Aussie Lore
OTF Community Poet
Q: Please tell us about your writing experience. Could you please give us some personal information about yourself and your hobbies? work? etc.
Well, I'm a 20 year old security officer who's currently unemployed.
I started writing when I was about seven years old because our collection of children's books were rather poor and I wanted to write stories about my baby brother
(now 13, or something like that) Adam. Mind you, all my stories were rather poor in wording (and the illustrations, which I did myself, were worse!).
Most of my time these days is spent looking for work and playing on the computer, trying to get all my avatar library done (and failing at that).
Q: When did you start writing poetry?
I don't exactly remember... I think it was 1994.. Yeh, must've been then.
Q: Can you describe your most effective working method? Do you wait for inspiration, or sit down every day with the intention of writing?
It all depends, really. I like to go for a long walk and think about the topic presented to me, then sit down and brainstorm stupid ideas. Then, when I'm not watching out for it, inspiration comes up behind me and wallops me with a plank of wood yelling "WRITE THIS! WRITE THIS!" (Which I do, cos I'm afraid of being walloped again)
Q: What were the books and events that most influenced your beginning as a writer?
Your not gonna believe this, but it was those "Mr Men" and "Little Miss" books that got me thinking "Hey, I can write this"
Q: You have written quite a number of poems for the OTF Poetry Guild over the years and have quite a large variety, what inspires you?
Various things. Sometimes it's as simple a thing as seeing a butterfly when I'm down. Other times it's music, or something I see in real life.
Q: What is your process for writing a poem?
Well, first I put on some music to block out all outside distractions, then I sit on my butt in front of the computer, open up notepad and write. I really have no idea.
Q: Do you spend much time rewriting your poems or do they hit the paper complete?
Some are first write-best write. My first ones published by the Poetry Guild (Fractured Trek, I think they were called) were stupid, on the spot things that I posted in TF. Other poems, such as "Who?" (my longest poem!) took me about three writes, but the first one was nearly complete (just had to add bits, take bits away, that sorta stuff). "The Silent Knight" had to be ripped apart about five times before I was half-satisfied with it.
Q: How do you know when a poem is finished? Or when it's dead?
When I've either run out of ideas or when I've conveyed the message I wanted to.
Q: How has the Internet helped you as a poet?
Well, I wasn't much of a poet before I found the internet. Sending my poems to the Poetry Guild has probably helped me to develop my poeticism (is that a word?).
Q: What has poetry done for you? What does Poetry mean to you? And why?
It's allowed me to have another outlet for all the frustration I feel at life at times (instead of punchin' someone, I'd punch it out on the keyboard).
Q: This month we are concentrating on Star Trek. Can you give us some insight on some of your Trek poems especially your Fart Trek Series? Did you find doing these a challenge?
Fart Trek? *L* Oh, I remember writing those... Actually, the worst one was"Fartaprise" cos I'd only seen one episode of it prior to even THINKING about writing that... I don't usually write about Star Trek, simply because I think it's a topic that has been written so often about in fanfics and other people's poetry. I like to be different. But when I DO write about it, my mind has, for some reason, got the image of the Enterprise-D (from ST: TNG) in it. I think that's cos TNG was the first type of Star Trek I actually got to understand. Oh, sure, I knew who Kirk, Spock, and McCoy were, but I never got into TOS.
Q: Your work for the most part is humorous. Some of your poems are of a more serious nature. Does your poetry depend upon what mood you are in?
Well, yeah. My Haiku poem "Fire" was written immediately after a fire at my workplace that destroyed two compounds (something like 33 accomodation buildings, 2 mess halls and 8 toilet blocks) causing something like A$2m damage, so that's rather serious. I was angry at the time."Doing Time" was also written after a particularly bad time at work. Most of the time, though, I try to be humourous, simply because it's a type of poetry that not many people do.
Q: If you had to pick a word or color to describe all the poetry, what would you pick?
All whose poetry? Uhm... probably.. I dunno... the word that comes into my mind is "Different" because everyone has a different style of writing poetry, and presenting ideas.
Q: Are there any subjects which you find difficult, emotionally, to write about?
Yes, Love. I just can't write about it... That's why it is a rare occasion that you'll find a poem of mine in February's contests. I also find it difficult to write about some of the darker things I've seen when I was at work.
Q: What poets inspire your own writing? What do you think is the best poetry?
Well, actually, it isn't so much as poets that inspire my writing. Some of the music I listen to inspires my writing, and, I suppose that's a type of poetry, ain't it? The best poetry is that which conveys its message in a readable format, not hiding behind metaphors so much. Like any normal English student, I HATED trying to dig out meanings from poems.
Q: Which contemporary poets do you most admire?
... I don't. I quite like Roald Dahl's re-hashing of fairy tales ("Oh, mirror, please don't joke! Each of us is stoney broke!").
Q: Every poet has his/her own method of getting to the finished piece. What process works for you?
I don't worry too much about it. It'll finish when it finishes, and there's really sod all I can do about it.
Q: We all have ways of expressing our creativity, how and when did you discover that yours was poetry?
When I realised I sucked at painting and drawing. *L* Uhm, I think I REALLY discovered it when a poem I wrote for an English assignment got printed in a regional paper when I was 11. I've still got the clipping. *chuckle*
Q: What kinds of abilities or qualities do you think the poet ought to possess?
Now come on, do you guys really believe that I THINK? I mean, I go ALL this way to try and disprove to the world that I THINK and you guys ask a question like that! =P
Uhm.. I don't know. Every poet needs to be their own person.
I think the best ability that a poet could have would be a sound grasp of the language and grammer.
Q: Do you have a favorite poet? Favorite poem by another writer?
Not really.. Like I said, I quite like Roald Dahl's rehashings of fairy tales, although I also like Edgar Allen Poe's poem, The Raven
Q: Favorite poem of your own? And why?
Of MINE? Oooh, that's a hard one.. they've all got their own good points. "Who?" was the longest I wrote, whereas the Brain Fart series (which may or may not be getting an addition soon) was definately the most fun to write.
Q: What does it take to be a good poet?
A sound grasp of language and grammer, and definately an insanity streak (for me, however, it's an insanity FLOOD)
Q: Why is poetry good for us? In what way does poetry help us?
Now you're asking me to be deep and philosophical, aren't you? Uhm, it's a way to appreciate the wider world, I think, and to also understand some of our hidden fears and emotions.
Q: Have you ever entered or had your poems published anywhere else other than OTF Poetry Guild?
Yup, I had one poem published in the "Yorke Peninsula Country Times" in 1994, and another one published in the School Newsletter in 1996, but other than those, nope.
Q: If you could go back in time what famous poet would you like to meet?
Uhm.. I don't know...
Q:Do you have your own site?
Yes its under construction at the moment
Q: We always seem to look back at our lives and say, "If I had to do it over again...." Any wisdom for poets who are just starting out?
Yeh, Don't be too critical of your own work. Print it out, leave it for a few hours and come back and read it to see how you could improve it, and don't throw boomerangs away, put them down and walk away! =P
Q: Do you feel you have had to sacrifice anything in your life in order to do your work?
Well, yeh. I need to make a few special sacrifices to the Coffee Gods so that they keep the Coffee-Evaporation Gods away, but apart from that, not really.
Q: What benefits do you feel society reaps from contemporary poets?
I really don't know. I think it may help people realise that they're not the only ones going through that emotional mess that is so generally called "life".
Q: What do you have planned for the immediate future?
Well, after this, I plan on making coffee and hanging around online... Oh, you meant slightly more distant, didn't you? Probably get a job where I have some free time to do weird stuff like writing poems.
Thank you for the Interview Aussie
Oh, my pleasure. Do you want me back in my padded cell now?
Interview by Leeta
Submitted on 06.23.03