Meet The Writer
The writer, celebrating Bastille Day last Friday. I was sitting at the cafe La Parisiennne enjoying a glass of Rene Briand Brut Blanc De Blancs Sparkling Wine just after I finished my work day.
With a nod to the writer Beth Kempton, I will be posting the answers to each of her Meet The Writer prompts in this post. The fifteen prompts ran from July 5th to the 19th on Instagram.
It’s my hope that this post will help the reader get to know me the writer a little bit better.
Without further adieu…
#1-Desk
What is on my desk?
A lamp, my keys, the note to myself that I wrote.
My stereo, the ring light and portable tripod. The bamboo tree and table fan.
At the bottom of the desk are the racks holding three CD wallets overlooking a map of the Football Clubs of Great Britan and the calendar for 2023 that I brought home from Italy.
Weirdly enough, I don't really use my desk for writing. I lie on the bed with either my notebook and pen in hand or my phone or iPod's notes app open and then write.
The desk helps make the visual element of my poetry happen with a steady place to shoot my videos. My desk is also a sanctuary with a bamboo tree fostering in a sense of serendipity.
#2-Time
When do you write?
When the muse makes itself known to me.
I've tried to avoid scheduling specific times to write my poems and prose. As I don't want to force the words out of me. The words need to flow.
Sometimes, I write on the run. I'll be somewhere or see something that resonates with me and I open up my notes app. And a poem follows.
My words have their own space and time.
#3-Motivation
Why do you write?
I write as the words on paper and on screen speak for me.
When I speak verbally, the words get lost in the middle of a speech impediment. One time too many I’ve tried to speak in full sentences but the words come out fragmented.
I write as a method of catharsis.
I don’t have to walk on eggshells when I write. All of my emotions are laid bare on the page instead of taking up space in my mind. And at times, I get to explore places that I’ve been and want to go.
I write as it’s the one thing that I know how to do.
The first glimpse of this came from the found poetry exercise in senior year of high school. The words, “Oswald, you’re a poet!” written on my paper gave me a sense of validation that I’d been trying to find my entire life.
And I write to resonate.
I didn’t expect that my words would be read by others people. Let alone read them on camera. Or even turn my poems into a book. And see my writing published in multi author books. It makes my day to see feedback from my posts.
Why do I write?
To be my fullest self.
At 2 World Trade Center, I came across this piece of artwork. And the words Creativity Rules Everything Around Me seemed to resonate with me on a cold, gray morning. This mural is one of twenty one that were comissioned for the The Two World Trade Center Murals Project.
#4-Champion
Who am I grateful to for championing my creative work?
I'm grateful to everyone that's ever liked, shared and commented on my work. It means the world to me to see the level of resonance that my words have had. I'd go past the character limit thanking individual people.
I never expected to be a writer and a poet. It was something that came out of the blue. I didn't think much of my words. But when the nudge from friends and family about how good your writing is gets louder by the day, I owed it to myself to see how far I could go.
And the writing I've done has taken me far. From podcasts telling my story of resilience, to publishing my own poetry book. Seeing my poems and writings in anthologies and speaking to audiences far and wide on video.
Yet, there's still more that needs to be said.
#5-Inspiration
Whose writing do you love? How have their words inspired you?
James Michener, Frances Mayes, Peter Mayle and Franz Wisner. The types of writer I aspire to ultimately become.
All of the books place me in the locations they're at, the sights, sounds, tastes and times. With the moments of growth and self discovery building up with each page being read.
I try to do the same thing with my writings especially the pieces that involve traveling. Though, I've never been in a place long enough yet to write other than how the moment went. I use my imagination for further stories and poems after the fact.
A small sampling of the books on my shelf. All the authors listed are from places that I’ve visited over the years. And in each of their works, I aspire to write poetry and prose as well as they do.
#6-Music
Do I have a writing playlist or do I write in silence?
The answer is somewhere in between.
In fact, I listen to music when I write as it shuts out the outside world. In every song and lyric lies a potential base of inspiration.
Music is in every part of my writings. From my blog posts being titled after a song or album related to the time of writing, to most of the haiku’s I’ve ever written being based off of song lyrics.
And in the case of the song in the screen cap, Astor Piazzolla’s “Milonga Del Angel” became the linchpin of a series of poems. Whenever the opening notes begin, I indulge my inner tanguero on the page and dreaming in my headphones.
Along with traveling, music is an anchor of my writings.
This is the inside of my music cabinet. A lot of CD’s and not much space to take a panoramic photo of the collection. And this isn’t even all of it, as the collection expands to three CD wallets below my desk. But this photo shows how much music plays a role in the writing process.
#7-Life
What do you enjoy doing when you are not writing?
I love to indulge in my amateur photographer.
No matter where I walk, I’m not without a camera.
Whether it be my iPod, phone or point and shoot camera. As everything is photographable. The photos taken tell stories better than all the words that I write possibly can write. With the idea of bringing the reader closer into my world.
And sometimes, the two work in tandem. As photos often lead to ideas for future poems and writings.
Every picture tells a story.
Florence, Italy on September 24th, 2022. After our group was given a demonstration of the leather items that the Missoni shop offered, I got the chance to try on this leather jacket. It looked nice on me, but it was a bit out of my price range.
#8-Words
What do you write?
I write as the words act as my voice.
Free of the speech impediment, I can convey feeling of joy, optimism, sadness and sorrow as best I can. Sometimes all the emotions come together in the same piece of writing.
I write of moments that I cherish, of hopes for a brighter future and to reconcile where I’ve been. I write to capture life and all its essence.
I write words that express a positive nature, even if I’m going through difficult times. As positivity is something that’s always needed.
The words in poems and prose that I write aren’t going to change the world. Nor are they particularly profound in any way. If they resonate with one person, I’m doing something right.
They’re just reflections of life that’s being lived in every post.
The cover of my poetry book, “A Poetic Journey, Staying At Home”. It came out in October 2020 in the midst of the pandemic. All of the poems in it were written from March to June of that year. This was something I didn’t expect to have happen, but I feel an enormous sense of accomplishment each time I see the larger version of this photo hanging on the walls of my room.
#9-Tools
What do I like to write with, and on?
I predominantly use technology with the notes apps on my phone, iPod and computer. As the ideas come from my mind, I type them out.
Once I have my poems written out, I open the Canva app and turn my poems into posts for my platforms.
At the same time, I have a stack of notebooks on my bookshelf that are filled with my writings and pens to write them with. Some of the writings have seen the light of day as poems, others stay in the notebooks, read out on virtual open mics. The notebook in the photo is my most recent purchase from June.
All of my tools bring the words to life.
#10-Talisman
Are there any particular objects that you like to have near when you write?
If there is a talisman, objects that I’d like to have near when I’m writing, it would be my scarves.
I can wear them over my shoulders and the memories come flooding back into my mind. One for each trip that I’ve taken on my own so far.
Such as the one that I’ve photographed. As I unfurl it, I get dropped back into September 2019. An early autumn afternoon in Paris. Sunshine and changing leaves, not a drop of rain to be found.
After climbing down the stairs from the Basilica Sacre Coeur, this scarf caught my eye at the shop across the street. It eventually joined it’s brothers from PSG and OGC Nice in my suitcase.
I’m reminded of Montmartre’s winding streets and the fact that the trip even happened when I wear it.
The memories make their way into my writings.
The afternoon of October 2nd, 2019. I was in my hotel room in Nice and I had all three scarves that I bought on the trip to France laid out. A beginning, middle and end, visually illustrated.
#11-Movement
What kind of movement helps me write? A lot of walking.
While I walk, I have a camera in my pocket whether it be on my phone or iPod. As the photos that I take every day serve as inspiration for written work.
Sometimes, I'll have my notes apps open and start typing while I'm standing and marveling at the scenery.
All the walking helps clear my head.
And in the case of this photo looking out to the Manhattan Bridge while walking the Brooklyn Bridge, the horizons of what I can do are expanded a bit more.
Walking along the span of the Brooklyn Bridge, with the Manhattan Bridge in the distance.
#12-Firsts
What was the first piece of writing that you've ever shared publicly?
The poem, "Freshman Year, As Seen Through My Eyes".
The exact details are fuzzy, but this poem was written during my freshman year at John Jay College in the fall of 2003. I came across a copy of the campus newspaper, the John Jay Times one day and found our that they were seeking submissions. I emailed the poem and I was shocked to see it printed.
I needed an outlet to express my frustrations adjusting to the new world that I was in. I had no sense of who I was and I was trying to survive my first semester. I wrote an extended version of the poem after this was published.
I didn't think much of my writing and myself back then. Graduation and growing up seemed impossible.
Almost twenty years from this moment, I've come a long way.
#13-Dream
If you could write at a desk anywhere in the world, what would your view be like?
I’ll be the first to admit it, this is a difficult question to answer as several places came up.
From the upper terrace of the condo in Rincon, Puerto Rico, to the balcony of my hotel room in Tomar, Portugal. A pied a terre in Nice overlooking the Promenade Des Anglais. The Jardin Du Luxembourg in Paris and Parc Guell in Barcelona.
Then, I came across a photo from @katerinakatopis scrolling on my feed.
A desk in Capri, Italy with a panoramic view of the bay of Naples. Soaking up the sun and blue skies with the breeze coming off the water.
With this much serenity, it would be a dream to spend time here writing and exploring the Amalfi Coast.
The Santa Lucia neighborhood of Naples, Italy. Our trip wasn’t scheduled to stop here, but on the island of Capri. But rough seas ended up changing the plans. With views like this, I can still dream about the inevitable visit to the island.
The words of the famed playwright Samuel Beckett. As I walked the campus of Trinity College, I came across this piece outside the Long Room.
#14-Advice
Is there one piece of advice, about writing, creativity or life in general that you wish you had gotten sooner?
When it comes to the topic of advice, sometimes it appears when you least expect it.
In this case, I was walking around the campus of Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland when I came across the words of the writer and playwright Samuel Beckett. He of “Happy Days” and “Waiting For Godot” fame.
Poetry is the form for me that accommodates the mess. In each stanza, all the emotions and feelings come out. And the mess begins to clear up by the time the last words of the poem are read out.
Sometimes, there’s even more mess to be found.
Artists put their works out there for people to draw their own conclusions and interpretations. That’s our daily task.
#15-Mirror
How would you like your writing to be described and why does that matter to you?
As I looked at Daniel Anderson’s “XO World” outside of 1 World Trade Center on Monday and saw my reflection, I had the idea.
I would like my writing to be described as reflective.
Reflective of my experiences going through life, the good and the bad. Where memories can share space with my hopes, fears and dreams.
If my work resonates with someone else that’s great. Though I don’t see myself as an inspirational figure in any way, shape or form.
And why does it matter to me?
I want to reflect myself to the fullest. As I open up and be vulnerable in the words that are put out into the universe. To show that it’s okay to embrace yourself no matter the form it takes.
After all, the words are a mirror of ourselves.
On Monday afternoon, I was walking back to the office when I came across the sculpture, “XO World” by Daniel Andersen outside of 1 World Trade Center. As I stopped to take the photo, I could see myself in the mirrored globe.
