 |
| COULD THIS BE POET X? |
Poet X recently published their first book with Rand House in the US, and they were on all the usual best-seller lists from the get-go; indeed, lines of eager humans snaked around corners before dawn, when the bookshops opened early, so huge was the incredible if bleary-eyed poetic demand. Poetry is back, big time!
People are speaking of Beatlemania, or Pottermania, or Quadrophenia, to explain the phenomenon. We asked Poet X some questions for our special April 1 feature at Eyewear. And they answered. The questions were emailed to Poet X, and they replied.
Eyewear: Are you a man or a woman?
Poet X: Lol. You almost tricked me. Seriously, would I fall for that? My gender is a mystery. Everything about me is a mystery. Sorry.
Eyewear: OK. But we had to ask. What makes you write?
Poet X: Fame. I crave the limelight. I love the idea that my poems - I consider them lyrics - reach millions of people every day. And change their lives. Usually for the better.
Eyewear: So why the Howard Hughes act?
Poet X: I may be too young to get that reference, but I can (maybe) Google. I enjoy being infinite and universal, like Shakespeare or the wind. Or the ocean. I am basically whatever you want me to be.
Eyewear: I want you to be identifiable in a coffee shop.
Poet X: No chance.
Eyewear: You mostly write about love...
Poet X: Yes. Love, and death, and time, and the important things. I deal in truths. Like that dust makes you sneeze. And cats purr.
Eyewear: What is your favourite poem by yourself?
Poet X: Oh, that is a hard one... but I guess it would have to be 'Sunset Knife':
The sun
cuts the sky
like a sharp
knife, and it bleeds
ouch
don't hurt me sun
says the sky
I have to, the sky
says back,
in a deep voice
it is what I do
Eyewear: We love that one. Do you wear eyewear?
Poet X: Maybe.
Eyewear: We think you are probably American. Your spelling is American.
Poet X: Or I use American spelling to throw you off the scent.
Eyewear: True.
Poet X: I like a lot of American poetry, so I tend to use the same spelling. Americans get poetry. They really do. So do Germans. The Germans are very big fans of my poems.
Eyewear: You are the richest poet in the world today. How does that make you feel?
Poet X: Good. It makes me feel validated, you know? Like a rock star or Stephen King.
Eyewear: Brexit, yes or no?
Poet X: Yes - any word with an X in it, is a word I love.
Eyewear: Trump?
Poet X: Not usually. In small doses.
Eyewear: Has social media changed poetry for the better?
Poet X: You bet. Before social media people like me would not have had the chance to break through and reach vast audiences of people who don't know what poetry is. I am basically the tip of the spear. We have a lot of people out there too busy to read long poems by dead people. Then again, maybe I am dead...
Eyewear: really?
Poet X: No, I am a living poet, that is one thing you can say for sure.
Eyewear: And that you use American English.
Poet X: How do you know I am not out there in all other languages, also, fluent as the ocean, the wind, the truth?
Eyewear: Do you have any advice for budding Poet Xs?
Poet X: Yes - never forget that a simple truth expressed in plain language, with the minimum of poetic skill, if presented on a blood-red background with a fancy font, can move millions. Think what Byron or Emily Dickinson could have accomplished if they had been on social media?
Eyewear: Wow. That is true. Thanks Poet X. Happy April!
Poet X: Maybe where I am it is already May...
Comments