Art is a weird obsession. So much of what is done is interior, behind doors of houses or minds. When I meet people I try to explain it.
"I write." I say.
"Oh, cool. What do you write about?" They say.
And I say, "I don't think you listened to the heavy and delicate and layered and manic emphasis I put on the word 'write'."
Sometimes I just want to shout everywhere, "I WRITE! EVERY DAY! THAT'S WHAT I DO! THE ONLY THING I ONLY DO!"
Because it's like having a secret life. Having an affair, cheating on everybody, the whole world. Preferring to live inside and to only use the outside to create more inside. Being a murderer and sometimes having to leave your secret to challenge a sun and air you haven't created.
Because it's like having a secret life. Having an affair, cheating on everybody, the whole world. Preferring to live inside and to only use the outside to create more inside. Being a murderer and sometimes having to leave your secret to challenge a sun and air you haven't created.
Creation as opposed to absorption. That's not a delineation. People are combinations of both. It's just artists feel a need to tip the scales. To create more or if they don't create let it bug them. Let that animal eat something else inside.
What I'm saying is, I can share a couple of things with you. A few evidences besides this blog that I do put stuff out there.
THE DRUNKEN ODYSSEY
First off, John King's Drunken Odyssey podcast. John hosts a wonderful show talking to amazing writers about their process, their love of books, their successes and failures, their humanity stripmined for words. John is a deft and interesting host who brings out the interesting angles of an interview.
I find it very inspiring to hear writers talk about the craft of writing. I miss my MFA for that reason. John interviews Rick Moody, author of the very good and famous book The Ice Storm. After that is me reading a humor noir piece called "Why I'm Not Afraid of Sharks". You can listen to it on iTunes.
I highly recommend the other episodes.
FIRE IN THE PASTURE SAMPLER
Over a year ago I was included in the anthology Fire in the Pasture. It's an amazing collection of poets. It's billed as Mormon Poets and that can mean a lot of things but suffice it to say all the poets have some tie to Mormonism.
I consider myself Mormon and a Poet but had never put those two together because I haven't yet started to include thoughts about my faith in my work. At least not overtly. My faith could be underpinning everything I've ever written.
But they've released a sampler of work from the anthology and I'm included. It's an honor, there's a lot of great work in that anthology. Even better, it's FREE.
You should download it and read through some. My poem "Return" is a few poems in.
