Poet Sarah Certa @ SMU/ Toner Student Center/ President Room/ 7:30 Tonight/ Free
I don’t advertise, but since The Noisy Neighbor–
(An Upcoming arts, music, food, culture, and events center serving the Winona area! I write for them!)
–doesn’t have their website up yet–
(Does that means I write for a non-existent website? No. Its coming October.)
–I am posting my interview with Sarah here! I went to school with this lady. She’s awesome. If you hate poetry, read her response below!
First an excerpt of her poem:
…and sometimes I feel like the sun
when I kiss you, like a really
big bitch, shining obnoxiously on all those rows
of graves like teeth, when I spend all morning
burying my nose in that mossy
space between your thigh
and groin, while my brother
is digging for bombs in the sand, trying not
to blow himself to pieces, while I’m busy pulling
your coarse hair from my lips, and he
hears children screaming, but someone has got to
hold down the fort at home, remember to let morning
in through the blinds, let it slice
our bodies into delicate shapes…
The interview:
1.Why poetry?
That’s a good question. I started writing poetry when I was 11 and I have no idea why.
I don’t know how to write anything else besides love letters and emails to friends. I can’t fathom writing an essay or a novel or even a short story. It’s like trying to think about how to put a desk together — my brain just shuts down.
2. What is poetry not?
Evil. Poetry cannot stem from meanness. Anger, maybe. But not meanness. Not evil.
3. Is poetry a real job?
Are your insides on fire?
4. Does your mother approve/have you married rich?
My mother is happy as long as I am happy and writing poetry makes me happy. The man I’m going to marry is beautiful and brilliant and so yes, I’d say I’m going to marry rich.
5. Who do you write for and why?
I write for myself to keep from going completely insane. It’s all very selfish, this poetry thing. It’s my favorite form of therapy, and the most effective. But when I find that what I write has touched other people some way, or made them want to write, or raised questions, then it’s really something amazing, and it makes me want to write more and better. But the initial urge to write comes from some energy inside me. Some creature wanting out and I have no choice but to let it. I mean, I want to go on living for as long as I can.
6. Do you consider rap to be poetry?
I don’t really know what poetry is, so maybe? I mean, definitely some rap is very poetic, in that it moves the listener or reveals some sort of truth…. Sometimes I like to listen to rap while I write because there’s a certain energy there, and a necessary confidence. Most rappers are so confident and it makes me be all like EFF YOU ALL I’M WRITING THE BEST GODDAMN POEM EVERY WRITTEN BECAUSE I’M THE ILLEST YOU DON’T EVEN KNOW WHAT I’VE BEEN THROUGH! Now I don’t actually believe that or think that way but sometimes momentarily believing that while writing can give me that fuel to keep going, especially since that poem is probably not actually going to make me any money. That poem might end up sucking. That poem might be the worst poem I ever write. And aren’t there more useful things I could be doing? People are fighting wars and cancer and dying right now and I’m sitting here writing about my hypersensitive feelings and boys! Rap helps push away these self-doubts. Sometimes you just have to trick yourself. Or maybe what I mean is believe in yourself — don’t expect others to do that for you.
7. What’s a favorite line of someone else’s poetry that comes to mind right now?
“I drag myself toward you using only my face/ to see each little flower, forever at once” –Anthony McCann
8. Say that I hate poetry, or that I would rather go to the bars tonight, why should I come listen to you read?
There is a lot of sex in my poems. I sound sexy when I read them (I can’t believe I just wrote that). Basically I’m going to make you sad and then turn you on to make up for making you sad. Isn’t this how relationships work? There’s so much sadness, we’ll last forever.
9. What are a few of your favorite words?
Milk, Manic, Lovely, Brother
For the rest of her poem: http://barehandsfifteen.tumblr.com/post/46848875001/big-bitch-by-sarah-certa
Redwinged Black Bird 