lalesu, From south of the Mason-Dixon, 68 Fans, 31 Hubs, Joined 4 months ago
|
|
Wayne Brown Interviews LaLeSu
A blonde Kentucky poet's Taurean nature results in beautiful hubbing
1. We see from your profile that you are a Kentuckian by birth and a country girl too. Tell us more about Laura in her younger years and how that plays to your writing.
Although I haven’t lived there in many, many years I am still very much a Kentucky girl. I had the privilege of growing up with plenty of fresh air to breathe, trees to climb, and people to love me. The only books in our house were a set of children’s nursery rhymes and fairy tales, the, Encyclopedia Britannica, a huge medical dictionary and one small book of poetry. I loved all these books. I spent many hours reading ‘Humpty Dumpty’ and ‘Jack and Jill’ then cross referencing the medical dictionary for head trauma. I started reading my older cousin’s cast off romance novels at about age 12 then shortly afterwards discovered the likes of J.R.R Tolkien and William Shakespeare. I began writing for myself at around the age of thirteen. The book of poetry was by W.B Yeats and he remains one of my eternal favorites.
2. You seem very comfortable with expressing yourself in the poetic genre and you occasionally write a story. Will you write more stories and if so, what can we expect?
At the risk of sounding cliché, writing poetry is cathartic and a necessary thing. I am quite comfortable expressing myself through my poetry; however I’ve only recently begun to share it with anyone else. For many years I wrote only for myself and destroyed most of what I’d written without ever having organized it into separate works. I am still very much a “closet writer.” Many of my family members, and only a very few of my closest friends are aware that I’ve ever written the first line. The verses show up in the oddest places; on the edges of store receipts, torn envelope flaps, even bits of chewing gum wrappers. Those bon mots go renegade on me sometimes so I’ve learned wherever I am when the words and phrases pop into my mind I’d better commit them to paper then and there. What I haven’t learned is to carry a better supply of paper. With regard to writing stories, I write only of the dear people and places of my childhood, these do not ever come so easily to me. I seem to worry and trouble over the placement and structure of every sentence. I bog down in the self-editing. I recently “fried’ my beloved laptop and gone along with it are three short stories that were never completed. I will admit it is somewhat of a relief to be done with them, at least for the moment.
3. Your poetry is sprinkled with beautiful phrases and references, which seem to have much deeper meanings. How do you evolve such emotional work?
I love words. My vocabulary is not broad enough to claim true logophile status but it’s not everyday one gets the opportunity to use “logophile” in a sentence so perhaps I’m on my way. There are words and phrases that I associate to people, place and events in my life. My hope is one need not know the life event that brought me to pen a particular word, or fully understand the reason that a phrase was born in my mind for my style, arrangement and composition to deliver the meaning in such a way that anyone reading it will feel the emotions, spirit, sympathies and passions could have been their own.
4. Is poetry a way of expressing things that you cannot or would not otherwise say? Is it thinking out loud?
My poetry is very much a ‘thinking out loud of things I would not otherwise say.’ I rarely dream, but when I do, I sometimes dream I am in church and have no underwear on. It is a very stressful and reoccurring dream, even if it is a bit amusing in the retelling. I understand ‘church’ to be representative of societal lines that should not be crossed, and my lack of undergarments in this dream as things I wish to keep private. I am selective about who I share my writing with, as I’ve said before, I am a closet poet; however, the poems refuse to go unwritten and are becoming braver than I will ever be. I’ve destroyed many of my poems over the years. I regret this very much. I address the emotion of it in a piece titled ‘Sacrifices to the Gods of Mundane’. While I am not prepared to have them read by one and all, I will never again willingly destroy anything I’ve written…short of frying it along with my laptop because I failed to back it up properly. That’s a lesson hard learned!
5. Considering the poems that you have published here on the Hub, do you have one or two that are your favorites and why?
Picking a favorite poem is a bit like asking a mother to pick her favorite child. It always conjures in my mind the scene at the railway from ‘Sophie’s Choice’ when the Nazi soldier forced Meryl Streep to choose between her two children.
They are all very special to me, even ugly babies are loved by their mothers, but I am especially fond of ‘Yuri’s Disco’, ‘Sacrifices to the Gods of Mundane’, ‘Susurro’, and ‘Healthy Appetite’. I note these four, not because I believe they are stellar works or so much better than the rest, but because I feel they represent a good cross section of my writing and yes, perhaps they do hold a slightly more forward place in my heart and head.
6. What drives you desire to write and express yourself?
To be quite honest, I’m not certain. Just as some have a passion for cooking or fast cars and others are gifted painters or sculptors, anyone who writes knows the great satisfaction that comes from it. It’s something I enjoy greatly and it must be, and at times, demands to be done for me to be happy. It’s often as simple as jotting a few phrases down on scrap paper then waiting for the better moment to structure them into a formal poem. I do find it odd, however, that I sometimes get a bit anxious when I’ve completed a new piece. After experiencing the ‘writer’s high’ I sometimes wonder, “What if that’s the last original thought I ever have? What if that’s the last thing I ever create?” However, that anxiety quickly passes as the wonderful people of HubPages offer their comments and encouragement to a newly posted work. On Hubs I’ve discovered so many beautifully talented writers that I now count among my friends. People like Ralwus, aka Charlie Campbell. Thanks to him I’ve learned to be a bit bolder in what I’m willing to publish, albeit never as colorful as Charlie! And I’ve revisited my childhood in so many countless, wonderful ways thanks to you, Wayne Brown; despite the fact that it isn’t my genre I will write more short stories about growing up country. But ultimately, Ego wins and I write for myself. Even if no one else ever reads a single word, and for many years no one did, I would still write, but I have discovered that Id glows in the limelight and it is very refreshing and quite liberating to know that others are reading my work…There Sigmund, I’ve admitted it, you can let me up off this couch now.
7. I know you read across a fan base, but given the restriction that you could only read ten hub writers, who would you, read and why?
This is a very unfair question, given the wealth of talent here on HubPages, but I will muddle through as best I can within the parameters of the question; You, Wayne Brown and Ralwus, aka Charlie, are at the top of my list. The talent and the spectrum of your writing alone is reason enough for me to have you at the top. You run the gamut of humor, politics, dramatic and the tragic in both your short stories as well as your wonderful poetry. I so admire Ralwus for his boldness, I will admit I envy that, add to that the wonderful encouragement and support that you’ve both given me from my first few days here on HubPages and that makes you my two “must reads.”
I always try to catch anything new from Awful Poet, Saddlerider1, Epigramman, SilverGenes, Lorlie6, Samboiam, Blake4d, Winsome, and Aware. They are wonderfully talented writer and bring so much to my day when I see new hubs from them. In addition there are three others that are at the top of my ‘must read’ list: first, Nellieanna, whose spirit shines through her poetry like the sun and moon, warm and radiant, twinkling and beautiful; secondly, A.A Zavala, who has the unique ability to turn his otherwise tragic childhood events into the most humorous stories, and last but certainly not least, Spolly Joonerist. This young woman writes poetry that makes me feel as if the words have been inside me all along just waiting to burst out the top of my head as I read, add to that her charming and inimitable talent of juggling and riding the unicycle, and in my opinion she’s unstoppable. I know that’s more than ten, you may deduct it from my AdSense earnings.
8. Based on your experience here at the Hub, what advice would you offer to new hubbers?
Keep an open mind. Don’t get discouraged or wrapped up in ratings, remember who you write for and why. Take pride in your work, even in its infancy. If you desire to become a better writer, then read, study and emulate writers that you admire, but never, ever, under any circumstances plagiarize another work. I know there are many Hubbers who are here for reason other than creative writing or poetry but I’m mainly addressing that audience. There are several opportunities to make a little revenue here, but you need to be willing
to stay on top of it and work the system. You’ll not likely get rich from AdSense, but if you do, please remember I, LaLeSu, Laura Summerville Reed was the one who suggested you keep plugging away at it. This is a community so make friends and enjoy yourself.
BONUS QUESTIONS!
9. You are very positive and upbeat personality. How do you maintain your outlook?
I have a true Taurean nature. I’m the evenest of keels, plodding along at a steady pace. I’m slow to anger and rarely hold a grudge. I laugh easily and enjoy the company of well-rounded, clever people, however, I tend to be rather self-possessed and I’m quite comfortable with my own company. It does not cost extra to smile so I may as well.
10. If you could interview a famous and established writer for the Hub, who would it be and why?
Wouldn’t we all love to have an interview with Harper Lee? But since that isn’t likely to happen I think I’d have to choose the singer/songwriter, John Mellencamp. Not only do I love his music, so many of his lyrics could stand alone purely as poetry, but he’s a gifted painter as well.
|
