FRESH POETRY::Lunch Poems
11.11.06:: Lunch Special: Interviews with the LP poets
After rocking the mic at October's public poetry session, Lunch Poem poets Tiare, Julia, and Sage agreed to an exclusive KL interview...
Tiare Picard
Breakfast of choice:
One pot of coffee and cigarettes.
Why poetry anyway?
Hmm. Well, I can’t draw, I can’t sing and I can barely carry on a decent conversation without sounding a bit “off.” Poetry allows me to do all of it, and the “off” part works in a poem. When I was a kid, my mom bought me a microscope. Maybe that has something to do with it. I set up our garage like a lab and performed all kinds of experiments. I used to watch things dance under the lens. I guess poems elicit that same sense of awe. I love to experiment with words, form and the things that hide themselves from normal vision. I like to piece things together that don’t fit in the traditional sense.
What do you do to get your creativity flowing? Special exercises, foods, a particular place?
I hop in my Ranger and drive around a lot. I need a pocket recorder because the left-hand-on-wheel/right-hand-on-pencil-and-shifting-paper method is a tad dangerous. Also, gas is expensive.
Where do you get your material from? Family, friends, dreams, the newspaper?
I have this thing for Sugi Pine, foam on black rock, and daybreak. If you listen, everything has something to say. That’s been said before and it’s worth repeating because it’s so true. Everything is up for inspiration.
Any advice for aspiring writers?
Let the creepy voice out of the basement.
more poetry:
Julia Wieting
Breakfast of choice.
Chocolate chip pancakes
Why poetry anyway?
Good question. I starting writing poetry to fit in with girls at camp who were writing songs; unbeknowst to me I had stumbled upon a great way to deal with the weirdness of being a teenager. There's something really subversive about being in an eighth-grade history class and writing a scathing poem about why your teacher is being a jerk or why you don't like the fact that your hips are changing shape. Then I started reading the work of professional poets and the budding sense of artistry that developed through highschool has made a permanent place for writing in my sense of self. And people are intimidated by poetry, so it's rewarding to work to remove that fear.
What do you do to get your creativity flowing? Special exercises, foods, a particular place?
Jazzercize... I don't do anything that's out of the ordinary except to try to notice the details my experiences as fully as possible. There is nothing that cannot be thought of as a poem.
Where do you get your material from? Family, friends, dreams, the newspaper?
All of the above, except dreams. My dreams tend to be unremarkable: no one flys, or falls, or levitates, and there are few, if any, Freudian significances. I write to interpret what I experience (and don't understand), so relationships are a common theme. I'm not good at writing about the natural world, as much as I love it. Oh, and earthquakes are useful too.
Any advice for aspiring writers?
Practice. Not every poem has to be finished, not every line has to be perfect. Read what you write out loud. Read poetry. Talk to other poets. But mostly, just try.
more poetry:
Sage Takehiro
Breakfast of choice:
oh no. u sure? ok...here goes...1st and foremost, u gotta luvanything from ken's house of pancakes; anything my mom, sisters, grandparents, or girlfriends cookthat makes me want to wake up; anykine omelette (preferablylop-chong, even though i don't know how to spell it); bagels with everything on top; cinnamon-raisin english muffins with cream cheese and guavajelly; muffins period; vienna sausage; smoke meat is always good to have with breakfast; fruityand/or coco pebbles; banana; papaya; gotta have toast;jack-in-box; egg mcmuffins (if i wake up early enough); kimchee fried rice loco moco; but hands down to the classic portuguese sausage, eggs, and rice (preferably with yoke all over it from an over easy egg, shoyu on top andtobassco but preferably chili pepper water),with bacon on the side. mmm, mmm, good. and if i'm camping, all that with a heineken. cheeeeee.
Why poetry anyway?
because god said. and then bob marley replied, "emancipate yourself from mental slavery, no one but ourselves can free our minds."
What do you do to get your creativity flowing? Special exercises, foods, a particular place?
live. life. pray.
Where do you get your material from? Family, friends, dreams, the newspaper?
everywhere. sometimes i want the material to leave me alone. but then i remember that we need each other, so i ask it to be cool with me.
Any advice for aspiring writers?
let the dreams come true. but if ur dreams don't have good intentions, don't wake um up until they do. in the meantime, write something. or eat, or hang out with the ocean, the natural environment, and/or people u care about, andhave somefun! these important things are good for you,they encourage the humble realizationthat u are morehumanthan u are writer. oh, and definitely make out withbooks,lots of them, but be selective as to which ones uallow tocreep into ur skin. similarly, be selective ofthe words that u write...i ka 'olelo no ke ola, o ka 'olelo no ka make.an awareness of thecosmos around u can prevent the words that u write from coming out wiggidy-wiggidy-wack, as long as u pay attention. i would now like to quote one of my fav. mentors, morgan blair, "the imagination is a scary place, u have to have stamina to go there." so go easy on the cheeze ballz, because u have to train hard in order to write well. you feelin' me? cool. peace.
more poetry: