A Story Not Wished To Be Read: An interview with Nicola Black

Today I'm taking with poet and author Nicola Black about her poetry collection, A STORY NOT WISHED TO BE READ.

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1) Please tell about your collection.

This collection of poems was written over several years. It was an easy way to express my emotions. Eventually, I decided to compile them all in one place. I've added to them several times over the past couple of months, but kept many of the originals, even though I didn't like some of them.

2) What sort of themes do you explore in your collection?

The themes that I explored in this collection are my own weaknesses really. Self doubt, love, heartache, and hope--these all poured out of me as I wrote. I was hesitant to draw much attention to the collection for that very reason, but I got over it. :)

3) Do you have a particular style for these poems or do they vary? Could you tell us a bit about your style?

My styles definitely do vary. Mostly I try to have a rhyming pattern. Sometimes I challenged myself to fit the poem into a metrical rhythm. Very rarely I wrote in free verse. I have never been comfortable with improvisation, but for those particular topics, I thought that's what they needed. I like the idea of structure though; so much of my life, past and present, have been rather chaotic.

4) What sort of advantage do you feel the poetry medium provides you over prose fiction?

Poetry allows me to be vague and symbolic. In prose writing, you need to add detail to allow the reader to see what you want him to see. With poetry, you can use symbolism and abstract concepts. The reader interprets the work how they need to, and you don't have to come right out and say "I made a mistake, so I lost." or "Oh my God, that guy is so dreamy." There is still privacy in that, so I don't feel like I'm completely wearing my heart on sleeve.

5) Do you have any particular writers or poets who have influenced you?

I've read a lot of Charles Dickens, Jane Austen, and Emily Dickinson. I would like to think all three have made an impact on my work. From Charles Dickens I have the idea of fictional autobiography, such as he did with David Copperfield. He was also rather pessimistic, which I certainly am. Jane Austen depicted every day living in her society. That's something that I try to emulate. Emily Dickinson's forms and themes were very close to my heart, so I try to get that same affect in my readers.

6) Do you have any other work you'd like to tell us about?

At the present moment, I haven't finished anything else. However, I do have several projects in progress. TELEPATHETIC is a novel about a girl who believes she is going insane. She has a voice in her head who insists that he's a real person. A SPY OF KINGS is about a young female spy who is sent on a long journey. She has to join forces with a warlock and a crime lord. And she has a dragon who is her daughter. NUMB KILLINGS is a new project about a man-murderer telling her story in prison. And my final work is NIGHTMARES AND DREAMS, a collection of short stories.

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Thanks, Nicola.

Her collection can be purchased at Smashwords.

You can read more from her at her blog, http://generalhavoc.wordpress.com/.

Macabre Poetry: An interview with poet Justin Bienvenue

Tonight I have something a bit different, my first poet interview. It's doubly unusual for me in that the poet, Justin Bienvenue, specializes in poetry about the macabre and horrific. My personal poetry tastes run more toward the 18th- and 19th-century Romantics, but I still find the idea of a poet focusing on horror fascinating.

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1) Please tell us about your collection.

The Macabre Masterpiece is a collection of all types and takes on horror. It goes beyond the simple elements of what one could be scared of. Each poem tells an in-depth tale on its subject and either grips, scares or shocks the reader which is in all intended purposes. Each chapter tells of a certain type of horror, but all give that disturbing, gruesome or mysterious aura that makes it so. It’s up and down in terms of scare level. Some have that direct meaning of horror others have a lighter and not friendlier but rather a calmer likeness to it. After all not everyone likes to be totally scared or grossed out. There’s a good amount of both which overall blends in together nicely and gives the book it’s core.

2) What kindled your interest in the darker side of fiction?


I’ve always liked the scary take on writing, but it wasn’t until I really sat down and saw what I had that it interested me. I already had a good share of horror poems I felt I could expand on the topic and it was then that I started seeing more horror books being put out, creepy shows on television, and it really inspired me and made me decide to go into the path of dark horror. Once I had enough material boiling in my brain, I realized it was time to turn to the darkness of fiction if you will, and begin.

3) The public's taste for horror, regardless of the form, seems to wax and wane over the years. Why do you think horror is more popular at some times versus others?


I would say it’s just like any other thing, a trend or phase. Horror is always there, but when someone or something new and innovative regarding it comes out it really catches peoples attention and draws them into it and being totally involved in it. It also depends on what exactly the topic of horror it is, vampires for example have quite a big following which means when they become popular so does the horror genre.

4) Do you have a favorite among the poems?


I have quite a few but I’ll name a favorite for each chapter. “The Rage of Hades" (Hell), “The River of Blood series" (Blood), “Vampires series” (Creatures), “The Portrait of Dorian Gray”(Creepy) and “The Nightwatchman” (Suspense). I like these because they more than most really tell an in-depth tale.

5) Can you share with us why you decided use poetry for your horror work versus prose?


I really only write poetry and I am a big writer of it. Like I said before, I already had some horror poetry so I decided to expand on it but also felt horror poetry would be a good way to go since you really don’t hear much about it. I felt the way I write and my take on horror would come together very nicely, and I believe they do just that.

6) What strengths does poetry offer for horror versus prose? What weaknesses?

Strength-wise I would say you get to take in each line and read beyond what’s being said. It gives you more of an appreciation and anticipates you for each line after. Poetry is mainly written with feeling and there’s no better feeling then being scared. Weakness-wise is the fact that it is poetry. Not everyone is a fan of poetry, which means they may not care for it even if they like horror, but I always say that poetry is just a form to which its written, it still tells a story just in a different way.

7) While many may not instantly associate horror with poetry, there's a long association between poetry and the macabre, including more atmospheric works but less explicit works such as Poe's "The Raven" to some of the moralistic horrific imagery of Hell related in Dante's The Divine Comedy. Do you feel that poetry is currently under-utilized for those interested in producing works of horror?


Absolutely, It’s works like "The Raven" and Dante’s Divine Comedy that make you ask, "What happened?" Where did we go wrong and when did it stop? Poe is one of the, if not the finest, poet of the macabre and yet while he’s known and liked it seems like it stopped with him. People these days seem to go with the obvious clique of let's write a creepy thriller or let's make a movie about it. We’ve seen this done over and over, but yet it's the works of Poe that are some of the best that are in fact poetry. That makes me wonder why don’t we go back to those roots. I feel there needs to be more writers of horror poetry. It's something different for a change, something creative, something that’s really died down and should be revived to add another unique twist on the horror community.

8) Are there any poets who have influenced your work? Are there any authors?


Well continuing on from the last question, Edgar Allen Poe influenced some of the works in the book. I mean if I was going to write macabre who better to be influenced and inspired by then him. In some poems you can see similarities while in others you can’t, but I did get inspiration from him. Also my works are influenced by Shakespeare. This is mainly outside the book, but in the book there are a few Shakespeare-like themes. As for authors, I would have to go with Stephen King. While there aren’t any direct references to King's work in any poem,, but the influence is in there in small ideas and, of course, the gruesome aspects.

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Thanks, Justin.

His collection can be purchased at Amazon.

You can hear more from Justin at his website: http://jbienvenue.webs.com/.

Mr. Beard's Regency Tour Day 8: Bad Boy, Super Poet, and Greek Patriot, Lord Byron: Part II: Brooding Poetic Heroes and Dissing Your Contemporaries

Welcome to my eighth  post on late Georgian/Regency England. If you haven't a clue what I'm talking about, please check out this post.

This is the second part of a three part series on Lord Bryon. If you want an overview of his life, please see this post.

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There is a pleasure in the pathless woods,
There is a rapture on the lonely shore,
There is society, where none intrudes,
By the deep Sea, and music in its roar;
I love not Man the less, but Nature more,
From these our interviews, in which I steal
From all I may be, or have been before,
To mingle with the Universe, and feel
What I can ne’er express, yet cannot all conceal.

Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, Stanza 178, Lord Byron.

Last week, I discussed Lord Byron's scandalous life and his many confirmed and rumored affairs. Though his behavior undoubtedly fueled some of his early scandalous allure for his contemporaries, we primarily remember him today not for his attempt to the Wilt Chamberlain of the Regency but instead for his literary accomplishments.

It is important to remember that Bryon worked and created in the backdrop of the Romantic movement, a movement that started roughly in the mid-18th century. In order to avoid spiraling off to another length sub-series, I'll just summarize the Romantic movement by noting it was a general reaction to unease over a number of cultural factors that had gained strength during the Enlightenment, in particular the ideas the scientists/natural philosophers had advanced that were starting to demystify nature and placed a premium on intellectual engagement with the world over emotional engagement. It was also linked in with the spread of the Industrial Revolution and related sociological factors. Distilled to its essence, the Romantic movement was about appreciating nature and existence in an allegedly more natural, and therefore, to their line of thinking, more authentic way. Although this philosophy influenced many spheres of existence in Europe and England, it was particularly pronounced in the arts. Also embodied in Romanticism was a sort of staunch idealism.

So how does Lord Byron fit into all of this? Well, he was a Romantic poet (he did try his hand at writing plays, but his success was firmly in the real of poetry) He showed talent from a young age and published his book of poetry, Hours of Idleness, in 1807 at the age of 19. He would follow that up with the critically acclaimed Childe Harold's Pilgrimage. This four-part narrative poem basically recounts the travels of an intelligent young man inflicted with ennui through the exotic lands. Considering that Lord Byron spent several years traveling abroad prior to publishing Pilgrimage, it is likely at least partially autobiographical. After his success with Pilgrimage, he published a number of other works, many of which focused on aristocratic Bryonic Heroes who traveled the world.


Though Pilgrimage is full of pathos, explorations of the meaning of freedom and existence, plus assorted other thematic meat that is nutritious to various English majors, it also helped to strengthen and fully define a literary archetype: what we now refer to as the Byronic Hero. Now, to be fair, it isn't as if Lord Byron was the first writer to ever use the archetype in English literature or poetry, but he did a considerable amount to popularize it.

Typically, a Bryonic Hero is fiercely intelligent, handsome, passionate, and idealistic, yet also flawed in some fundamental way such as given to intense brooding, being overly self-involved, cynical, arrogant, self-destructive, or a number of other such similar traits--much like Byron himself. 

The influence of the Bryonic Hero extends throughout literature from poetry to modern horror fiction. Besides hosting the literary circle that led to the creation of the first modern vampire story, the influence of the Bryonic Hero helped ensure that the vampire in that story lead to an aristocratic, but obviously very flawed being, even though to be clear, the vampire in that story is not the protagonist. Though, amusingly enough, the name of the vampire was used in another work by one of Byron's ex-lover as a thinly veiled, and rather negatively portrayed, version of Byron himself (now that's getting even with your ex). Skip forward to the 20th-century, and you also start getting the aristocratic, intelligent brooding vampires of authors like Anne Rice. So, arguably, a early 19th-century poet helped set the stage for Interview with the Vampire.


This is not to say that all his works necessarily included a Byronic Hero (or Bryonic-influenced antagonists). The short poem, She Walks In Beauty, published in 1815 and very well received, focuses on the beauty of a woman and does little to explore or define the poem's narrator:


She walks in beauty, like the night

Of cloudless climes and starry skies;
And all that’s best of dark and bright
Meet in her aspect and her eyes;
Thus mellowed to that tender light
Which heaven to gaudy day denies.

One shade the more, one ray the less,
Had half impaired the nameless grace
Which waves in every raven tress,
Or softly lightens o’er her face;
Where thoughts serenely sweet express,
How pure, how dear their dwelling-place.

And on that cheek, and o’er that brow,
So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,
The smiles that win, the tints that glow,
But tell of days in goodness spent,
A mind at peace with all below,
A heart whose love is innocent!

Just to link this back to some of the things I discussed last week, though Byron claimed his inspiration was a beautiful cousin he saw at a party, some tried to claim the poem was about half-sister, Augusta, whom some had tried to suggest he had a sexual relationship with (just to reiterate, I find the evidence unpersuasive on the particular point).

Though many of his works were well received, his arguable magnum opus would be the lengthy epic poem, Don Juan published over the period of 1819 to 1824 (he would die before finishing the last section). Now, just to be clear. Byron was adapting from an existing story that preceded him by at least two centuries. He did invert the expectations a bit though by portraying Don Juan as a man who more easily ensnared by women than the inverse and Byron himself described it as satire. Though many found the poetry worthy of praise, there was some concern over some of the content, which, by the standards of the time was somewhat controversial both for the behavior of the poem's main character and the mutli-layered critiques of many aspect of then current life offered by Byron. Indeed, despite the respect many people paid to Lord Bryon's work, in his native England, his tendency toward challenging certain aspects of conventional mores, views, and the inclusion of sexually charged themes in some of his work left many disturbed by his work.


In Don Juan, he even has the 19th-century equivalent of a modern Rap "diss" song, in which an entire subsection (a canto) is basically devoted to him trashing other poets such as in the following example stanza:


All are not moralists, like Southey, when
He prated to the world of "Pantisocracy;"
Or Wordsworth unexcised, unhired, who then
Season'd his pedlar poems with democracy;
Or Coleridge, long before his flighty pen
Let to the Morning Post its aristocracy;
When he and Southey, following the same path,
Espoused two partners (milliners of Bath).
  
Stanza 93, Third Canto, Don Juan

Unlike the modern rappers, to the best of my knowledge Lord Byron didn't start any West Coast/East Coast conflicts with his insults (though some satirical responses to critics for earlier work did score him a few dueling challenges).


Though I've only highlighted these three works, he wrote large numbers of long- and short-form poetry. His "superstar" status at the time both from the acceptance of his work and his own self-promotion would lead to his work having a tremendous influence on other poets, other authors, and artists across Europe (including even Russia). Ironically, despite his obvious influence in England on many on contemporaries and later English authors both positive and negative (positive, Charlotte Bronte and Jane Eyre; negative, Emily Bronte and Wuthering Heights; and, yes, I'm making a subjective literary judgment), his greater legacy may have arguably have been outside of Europe. This may partially have been because his scandalous life in England that I talked about last week ended up damaging some of his influence in England (though it was still quite extensive) and, arguably, also the more culturally reserved English just were always going to be somewhat more scandalized by the boldness (at least at the time) of some of themes he explored in his poetry.

The Poetry of Lyrics: An interview with Mike Cooley

Today, we have something a bit different: an interview with Mike Cooley about his poetry/lyrics collection End Of The World Love Songs.

1) Tell us a little about your collection.

My poetry collection is called End Of The World Love Songs. The poems themselves were all originally songs I wrote and recorded for a variety of one-man-bands from 2004 to 2010. I’ve written about 300 songs over that time period, and the book contains 93 of the most poetic. The title comes from the themes I explore, which cover a lot of different areas but often focus on love and loss.

2) While lyrics are poetry, they are poetry meant to be paired with music. Are you worried that the lyrics will lose any of their impact without the music? I noticed you've made much of the music that goes with the lyrics available.


Great question! Yes, I was very worried about that. For one thing, the syntax and punctuation of the original lyrics was set up to allow me to sing the songs properly (often with hyphenated words for phrasing and the like). And since I remember the songs, I can kind of hear the music as I read the words. I went through and tried to change the punctuation to make the words flow better for readers that have never heard the music (which was a challenge). I also eliminated some of the repetition that occurs in the actual songs when I transcribed them into poetry.

I came up with the idea to post the music for all the poems by accident. But since I had all the music already recorded I figured it would be a good bonus for people reading the book to be able to listen to the song behind any poem that they were particularly fond of. However, I did run into a problem finding all of those songs, so I’m not done posting all 93 yet. Soon I hope to have all of them posted on my blog. Once all of them are up I plan to also post a ZIP file that contains the entire soundtrack (in order of appearance in the book).

3) Is there a general thematic thread that links the collection?

In a way, the theme that links the collection is my life. I was writing a couple of songs a week during those years, and they were often reflective of my emotions at the time. Those were challenging years for me, so many of the songs have a dark edge to them. And since the songs come from different bands, they have different levels of intensity. The poems that came from Divergent Future (my first band) for instance are different than the ones from Gotham Steel (my Metal Band).

Within the collection some of the poems comprise an album, and the album would often have a story arc or theme. The most obvious example of that is my album Robots of Dawn. That album has a complete story arc. I didn’t choose to put the poems in the book in the order that they appear on albums, but for that album, the poems would be: Robots of Dawn, If You Want To Live, Machine Dreams, Dust, New Skin, She Stands At The Precipice, Resurrection, I Will Find You, So We Meet Again, and Brave New World.

I have considered putting those poems, in particular, in that order for the next revision. Or, perhaps, explaining how the poems fit together in an appendix.

4) Why did you open with "She Stands With the Precipice"?

I opened with that one because I think it’s one of the best poems in the collection. And I love the song. It means a lot to me.

I can’t really listen to the song without getting emotional.

5) Why did you close with Crystalized?

Because it’s about hope, and transcending the troubles of life, and becoming something greater.

6) What does music mean to you?
Music is part of me. Without music I have no doubt I would not be here today. It saved my life. I’ve met so many friends through music. So many geniuses that lay their heart and souls on the line. It’s a lot like writing. It is writing really. Just a different channel. A different toolset.

7) What does poetry mean to you?

I’ve always loved poetry and short form writing. Saying something powerful in just a few words fascinates me. Even in my fiction I think *the words I don’t say* can be just as important as the words I do say. I WANT the reader to have to imagine, and to have to interpret, and to have feelings that are unique to themselves when they read my words.

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Thanks for sharing, Mike.

End of the World Love Songs is available at Amazon.