Unlikely of Places

One thing I've learned as a writer is that talent can come from the most unlikely of places. It works a lot like inspiration in that way. On April 11, 2009 Susan Boyle stepped onto the stage of the UK hit show "Britians Got Talent." She is a plain, unassuming woman who is nearly 48 years old. She is unemployed and, as she says when they talked to her, a woman who has never been kissed. She is the kind of woman that people snicker at, evidenced by the audiences reaction to her as she stood there introducing herself.

She started singing at the age of 12 and it was her life long ambition to sing to a live crowd and on April 11, 2009 she finally had her chance. She walked out there, nervous and with a cheeky grin and told the audience "I'll be singing 'I Dreamed a Dream' from Les Miserables." The audience was ready to hear warbling half hit notes and the crooning of a woman who had only convinced herself she had talent. What she did though was to win over an entire nation in less than four minutes.

She is endearing, to say the least. I admire anyone who never gives up on their dream. She knew she had nothing to lose and decided, even at the age of 47, to risk everything and give it a chance. To me, that's inspiration. To me, that's a true artist. If anything, we can learn that if you 'dream a dream' then it's never too late to reach for the stars!

Here she is:

Susan Boyle

Star Wars (John Williams is the Man)

One thing I've learned about spending a lot of time writing is that sometimes you have to stop and take a break. Here is something fun and enjoyable I ran across. Hope the music and humor of it inspire you....

April 2009: Steven Reigns

Steven Reigns is a Los Angeles based poet and educator. After earning a degree in
Creative Writing at the University of South Florida, his début poetry collection, Your
Dead Body is My Welcome Mat, was published in 2001. Since then, Reigns has published
two chapbooks, Ignited and Cartography, and taught creative writing workshops around
the country to gay youth and people living with HIV. For three years, Reigns served as
Literary Director for Tampa’s GLBT community center. Currently he is working on
S(t)even Years, a 7-year endurance performance under the mentorship of performance
artist Linda Montano and is also at work on a new collection of poetry entitled
Inheritance. He recently edited My Life is Poetry, an anthology of autobiographical poetry by GLB seniors. www.stevenreigns.com

1) What is the biggest challenge facing writers/poets today?

I think creative people’s challenges have been similar for decades, if not centuries, we wrestle with creating precisely what we envision and feel, we’re in constant exploration and observation of our inner and outer worlds. What’s unique to our time is the changing culture of print and its competition for our attention. Writing poetry, sans a small few, isn’t a viable means for sole income.

As far as the future of poetry, I’m not a fatalist. I embrace technology and feel that we’re in an exciting time. Fifteen years ago we lamented on the dying art of letter writing. It would have been impossible to imagine what we have today—email. I realize it isn’t the same thing but if we embrace the change it’s easier to recognize that more people are expressing themselves with the written word than twenty years ago. I’m confident poetry will have a similar fate. Just last week I was scouring the net and downloading poets into my iPod. Technology or some type of cultural shift is going to give poetry new life. In many ways, I think poetry, with its brevity, has the potential to become favored over novels.

2) What has been one of your biggest challenges?

The first is finding time. I don’t think this challenge is unique to me. I’m so engaged in life and find so many things of interest that it can sometimes be easy to neglect my writing time. The books on my shelf and the blank page have lots of attention competition and don’t seem to cry from neglect.
I’m also not immune to self-doubt. There are times I question the importance of what I’m doing. I even get into the comparing game and think of all of the talented poets out there vying for the same space in journals, publisher’s printing presses, and bookshelves. About two years ago I was flying out of NYC and kept staring out the window. I was like a kid again and awed at how many people were out in the world. My thought wasn’t “There are so many people, I should stop being one.” I felt excited to be on the planet, able to join-in and witness life. I soon began to think similarly about my poetry—I’m joining a pantheon, not battling in the coliseum. There is enough room for all of our voices.

3) Where do you find your inspiration to write?

I think anything can serve as an inspiration to write, we just need to allow ourselves the time to do it. Linda Montano wrote that everyone has a chicken story. The first time I read that, I thought it was ridiculous. Then, when I gave myself time, I realized I had one too.
As a poet, I gather what is around me and inside of me and put it into my work.
Generally to write a poem I like to have two ideas or two sources of inspiration. Sometimes one element doesn’t seem to be enough to sustain a poem. As an example, smells can quickly take me back to a time and place. Smelling the perfume soap my grandmother used could be a poem but I like poetry to be a bit more complex than that. I’d couple that poem with a story about sitting in her beauty parlor or relate the aromatic reminder to my first boyfriend’s cologne.
Inspiration for writing has changed over the years. Good writing inspires me. I’ll read a good poem and get excited thinking how I want to write something as good. I don’t think of this as competiveness, I think of it as almost a conversation. I want to be in that kitchen, cooking with those chiefs.

4) What current projects are you working on?

The biggest “project” I’m working on isn’t directly poetry related. In December I will graduate with a Masters in Family Therapy. When starting the program I wrote supportively in my journal “You’re not leaving poetry behind, you’re leaving poverty behind.” I was tempted to get an MFA but I was unsure about my interest in teaching in academia.
As a poet, one needs to find a way to support themselves; poetry isn’t going to be enough. My course of study, psychology, focuses on the personal and relationships. My poetry has had the same scope. Shortly after starting the program I read the Sigmund Freud quote, “Everywhere I go I find that a poet has been there before me.” Anne Sexton has a poem about the similarities between the professions, “Said the Poet to the Analyst.” If I desired I could even specialize in the emerging Poetry Therapy field. The deeper I get into it, the more surprising the similarities.

5) Do you mostly write in free verse?
I have quite a few poems that are forms but I’m a fan of the narrative block.
I think one of the dangers of form poetry is that the message or meaning gets distorted because the poet tries to push a story or experience into a container that might not be appropriate. It’s important to know what container fits best for ones story. There isn’t a one-size/one form fits all proportion. That’s why it’s important to know forms and what works best within them. In my classes we avoid all end rhyme. It usually makes a poem sound like a nursery book.

6) What else do you write besides poetry?

For three years I had a bi-monthly column in a magazine. I’ve occasionally written book reviews and conducted interviews. Primarily I write poetry. Right now I don’t have an interest in anything else. This is a rarity in Los Angeles where there are so many aspiring screenwriters. I went on a date with a guy who was amazed I only had interest in writing poetry. He thought it lacked ambition and asked annoyingly, “Don’t you ever want to do anything bigger than that?” I told him that poetry is big, it’s the biggest thing in my life and I never tire of it.

7) What is your ideal writing sanctuary?

I’ve long given up the idea of a writing sanctuary. Focusing on the perfect one or how I don’t have one seems like a good excuse to procrastinate or a good reason why I’m not writing. Ideally, I’d write down a poem when the idea comes to me. This isn’t always the case, I’d be a more prolific writer if I were as open to ideas as I was in the past. I was forever pulling my car over and jotting down ideas, stopping mid-shower to write a verse. I still keep a notebook near my bed but the urgency to write down every idea isn’t as strong. Maybe my feelings of needing to immediately write the thought came from some type of starvation thinking. I’m more comfortable with myself as a creative person, I know my output is endless. I believe the strong images will be waiting when I’m ready to write. The challenge currently is setting aside the time to write.

8)Do you think that being openly gay affects your writing?

My flippant answer to this question is that everything affects my writings. However, I know it’s more complex. Such questions are common during queer writing panels and at conferences. What makes a work gay? What is a gay sensibility? I took a weekly pottery class for four years. One night I was looking at a shelf filled with my work, the only gay male, and that of my classmates. I’m not so sure potters talk about the gay sensibility of their work or if their gayness affects their work, they just make it. The same is true for my poetry. I don’t feel the need to represent my community when I write. If I did, I’d be paralyzed with pressure. I’m focused on representing my experience or vision—that’s pressure enough. I hope readers can relate, learn, and empathize with the work but I don’t sit down with an audience in mind.
Gayness and being a writer has always been intricately linked for me. When I first had sex with a guy at age sixteen, I wrote about it in my journal. Later while reading that entry to my friend Stephanie Recht, she encouraged me to write more and I followed that advice.

9) What s your next project?

On April 15th, I’m teaching a free autobiographical poetry workshop at The West Hollywood Library at 6:00 PM that is co-sponsored by Friends of the West Hollywood Library. On April 27, I will perform at Queer Mondays at Highways Performance Space at 7:30 PM. I enjoy teaching poetry workshops and connecting people with the joy of writing poetry and finding a creative outlet. I still teach the monthly autobiographical poetry workshop My Life is Poetry for GLBT elders.
I have a finished collection, Inheritance, which I’m submitting to presses. I’m three years into my seven-year performance piece S(t)even Years. Each year I focus and move my way up to each chakra of the body. There’s a chapbook for each year but these have very small runs and are limited editions.

10) As of right now, what are you most proud of with your writing?

I’m always the most proud of my latest accomplishments. Most of my work is autobiographical and the writings are documents of that time. I think I’ve become a better writer but also a more astute observer and a healthier person. My new work reflects that. The honesty and integrity of my work hasn’t wavered but the pacing, rawness, and immediacy have changed. I’m quite happy with where I am and the direction of my poetry. I look forward to observing where poetry takes me and where I take the poetry.

The Purpose of Apples

So I held auditions for my short film "The Purpose of Apples." It's the story of Ethel and Caden who meet at a bus stop in LA at 8 in the morning.

There were so many amazing actors. Each one of them brought something different to each character. It was nice to see the various interpretations!

So after sitting down with a bunch of head shots and looking through resumes and watching 30 auditions, I have finally reached my oscar winning cast.



Ethel: E Fe



Caden: Andrew McGuinness



Young Ethel: Djakarta




Herb: Mike Wade




Alyse: Jamie Willey


Flower Guy: Daniel Frank

Being an artist

The one thing about being an artist is learning to deal with the frustrating times. For instance, my good friend Andrew is having a moment of what he calls "actor's block." It's sort of like writer's block but only for actors. He's a phenomenal actor but, just like rest of us, had an off day. He had an audtion this afternoon for a play called Carved in Stone. We went to go see the reading last weekend and really enjoyed it. He'd really be perfect as one of the lead roles. He knows, I know it. But he went in for the audition today to be an understudy and just didn't do well. It happens. It doesn't make him a bad actor; it just makes him an artist.

This is something I have to remind myself constantly of when it comes to my writing. It seems for every good thing that will happen that pushes my career forward it always seems there are three things after that drag it backwards.

The one thing I'd like to remind all artists is that there will always be lows for every artist. Even the established ones. It's about remaining positive, keeping faith, and never giving up. I struggle with that myself almost daily. But my love of writing always, always surpasses my desire to just throw in the towel!

"You Can Call Me Eve" Play Reading

Two weeks from today is the reading of my first full length play "You Can Call Me Eve." The story of a latina woman who changes her identity to help deal the pain of her past.

When: Monday, February 23, 2009
7:30pm

Where: Write Act Repertory
6128 Yucca St
Hollywood, Ca
www.writeactrep.org

Update:

The play reading was such a success. I truly want to thank Wil Bowers
Everyone who was there gave amazing feedback. They all seemed genuinely touched by the words. The actors themselves brought so much to the reading as well. People were laughing and crying...it was moving. And sitting there listening to everyone and seeing the looks on their faces made it all worth it.

A few days later Wil told me the Sr. member of the Write Act Repertory said the feedback from the audience, and the actors, and the director was good so they'd like to produce it! So, now I need to take the feedback from the reading and sit down and make the necessary albeit important changes to the play. This is, of course, a great thing. I've waited four (4) years even for this step.

So thank you to my actors:

Eve: Liliana Montenegro
Rosa: Lucia Solares
Danny: Vance Roi Reyes
Carlos: Cameron Bender
Maria: Melanie Cruz
Erik: Tim Bell
Narrator/Danny (14): Casey Dickerson

Thank you

February 09: Bazhe

1) What is the biggest challenge facing writers today?
The readership that is shrinking as the global warming is expending.
The greedy publishers that want only commercial books to sell like soap.
The need of books that readers can read without using their brains.
Simply, the need of books that won't make the readers smarter, yet dumber.


2) Where do you find your inspiration to write?
Everywhere I go I can get inspired easily. I travel a lot and that helps.
I just absorb any details of any place, or of a situation I am in.

3) What current projects are you working on?
I am finishing one fiction book, and one art book.

4) Who are some of your favorite authors?
Many. Currently I read and study: G. Orwell and A. Huxley.

5) What's your favorite genre/medium to write in?
I like to experiment with different genre as I create new work.
I think writing the same way all the time is dull.

6) What is your ideal writing sanctuary?
In a train that goes somewhere, or in my basement.

7) English isn't your first language. How is growing up in Yugoslavia affected your view on the world? How has it affected your writing?
Knowing more than one language can only complement my writing abilities.
I am glad that I am able to use my knowledge of different human systems.
This only enriches my writing, and makes it more powerful.

8) What s your next project?
The book that I am finishing is a Americana-fiction-book.
It deals with the all timely problems that we are facing now.

It deals with: the financial and the healthcare crisis;
the banksters bankrupting America; and
the collapsing of the auto industry.

I write about the heads of these institutions begging for money
and at the same time screwing the American people royally.

It is a satire about the manipulations done by the elite groups
and the people begging God for help.

9) As of right now, what are you most proud of with your writing?
The all great feedback that I received from the readers.
This motivate me to write more and better.

Bazhe