night my grandfather
slipped into a coma I saw him
standing in my living room a high-
way away what propellant keeps
us participating in this bilateral
symmetry can modality be new
what happened after they took him
to the funeral home I explained
cremation and a simplified version
of closed systems of conservation
of energy and life cycles what was
your favorite part I asked the snake
house he replied a building seems
to cut into the side of a mountain
or pyramid and he’s always liked
descending mines or caves reading
about ancient monuments studying
the stars can I go out at midnight
he asks and look for ghosts at first
I dumfounded am but then realize he
refers to a game downloaded on his
mother’s phone of I tell him course

 

The Astronomer (1957)
       (after Rufino Tamayo’s painting El astrónomo, 1957)

The more I look the longer I last
just jump they say right in if you want

to understand but how does one reach
the firmament put oneself into play

amid the fault lines interplanetary
alignments slopes tracing the otherwise

incomprehensible tangle of table
crossed legs and do you want a refill

make of your head an orbital stone
be unafraid to careen and cause

questioning glance if need be at the hole
where the compass would be had you not

ditched it at the border along with your hold
on the pedometer and your corner chair

against the wall where normally you’d watch
the intersections traffic not in what

could happen but rather in fusing
the range your space to the spaces out there

 

Man with Flower
       (after Rufino Tamayo’s painting Hombre con flor, 1989)

The palette knife shaves seconds clean
into years since I had a full head
of hair the pate a sheen robin egg blue

the sky in spring shorn of the last
wispy tufts I still nick my throat’s right
when the razor’s dulled blade has seen

better days of buttered toast bacon
and eggs beneath a mound of biscuits
and gravy shelled on a handwashed plate

the rest proceeds both too quick too slow
how much has what else will rust
this patina before it all leaches

into the soil and sprouts a spindly
white daisy from which children
weave chains and forge crowns

– – –

Q. When did you first become interested in poetry? What poets have inspired and influenced you?

A. I first became interested in poetry as a child through Dr. Seuss and Shel Silverstein, and I have a “One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish” tie that I wear on days I am feeling especially nostalgic. In terms of writing poetry, I suppose I would have to blame the writer Jim Dodge, from whom I took three or four creative writing courses at Humboldt State University. His novel Stone Junction is a hallucinogenic quest novel that I highly recommend, Fup is a shorter work about a larger-than-life pet duck, and his collection of poetry Rain on the River: New and Selected Poems and Short Prose contains one of my favorite poems, “Karma Bird.” I am always on the prowl for new poets and poems from whom I can find my own inspiration. Two of my earliest influences were John Berryman (Dream Songs) and Raymond Carver (Ultramarine). More recently, I have been influenced by Charles Simic (Hotel Insomnia), Olena Kalytiak Davis (Shattered Sonnets, Love Cards, and Other Off and Back Handed Importunities), Kay Ryan (The Best of It), A.R. Ammons (Garbage), Homero Aridjis (Solar Poems), and William Carlos Williams (Paterson), and this year I’ve been following Rocío Carlos (the Other House).

 

Q. What is your greatest desire to accomplish as Poet Laureate of Kern County?

A. I seem my role as Poet Laureate of Kern County as being some sort of catalyst who can inspire other people to read, write, and perform their own poetry. If I can inspire or assist another writer in putting their own words into the world, then I will consider my role a success.

 

Q. What advice would you give to aspiring poets? What is your modus operandi?

A. To all aspiring poets out there . . . read as much poetry as you can! Read the classics! Read what was published last week! Don’t obsess over finding your voice; instead, try to gather and give breath to all your voices. There are hundreds of literary journals publishing great poetry. Subscribe to a few, or ask your local library to pick up a subscription; many of these journals also have an online component (or are completely online), so there is no financial obstacle to seeing what’s being created now, in the same time and space in which we are living. I particularly enjoy the online journals Mojave Heart Review, Memoir Mixtapes, and Longleaf Review and the print journals Willow Springs, Puerto Del Sol, and Zyzzyva, but each journal has its own voice, so find the journal that publishes work you enjoy, and keep writing (and editing! and rewriting!) and then submit your own work to that journal. And don’t be discouraged by rejection; rejection is all part of the process and is a sign that you’re on the right path (as long as you continue writing and improving). My poems have been rejected a painful number of times, but –to use an analogy– the only way to build muscle is to tear the tissue and let it heal back stronger. Earn those rejections! And then make changes to your poem (or not!) and send it out into the world again. I also recommend finding a community of writers so that you can encourage and support each other through the process. The Writers of Kern is doing great work on this account, and an aspiring poet could also use the local library’s community page to start a writing group at the library. As for my own modus operandi, I like to give myself writing assignments or projects. For example, one of my recent projects involved the painter Rufino Tamayo, whose painting “Dog Howling at the Moon” stunned me when I first saw it. I then sat down to write a collection poems, each of which would be inspired by a different Tamayo painting. This ekphrastic project resulted in nearly 200 poems, and an earlier collection focusing on “moon” poems ended up numbering nearly 80. Each project has a centered focus (paintings or the moon), so part of my process is trying to expand my stylistic range so that I don’t repeat the same “tricks” or literary tropes. This has allowed me to push myself while also keeping an anchor to hold the poems in some sort of bay.

Interviews by Carla Martin

Photographs by Ezekiel Espanola

– – –

Interview with featured poet, Larry Etue, by Carla Martin

These are three poems selected from the ones that Larry read at Dagny’s Open Mic on March 1, 2019:

 

The Time of Now

Night begins to thaw

and light melts

over the landscape

illumination uneven

trickling through the forests, quietly

trickling among the

buildings, quietly

fulfilling the mythological promise

as the bones of Osiris

are again mended

sending long shadows stretching westward

as the arc of day begins 

and begs the question

that greets all who have choice:

what to do with this

the given

this the time of now 

the only time of importance

of all the time

that has ever been

 

Slowin’

Why do you hurry so?

To what do you run?

From what do you flee?

Is rest your foe?

Is silence to be shunned?

To hurry is to blur

To hurry is to miss

Why do you hurry so?

At the end of your race

Is the grave

Didn’t you know?

     Why do you hurry so?

 

Alley Riches

The downtown alley remains in shadow. 

Light never breaks through the buildings

of business and commerce.

This place is a concrete swamp of fetid odors,

a mossy north wall dampness ever present.

It is from here in the predawn that the city’s bedraggled exiles fan out with purpose.

Tenacious as raptors scrapping over road kills

they dumpster shop with pole and sack.

There they find boxes and boards for shelter, bottles and cans for cash.  All goes in the cart

and its plastic saddle bags. 

Grab and go. No waiting, no checkouts. 

Two hours later a day’s work is in before

the sun begins to search for them.

Then its time to sit with fellow exiles,

share a smoke and the narrow-necked sack

and tip a grateful salute to the side glances

and shaking heads of the city’s eight-to-fivers. 

–

Q.  What inspired you to write poetry?

A.  Working towards my BA in Liberal Arts and experiencing a down period in the process, I came upon the lines, ‘ The woods are lovely dark and deep, I have promises to keep and miles to go before I sleep.’ by Robert Frost.  The simple message of promises to keep rekindled the energy to continue towards graduation and continues to inspire me in the present.

That experience taught me that the right words at the right time can be a life changing alchemy.  Since then I have found inspiration in the poems, or stanzas within the poems of Dickinson, Tennyson, Heaney, Sandburg, Shelly, Emerson, Akhmatova, and so many others.

Q.  Some of your poems are social commentaries.  Do you think poets have an important role to play in bringing certain issues to light?

A.  I strongly believe that bringing attention to the plight of others suffering from our many contemporary social outrages falls within the purview of poets and others for comment.  Even if a poem or piece of writing or song doesn’t affect a change it demonstrates that there is at least one person who says, “This is not right,” and that one poem, writing, song joined by others 

may contribute to a movement and shift towards the better….maybe.

Q.  What advice would you give to people wanting to write poetry?  What is your modus operandi?

A.  I try to see the ordinary, the prosaic, the literal, beyond the sight lines of everyday vision and give words to the experience.  I work from a sense of inspiration:  source is immaterial;  when something moves me I set it to words in figurative language.  Most of my writing is done in coffee shops and often the ideas, fueled by an inspiration, have to be quickly captured on a napkin or in a notebook if at hand.  I then will develop the theme into a poem.

Rule #1 then is to always have something to secure your inspiration.

    Once my thinking is firm about the theme the writing begins with a very messy melange of words that needs a bit of sorting out.  After the sorting process I turn to the formatting or structure of the poem.  I want it to be pleasing to the eye and invite the reader for at least a momentary scan.  The thematic content can be lost to the reader if not supported by the ‘bones’ of the poem.  

Rule #2 then is to attend to the format once the content has been satisfied.

    I never use cliches…unless writing a poem about cliches, which has yet to happen.  Word choices and clauses to present the theme can take some time and frequent rewrites.  But I find ‘working the poem’  and attending to details an adventure.  Also, if including factual material in your poem…be certain of the facts.

Rule #3 then is to never use cliches or hackneyed phrases.

    I try to say a lot with as few words as possible.  After completing initial drafts I look for ways to eliminate the extraneous while leaving the core theme intact.  Let succinctness be your writing muse.  A poem, to me, is determined by the cohesiveness and clarity of its content.

Rule #4 then is less is best…let every word support the theme…if not, then delete.

    The capstone for me and for you as aspiring poets is to write for yourself…do not write to please an imaginary audience.  Authenticity is important.

Rule #5 then is Authenticity… it is your poem, your theme, your structure. Please yourself but always be ready to revise.

    When you have finished  to satisfaction and titled your poem, read it aloud.  What may flow in silence may not flow when spoken.  And, let’s face it, despite writing for yourself, you and I know you would like to do a public reading.  For experience and confidence I suggest that you find a group of like minded writers with whom to share your work.     

One final comment:  Get a copy of The Art of Reading Poetry by Harold Bloom… it is in paperback and I found it to be indispensable for both reading and writing.

---

 

Interview with Cori Love by Carla Martin

Here is the poem that Cori shared at Dagney’s Open Mic, March 1, 2019:

 

Black Love

Black Love is bold and beautiful

Difficult and Dramatic

And like my hair,

It can be unmanageable and full of kinks

Yet, its able to flow naturally.

Black love can be crunchy, sweet and salty but like caramel popcorn you always want seconds.

Black Love leaves a permanent stain.

It will never fade to a funky Shade of Grey.

Black is love is always what’s trending what’s new and sexy!

Black Love, when dressed up, stays red carpet-ready.

Go ahead, Tweet that!

When a girl falls in Black love,

that’s when you’ll notice her walking down the street with an extra sway in her hips

While wearing his favorite colored lipstick,

Deep burgundy number 19.

When a guy is in Black love

He will begin to walk down the street with a bit more Swag in his steps.

He is walking to the Rhythm of Black Love.

Black love is fueled by its music..

Luther Vandross sang, “It’s never too much.”

Anita Baker sang, “Sweet Love, hear me calling out your name, I feel no shame.”

And Sade said, “Your love is King, Crown you with my heart.”

So I do not want to fall in just any kind of love,

I want love that’s Dramatic, Crazy, Bold and Beautiful.

I Want Black Love.

–

Q.  What inspired you to write this poem?What is your back story?

A.  I was inspired to write this poem. I want to share why Black Love is real to me and why I call it that. Yes, Love is universal but from my afrocentric point of view, Black Love has more attitude, drama and boldness and beauty to it, than any other kind of love that you can have, and that’s why it’s real to me!

Q.  Do you enjoy reading poetry?Who are some of your favorite poets?

A.  I love to read poetry.  My favorites are Maya Angelou and Nikki Giovanni. They both speak of liberation and their lyrical phrasing is phenomenal.  But more often I enjoy watching  poets performing live on  stage. Seeing poetry come to life is when I get inspired the most!

Q.  What advice would you give to people wanting to write poetry?

A.   My advice to those who desire to write is simply believe that your stories matter. Write about topics that truly matter to you.

---

 

Interview with Ruth Handy by Carla Martin

This is the poem Ruth shared at Dagney’s Open Mic Night on March 1, 2019:

 

May the Oceans Be Freed of Plastic

What’s on TV?

How important is it?

May the oceans be freed of plastic.

 

Who’s in love with whom? 

Are the children okay after the divorce?

May the oceans be freed of plastic.

 

Did you register to vote?

Do you care what happens?

May the oceans be freed of plastic.

 

How much debt do you have?

How much does the country owe?

May the oceans be freed of plastic.

 

Do you care about yourself?

Do you care for others?

May the oceans be freed of plastic.

 

Does your soul have breathing room?

Are you at one with all life?

May the oceans be freed of plastic.

–

Q.  What inspired you to write this poem?

A.   I am very upset by the photos of animals and fish suffering and even starving from swallowing plastic in the ocean. Also I learned that there are 5 huge piles of plastic, miles wide, in all of the oceans with no solution in sight to clear them away. Somehow I feel that this pollution is connected to the fact that we are not managing our lives well as human beings – we are careless emotionally and financially, and the consequences can no longer be ignored.

Q.  What poets do you admire?  What kind of poetry really speaks to you?

A. I am moved by Portia Choi’s poems about her childhood experiences in Korea when the war was at it’s height.  I love Haiku, especially Basho’s poems about nature. He wrote these a couple of centuries ago in Japan.

Q.  What advice would you give to people trying to write poetry?

A. If people are interested in writing poetry, it might help to come to the First Friday readings at Dagney’s Coffee Shop. There will also be an Open Mic and Poetry Reading on April 6 at 11:00 am in Artworks in the Pine Mountain village. You can hear what concerns people have. Also poetry allows a person an opportunity to speak from a different plane and perspective, from in between worlds as it were.

Interviews by Carla Martin

Photographs by Ezekiel Espanola

–

Interview with Ariel Dyer 

by Carla Martin

Here are the lyrics to three of the songs Ariel shared with us:

SIREN SONG

by Ariel Dyer

“Hey sailor,” she sang, “I can show you a good time

“So walk right off of that plank, come on in the water is fine”

As he dove under the waves, she began to change her mind

The next morning, the captain read about it in the headlines

So hold her tight but not too long

She’ll be leaving in the morning but she won’t be gone

Thought she left you with a siren’s song

and headed out across the water

You asked her once, she spun the spell

“Do you love me?” “Yes, I love you well,

“Follow me into my pretty hell, if you dare to risk the drowning,

“If I take your hand I won’t let go.”

On the run on the high seas, maritime law’s a real bitch

A lonely life but she had to keep away from all those dirty rotten no good ships

Every night on the same star, she’d make the same wish

To find a love that made sense, she was tired of screwing the fish

So hold her tight but not too long

She’ll be leaving in the morning but she won’t be gone

Thought she left you with a siren’s song

And headed out across the water

You asked her once, she spun the spell

“Do you love me?” “Yes, I love you well

“Follow me into my pretty hell

“If you dare to risk the drowning

“If I take your hand will I be home?”

“Hey sailor,” she grinned, “Wanna make a bet?

I’ll let you keep me forever, if you can make it back to my place without getting wet”

He asked, “What if I lose?” She said, “Well, I guess you’ll be dead”

He walked right off of that plank, and straight into the sunset

So hold her tight but not too long 

She’ll be leaving in the morning but she won’t be gone

Thought she left you with a siren’s song 

And headed out across the water

You asked her once, she spun the spell

“Do you love me?” “Yes, I love you well

“Follow me into my pretty hell, cuz you don’t seem to mind the drowning

I’d rather not be on my own but

If you walk away, I’ll go alone”

UNDER YOUR SKIN

by Ariel Dyer

If it’s not a good look

Why do I wear it so well?

Pardon me I mistook

Your pretty face for someone else

But you’ll just have to do

Because you see it’s getting late

Yeah, it’s a bleak point of view

That keeps the guilt from off my plate

Cuz wolves in sheep’s clothing fight dirtier than I do

And trolls in the dungeon won’t leave to come and find you

You know who I am and you’re gonna let me in

I know that I’m under your skin

Just another sleepless night

You toss and turn until you sweat

Put on her perfume out of spite

But I’m not done with you just yet

While you’re counting sheep

I’m prowling just outside the pen

Mind the company you keep

I may be a monster, but you’ll want me as your friend

Cuz wolves in sheep’s clothing fight dirtier than I do

And trolls in the dungeon won’t leave to come and find you

You know who I am and you’re gonna let me in

I know that I’m under your skin 

I don’t have to huff and puff

To blow your house on down

Tell me when you’ve had enough

I’ll burn it to the ground

Scratch the itch to let me out

From underneath your skin

It’s wearing thin

Cuz wolves in sheep’s clothing fight dirtier than I do 

And trolls in the dungeon won’t leave to come and find you

You know who I am and you’re gonna let me in

I know that I’m under your skin 

COMING BACK

by Ariel Dyer

I dreamt of a horse

A horse that was mine 

We traveled the world

She made me feel fine

One day she fell ill

I sent for the doctor

He said “I know that I’m skilled 

“But I’m no sweet talker

“Your girl’s pretty bad

“There’s no guarantees 

“The one hope you have 

“is to leave her with me”

So I said my goodbyes 

But I wasn’t too worried

Missed that look in her eyes

Was in such a hurry

To be anywhere else 

You know how it goes

I said it myself 

But it’s a bitch when you know

She’s not coming back

I had my fun then I went back home

Next up found my girl all alone

Hardly recognized her moans

All wild eyes and bloody bones

Doctor, doctor, come and see

Just what it is you’ve done to me

But only silence heard my pleas

So I pulled my gun to finish the deed

She’s not coming back

It’s too late to tell her

Too late to say it

No use even thinking 

Pointless to pray it

Your friends all feel sorry

You watched the thing die

Sometimes even the killer 

Can believe her own lies

She’s not coming back

What if it’s your fault she’s gone?

What if there’s no moving on?

What if you’d known all along?

Then you should have fixed what was wrong…

Q.  What inspired you to write “Siren Song?”  What’s your backstory?

A. I wrote Siren Song at the beginning of a new relationship, in an attempt to work out the monotony of dating and the scary transition between casual dating and being real with someone you care about. We all put on our best self when we’re getting to know someone (or at least I know I certainly do), but what about when the walls come down and it’s just you NOT at your best? Are they going to stick around?

I’ve always been a big mythology nerd, and since my name is Ariel and almost everyone makes the little mermaid joke when they meet me, sirens popped into my head. The metaphor of sirens luring men to their deaths as a stand-in for vulnerability and taking a chance in the world of modern dating seemed to work well. 

Q.  Do you think songwriters are poets?  Who are some that inspire you?

A.   I absolutely think songwriters are poets! Although it’s funny, because I don’t think I could write poetry that’s unaccompanied by music. It’s definitely got its own style. I tend to gravitate towards lyricists, and a lot of the best lyric writers in my opinion are hip hop artists. Some favorite songwriters include Joni Mitchell, Kendrick Lamar, clipping., Billy Joel, and Amanda Palmer.

Q.  What might be your advice to aspiring songwriters?  What is your method or process?

A.   My advice to people interested is songwriting is to listen to a wide variety of artists, talk with even more, and just go for it. Pick up your pen and paper, sit at your instrument, and see what happens. I write my lyrics and music mostly simultaneously, but every songwriter I’ve talked to does it differently. The important thing is to see yourself as a legitimate artist worth listening to (which, speaking from personal experience, is hard to do). My best ideas come from spending time with other creative people, drawing inspiration from their determination, commiserating in commons struggles, and even engaging in a little healthy competition.  We’ve got loads of local talent. Start mingling!

---

Interview with Thomas Brill 

by Carla Martin

Here is the poem Thomas performed that evening.  He provided printed copies of it so folks could see its shape, which is essential to the meaning and understanding of the work.

This

will never

do because at

some point the lines

will become ridiculously

long, each a novel of its own

creation, each touching upon different

topics, no relation between one line and

the next, a Christmas tree of ideas splattered

onto the page without cohesion, without reason,

without rhyme or even poetry.  Indeed we measure

each and learn, as with the Werkmeister Harmonies,

there is a delicate truth and balance in the length of the lines

alone without regard to how they sound or what they mean or who

has said them even.  Instead a universal thing, the same thing that leads

one to believe in spirit and which both unites and terrorizes us in our little

beds that we believe symbolize a whole world when really we don’t even scratch the

surface of our own meaningless drifting existence which feels awkward and difficult as

each lines gets longer until, exhausted, we collapse into a collective grave or gravy of banality.

–

1.  What inspired you to write this poem?  What’s your back story? (You gave us a fascinating snippet about this Friday night! I am also fascinated by the cross-pollination of the different creative arts).

There is actually a kind of funny story about what inspired the poem.  I sit at my desk in my room every morning and write a poem.  Usually I start by making a vertical line down the middle of the page, and then write poems on either side of the line.  This time I decided to get bold and make a diagonal line.  As I was writing down to the bottom of the triangle, each line was getting longer and longer, and so it just inspired me to ride that theme and play it with it a bit.  A lot of what I write involves people’s relationship with the natural world and how out of balance our lives are when compared to nature, and I eventually worked that theme into this poem as well.

2.  What poets do you enjoy and why do they inspire you?

William Carlos Williams is one of my favorite poets.  He was a doctor and he would write poems on a prescription pad so they were thankfully short.  Also his poetry is very accessible.  His language is simple.  His ideas very clean.   I had been reading Wallace Stevens for a long time and his poetry is obtuse and cryptic–reading it is liking trying to perfectly fold a fitted sheet.  I started reading William Carlos Williams soon after and I was folding pillowcases instead.  Much easier and compact.

3.  What advice would you give to other folks in Bakersfield who might like to write poetry?

Write.  Find inspiration from everything around you.  Don’t be intimidated by your thoughts, and write freely about whatever you truly feel.  Cheat if you must by finding a word and simply writing a poem that contains that word, or a number, or something that will get you started.

Try to see the cantaloupe in the pine forest.  Or marshmallows floating in a sea of ink.  In other words, be creative in your thoughts and imagery.  Everything has not been said before.

---

Interview with Virginia Hines 

by Carla Martin

Virginia sang this original song for us Friday evening.  Here are the lyrics :

Virtuous Woman

Written/Sung by Virginia A. Hines, PhD 

For Carrie B. Hines (My Mother) Title track for the CD: In Memory of a Virtuous Woman

Who can find a virtuous woman?

Who can find a virtuous woman?

In times like these, A virtuous woman is hard to find. (x’2)

A virtuous woman, truth I’m told is more precious than gold.

She rises early to feed her family and wraps them in warm clothes to protect them from the cold.

She surveys the land, and buys it. For all her decision making is blessed by the Lord.

Who can find a virtuous woman?

Who can find, Oh a virtuous woman?

In times like these, A virtuous woman is hard to find. (x’1)

She extends her hands to poor.  Yea, yea, yea

She gives to the needy. Strength and honor are her clothes.

She will rejoice in times to come.  For a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be sustained.

A Virtuous woman, A virtuous woman, who, who can find

A virtuous woman?

In times like these, A virtuous woman is hard to find. (x’1)

Many sisters have done virtuously.  But Carrie, Carrie B, exceedth them all. (x’2).

A virtuous woman.  A virtuous woman, My, my ,mother is,

A virtuous woman.  In times like these, let Carrie, let Carrie, let her, let Carrie, Let Carrie Be!

1.  What inspired you to write this song?

     At some point in life, the focus for many, becomes more altruistic.  My focus became altruistic during the late 1990’s.  Life was going great.  But into each life challenges, crisis, loss, and suffering occur.  Prior to any major issues of magnitude in my life, I began to reflect on my blessings and the most influential person in my life-my Mother Carrie.  I am most grateful for her introducing God, Jesus, and the Holy spirit to me, as I have learned to rely on, lean on, and trust in the trinity at all times.  In response to my trust in the Trinity, I have been able to survive, thrive, and experience blessings I only dreamt of.

     Proverbs 31:10-31 teaches us about the Virtuous Woman.  My mother used this scripture as a blue print for living.  To pay tribute to her I wrote the song and sought God’s guidance relative to the melody for singing the song.   The song like the scripture resonates love, honor, respect and power of the Lord and all virtuous women, specifically-my mother.

I hale from Saginaw, MI. and have been a resident of Bakersfield for 10 months.  I served in the U.S. Army and am currently a federal employee.  I have always loved music.  I sang in the church choir as a teen and still do- at the St. John Missionary Baptist Church, where Dr. Antonio M. Alfred is the Pastor.

    In the 1990’s I wrote a collection of songs inclusive of Virtuous Woman.  To date, I have written more than 19 songs.  Virtuous Woman is the title tract on the Gospel CD entitled: In Memory of a Virtuous Woman: Carrie B. Hines.  The CD was originally released in 2014.  The other songs on the disc include: Victorious, Miracles, Can’t Wait, and Reflections.  The CD can be obtained by going to cdbaby.com/cd/dvirginiahines.  The purchase price of the CD is $10.00. Funds generated from sales of the CD have been used to develop a scholarship fund named in honor of my mother Carrie B. Hines, who passed away unexpected in March 2014.  In efforts to reframe a loss by turning it into a gift, I decided to honor mother’s work and memory be giving to those in need.   Recipients of the scholarship dollars must be participants in Big Brothers Big Sisters or have a GPA of 4.00 and plan to attend any college In Michigan or the University of Maryland (my amateur).  My mother was a big sister for more than 26 years at the Saginaw Bay Area Big Brothers and Big Sisters and I volunteer for four years in Las Vegas, NV.  The goal is to give back by advancing education through music.  The initial scholarships will be dispersed in 2019.  The link to donate to the scholarship fund is www.saginawfoundation.org/thankyou4caring.hines/     

Additional links: Website-CBIVIRTUOUSWOMAN.COM

Endowment/scholarship info-saginawfoundation.org/site/carrie_hines/

Video-https://youtu.be/7JtclLhao-c

Follow me on FB-Virginia Hines

     Music is my way of interpreting meaning from scripture, life, and experiences.  It is the way I reframe the aforementioned through lyrics. Singing is a way that I honor the Lord.  Music is a vocal expression of the ideas, longings, and exhortations God has painted on the canvas of my heart.  Indeed, musicians like poets-express, create meaning, and stir emotion when we share the results of our interpretations.

2.  What artists inspire or speak to you?

     I love all kinds of music…but  my favorite artists include: Sarah Vaughn (technique); Whitney Houston (style and versatility), Mariah Carey (range, ability to draw me in and make me feel deeply- her croons),  Bee Bee and Cee Cee Wynans (creative spiritual prose); Fred Hammond (great ability to communicate God’s word through song); Kirk Franklin( ability to create Gospel music that makes you want to move…celebrate); and Tamala Mann (range, skill, and spirituality).

1. What advice would you give to folks who are just satarting to write songs?

I believe that God gives his children gifts.  Whatever gift God gives us should be used to edify(uplift) and honor God.  Several skilled singers have told me they do not write their own songs.  I never imagined I would write any of the songs that I have written.  God inspired the songs I have written and many of them originated from a theme, a message, a few words of scripture that remained on my mind….that stir something in me.  Or even something that a preacher preached about….  If anyone wants to write songs, I would encourage them be a good listener.  But listen to what you feel and hear.  Write down themes or hooks that remain on your mind.  Also consider your own inspiration…link meaning to inspiration and I believe it will be blessed and so will your listeners.   Be true to yourself.  Many times, critics try to steer you away from your unique style.  I believe God can sharpen and refine us where we need to be sharpened and refined.  Just be yourself and follow your heart and dreams.  Blessings and Peace,

Virginia A. Hines, PhD

Interviews by Carla Martin

Photographs by Ezekiel Espanola

– – –

Interview with Chris Nielsen

Chris Nielsen was the featured poet at Dagny’s Open Mic Night in January.  Here are four poems from the selection of thirteen he read:

The Trees

The trees, the trees, the trees.
Sun hot above the canopy
cool breeze, shade green below.
Flakes of sun filtering through
briefly flickering like fireflies
lighting, darting, disappearing.
Insects buzzing, mingling in.
Birds add their songs
to the peaceful symphony.

Lying in the forest grass,
poetry in motion all around.
Breathe it in fully,
holding on, holding on.
Troubles slowly escape,
feeling each one blow away.
Does the wind ever get so full
it cannot carry any more?
No wonder it sometimes howls.

Water from the stream is calling,
moving effortlessly on its course
over sand, rocks and logs.
Making a path in its own way,
through over and around.
Falling, gathering, flowing,
giving life as it passes.
Carrying away as it departs to
river, lake, sea, skies, clouds, rain.

Drinking from the stream,
living is refreshed.
The green meadow flourishes,
graceful flowers grow.
Sunlight journeys to earth
giving vital energy to all.
Bees and birds carry on,
the spirit here is strong.
The trees, the trees, the trees!

 

Sometimes a quiet notion…

Your hand on my shoulder,
my arms around you,
gazing into each other’s eyes.
You whisper into my ear
just what I want to hear.

Suddenly awake.
Again.

How many times
must this dream play on?

Hope it never ends,
wishing it had never begun.

 

The Trip

Three went on a trip;
a man, his wife
and a friend

over the hills
to LAX
so the friend could fly.

Stopped for a drink
along the way
at Tipp’s.

In the parking lot
the man, his wife and friend
parked their vehicle.

Two “friendly” guys
were driving by in the parking lot.

They had a 1964 Ford Galaxie
faded powder blue patina,
on their rear window,
a rebel flag decal.

They must have noticed
the wife was black,
the husband and friend
were white.

The two “friendly” guys
waved and laughed loudly,
said, “Have a really great night
Ha! Ha!”

The man, his wife and friend
had a drink and companionship,
got ready to resume their trip.

More laughs and waves from the two guys.
Eerie feeling, insincerity?

Back on the road,
I-5
to LAX.

65MPH
right rear wheel comes off.
Vehicle fishtails and careens,
sparks fly,
finally comes to a rest.

Logic defied.
Sanity assaulted.
Humanity defiled.
Sabotage.

 

From Darkness

Light the way
let creativity burn

find your spark
in art
sketch draw paint the way to peace light
on the edge
aware, away
from the abyss

nullify anger despair 
with music
your song
songs
in your heart
poured out from the soul
of humanity
sing out
in hope

art created
exists inside
before the world can see
show what you have 
outward expression 
inner desire dreams
this way
the very act
makes a better place
for all

believe, create, thrive 
joy

– – –

Q.  What poets have inspired you?  What have you learned from them?

A.  I have been inspired by many poets over the years.  One of the main ones and first ones was Robert Frost.  He is quite eloquent in his poetry, even in his short poems like “Nothing Gold Can Stay,” which essentially taught me how to write poetry by what to leave out and how to put in just the bare essence needed to make the poem.  Yet he has longer, more flowery poetry as well, which is also excellent, like “Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening.”  A poet that I discovered at a younger age was Gary Snyder .  He really spoke to me on his topics of nature and Zen.  Also his writing style—he was more free form than a lot of poets from long ago.  I learned a lot from him and feel he is also a poetry mentor.

There have been more poets like Maya Angelou, Sylvia Plath, Mary Oliver, Pablo Neruda and many others.  E.E. Cummings is also quite amazing.  His brevity and the way he twists words and phrases around makes you laugh.   He delivers his message in a very entertaining and yet sparse way. Another poet I’ve read recently is Gerard Manley Hopkins.  The way he uses speech that is quite alliterative and descriptive is inspiring.  His theme of nature also resonates with me.  Other poets that have inspired me are Langston Hughes, Emily Dickinson, Walt Whitman, Henry David Thoreau and Jack Kerouac.

Q.  Your poem “Sometimes a quiet notion…” describes a lover dreaming of his dear departed one, ending with the poignant lines:  “Hope it [the dream] never ends / Wishing it never begun.”  How has the emotion of grief affected your journey as a poet?

A.  Greatly, because after taking care of my wife for two years while she had terminal cancer, there was no time for anything except being her 24/7 caregiver.  After she passed, I was grateful she was not suffering any longer, as well as extremely grief-stricken—even suffering some depression–from her loss. After 31 years of marriage and knowing her even longer than that, not having her in my life was devastating.

 So, unbeknownst to me, I started writing poetry.  I would wake up in the middle of the night with thoughts and I started writing them down to capture them.  As I did that, I used various methods: writing on loose paper, notebooks, my phone, computer, and finally, one day I realized I was writing poetry!  I was going back and finding poems that were more complete or going back and editing poems.  I heard about a poetry manuscript prize and needed about 50 poems to have a complete manuscript to enter.  I realized I had more than 50 poems.  So I edited and compiled and entered my manuscript.  I knew I had no chance of winning the Walt Whitman prize, but I had won because I now had a complete manuscript of over 50 poems! So, I didn’t know I was writing poetry until the words came and took on a life of their own.  I’ve heard there is a book called “Poetry Saved My Life” and I feel like it certainly rescued my life, enhanced my life, and was an outlet for my grief. 

Q.  Your poem “The Trip” and “Imagine Being Rosa Parks” touch on the subjects of prejudice and social injustice toward African Americans.  Yet you are a white male.  What have you experienced that could add to our understanding of these sensitive issues?

A.   Well, since I was married to a black woman for over 30 years, I experienced first-hand what people of color can go through in the form of bigotry, prejudice and discrimination.  I feel like, even without being a person of color and just being a white person, I got to peek into the world of what it is like to wake up everyday being a person of color– where you know some people discriminate without knowing anything about you.  “The Trip” was a true story about how two men with a rebel sticker on the back of their car, sabotaged our car, unbeknownst to us, as we were driving down the freeway at 65 miles an hour and one of our wheels came off.  It could have killed us.  Only because my wife was black is why this happened, I’m sure. 

 At times over the years, I’ve thought about some of the pioneers about civil rights, like Rosa Parks, and wonder what it would be like to be in their shoes, knowing that they were putting themselves in a situation where they could get harmed or even lose their life.  That took a lot of courage.  To me, it is important that people do have empathy and put themselves in other peoples’ shoes.  That was what I was trying to convey in that poem—what would it be like to be Rosa Parks, sitting in that seat.  I think it is a good thing to think about.  Poetry can convey that message.

Q.  Your poem, “From Darkness,” is like a clarion call for people to create.  What advice would  you give to aspiring poets?

A.  Write!  Think, write, and especially when you have thoughts, don’t discount yourself and say, “Oh, that’s not good.”  Just write it down anyway.  It’s not harming anyone.  You want to save that thought and come back to it later and say “Oh, that WAS important!”  One lesson I learned the hard way was when I was waking up in the middle of the night, and still sometimes do, and think “Oh, I’ll write this whole thing down tomorrow, and you wake up in the morning and you go, “I can’t remember what that was!”  So I taught myself to always have a paper and pencil, or my phone—something to capture my thoughts when they happened.  When the inspiration happens, you have to get ahold of it then and receive that gift, and then once you have that gift in hand, you can develop it even more later.  But you have to be in tune to receive these gifts of inspiration, because that’s what they are—a gift.

 I think reading is extremely important.  Like the old expression goes, “Garbage in, garbage out.”  Well, good literature, good reading material in, and maybe that will inspire us and help us develop.  It helps to see how a gifted writer or poet has dealt with a subject—giving us thoughts that never occurred to us before.  To constantly read and take in ideas and be inspired by all kinds of writing is important.  Sometimes I feel like I can’t read enough and I always want to read more!

Q.  What would you say is the current climate for poetry in America?

A.  Well, there are more poetry events and poetry readings.  I think there is more of a climate for young people to be involved in poetry.  When you go to our local poetry readings, there is a great mix of younger and older people and in-between, male and female.  You get a wide range of diverse culture from each person who is participating in these readings.  In our world wide web, we are constantly being exposed to new poets from around the world.  It’s really a wonderful age we live in.  It seems that poetry is growing, not diminishing at all.  It’s becoming more important in all of our lives, especially to those who read and write poetry.

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Interview with Lucy Fitzgerald

Here is the poem Lucy shared at Dagny’s Open Mic Poetry Night in January 2019:

“Factory House”

Where you are 

is some dilapidated

factory in Michigan

A smell of rusted steel

and excreta stains the 

stale dead air

Perpetual machine whining

drowns out their screams

Each cubicle the same: 

Shackled in their all-fours position,

milk drains out of their mammaries,

their skulls transfixed,

their naked flesh on sale

for cretins to explode semen into them 

and keep lactation flowing

Each cream pie in tandem 
with an estrogen shot

Their torpid skeletons

in a forever state 

of doggy-style

Sometimes a pump malfunctions
and crush an appendage or two

A young boy gets called

to mop up the mess

A nightmarish kind of summer job

Laborers drive bloodied cargo

to fill grocery stores,

school cafeterias,

homes

Even with a taste of carrion

in each mouthful

Even with a

growing stack of cadavers

with shriveled milk ducts 

decaying in queue for the butchers…

Still, why waste good meat.

– – –

Q.  What inspired you to write this poem?  What is your back story?

A.  I got the inspiration for “Factory House” from a conversion amongst fellow hedonists. They were discussing the pleasurable aspects of human breast milk and how it’s a commodity. To which I imaged a dystopian future where the only source of milk is from humans and compared it to the capitalistic horror we see today. 

My ‘back story’ is a difficult question to answer. I imagine it’s typical for me to say that I come from a ‘dark’ background. When I’m not fighting the urge to use or self-harm, I’m in a row with my own head trying to overthrow its melancholic tyranny. 

Seldom do I have a chance to channel these energies into my writings and scribe in the darkness. 

Q.  Do you like to read poetry?  What poets do you enjoy and why do they inspire you?

A.  I’m very selective when it comes to poetry. Naturally, I surround myself with poetry that I know will give me inspiration or affect me in some way. 

I absolutely adore Baudelaire. There’s this amazing thing that happens when I read Fleurs du Mal; his poetry simply sends me aloft and cures my myopia.  

Q.  What advice would you give to other folks in Bakersfield who might like to write poetry?

A.  My advice would be to never give in to the voice that says, “Give up” and “You aren’t good enough” etc. It’s easier said then done, but if you keep with it, the pay off is stronger than any doubt you’ll have. Bakersfield has focused ears. Its artistic culture will truly hear your voice. 

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Interview with David Tetz

Here are the lyrics to the song David shared at Dagny’s Open Mic Night in January 2019:

Through Sadness and Love

Lay down your head loves and worry about not a thing

For I will be here, I’ll be watching you 
You can dream if you’d like or you can just close your eyes and let sleepiness slowly fall into you 
But don’t be afraid of the night for darkness it helps us appreciate light and in the morning you’ll wake, feel that sun on your face 
Feel and sing, sing it out sing

Cause you make my heart sing, it sings for you sings 
Cause I’m filled with love, love, love

Sadness and love 
And you’re filled with light, light, light

Darkness and light 
So give me all your kisses, kisses, oh my little Misses I need all your kisses, I always will 
Walk with your head held high, let nobody put you down

You are lovely, you’re brave, and you shine so bright 
And though trouble will find you, love, just hold your ground 

You are stronger than what they can throw at you 
But don’t be afraid to feel sad for tears help us fight through the times that are bad

Yes even tears have their place, feel them run down your face 
Feel and sing, sing it out sing

Cause you make my heart sing, it sings for you sings 
Cause we’re filled with love, love, love 

Sadness and love 
And we’re filled with light, light, light

Darkness and light 
So have all my kisses and hugs, have my voice and all of my love 

You always will

– – –

Here is a link to the YouTube video for this song and the album link-

https://youtu.be/iI7OXseGOWU

https://davidt8tzandhislovelyfriends.bandcamp.com/track/sing-through-the-sadness-and-love

Q.  What inspired you to write this song?  What’s your backstory?

A.   This is a sad story but don’t be afraid of sad stories, they add depth to our happiness. 

I wrote this song for my daughters after tucking them in for the first time with their mother truly well and gone out of the house. She was a victim of the opioid epidemic and had initially tried rehab but it didn’t work out and when she checked out of it she checked out on all of us and never came home. That first night of tucking them in and realizing she wasn’t coming back I felt such a need to leave some kind of advice behind for them regarding how to navigate through the world with a gaping hole in their hearts where their mother used to be. I was in a really fragile state myself and I didn’t at all trust myself to make good decisions and so I wanted to be sure to leave them a survival guide in the best way I knew how, through a song. I designed the music to imitate the graduation ceremony song as we all were shifted that day and forced to grow up in ways none of us were really ready for. I needed them to understand that we were going to be very sad, and that’s okay, and we’re going to be very angry, and that’s okay, and that we really needed to focus on expressing these things outside of ourselves so that we didn’t poison ourselves with unexpressed emotions. I also wanted them to understand that they were loved unconditionally and that they had the strength within them to not only survive this but also be strong and capable women out there in the world. The trouble and the darkness will come for us sometimes, that’s the nature of being alive, and so you gather up the love and the light and you anchor yourself within it so that when the sadness comes you let it flow through you instead of drowning in it. Easier said than done, I can attest to that, but it was important for me to pass that on to them. This loss they experienced so young will revisit them again and again for the rest of their lives and I wanted my own love and support to also be there for them always in the form of this song.

Q.  Do you think songwriters are poets? What songwriters/poets do you enjoy and why do they inspire you?

A.  While I do think lyrics and poetry are related to me they are two very different things. It is almost like a novel versus a graphic novel in the sense that you are expanding your tool kit to add spacing, shading, light and shadow, lines, space and negative space. The lyrics are simply a single part of a much larger whole. Although lyrics are the strongest aspect of my songwriting I have access to all these additional tools to help convey various meanings. I can write a terribly dark and sad verse but sing it using a really light and pretty melody and that will add an additional layer of context that wouldn’t be there without the melody. I could also speed up the rhythm and add layers of anxiety or anger. I could use the exact same line and the first time whisper it nearly tearfully and the next time shout it in a rage and those exact same words will come across and hit you in the chest with almost opposite meanings! So I look at them very differently. I have tried poetry and I’ve found that I’m not able to express myself properly within that format. Personally I need to be able to perform the words and add cadence and tone and emotion. The poetry I enjoy the most hits you from the page without it needing to be expressed in front of you whereas to me the best lyrics are embedded into the rest of the song and are more powerful within it than outside of it.

The songwriters that I am feeling the most right now are Kendrick Lamar, Stephin Merritt, John Darnielle, Sufjan Stevens, J Cole, Ani DiFranco. There are hundreds more. We have a lot of great songwriters out there in various genres who we should be soaking in and appreciating.

Q.   What advice would you give to other folks in Bakersfield who might like to write songs and poetry?

A.  Realize that fear is worthless. Realize that laziness destroys your ability to accomplish your goals. Most of the people I’ve talked to really WANT to create but have bought into this form of paralysis that is largely imaginary. You don’t need talent and you don’t need time. You need commitment and work ethic. No matter how bad you are or how busy you are you can take 10 minutes a day every day to sit down and work on your craft. It doesn’t need to be an overwhelming time commitment, it just needs to be consistent. If you committed to 10 minutes every other day within a few months you’d realize that you are making movement and getting better. 

The other important thing to remember is to let your first draft be bad, just get it out of you first, You can work on it later!

Occasionally inspiration can hit you and you can get a lot out at once but that isn’t really where the craft of songwriting puts its work in, that’s all in the editing. The editing is where you really get to lock in and stretch your legs and see what you are capable of…but you can’t edit without a first draft to work on. 

Get it out! Spill out whatever it is onto the page and don’t try to perfect it as it flows out of you just get it all out! And once it is all out there, then you can really get to work.