Vintage Champagne: An Interview

[champagne1982]

Hello, again, Champers

I especially liked your Thrown Clay, though there are so many to like it's hard for me to choose a favourite. With Thrown Clay, it feels as if you were mentally manipulating the 'clay' - I suppose what I mean is that you wrote what you set your mind to feel, as if you drew the words, the phrases/sensations directly from your own flesh. Like listening to your physical self and writing it. As a reader, that's how I perceive it, though it may well have been written with a phone in one hand and the tv on in the background. It doesn't come across that way, so it sells itself. Intimate, slippery, smooooth, real. Love it.

Now, have you any landmark pieces you can identify that show a sudden change in the way you write? If so, how did they come about? What was the catalyst? Do you have pieces you had published that, looking back, you wished you'd not have submitted? Here or anywhere else, but especially print.

I wrote Thrown Clay for a challenge over at editred, remember? I think it was yours.

I only have the one poem extant elsewhere on the net that still can be found through Google search. And that's Water Colour. I have some of my dirty stories in a pulp magazine under my alias here, champagne1982. I read them and I'm a little embarrassed but ok with knowing that no one I know will go back and find those in a library. LOL.

Autumn's Kiss was the first poem I submitted for my Lit page. It's now in the retrospective thread. I wrote a lot of rhyming poems and eventually, with the prodding from challenges and the gentle folk here I changed my style...

Take a look at the one: Night of the Iguana and I think you'll see that while still rich language, there's a sophistication not found in my early rhymers. I don't know if I can pinpoint one particular piece that marks any change and so am left thinking that the changes are ongoing. I hope for the better.

 

[butters]

I wrote Thrown Clay for a challenge over at editred, remember? I think it was yours.

I only have the one poem extant elsewhere on the net that still can be found through Google search. And that's Water Colour. I have some of my dirty stories in a pulp magazine under my alias here, champagne1982. I read them and I'm a little embarrassed but ok with knowing that no one I know will go back and find those in a library. LOL.

Autumn's Kiss was the first poem I submitted for my Lit page. It's now in the retrospective thread. I wrote a lot of rhyming poems and eventually, with the prodding from challenges and the gentle folk here I changed my style...

Take a look at the one: Night of the Iguana and I think you'll see that while still rich language, there's a sophistication not found in my early rhymers. I don't know if I can pinpoint one particular piece that marks any change and so am left thinking that the changes are ongoing. I hope for the better.

It was? Lot of water under bridges since then - but it's cool that I still like it then, isn't it? Stands up well

None of your links in this post are working for me, but others of yours in previous ones are

Back later x

 

[champagne1982]

It was? Lot of water under bridges since then - but it's cool that I still like it then, isn't it? Stands up well

None of your links in this post are working for me, but others of yours in previous ones are

Back later x

Sorry, no links, just underline formatting lemme fix 'em up as links for ya.

 

[champagne1982]

I wrote Thrown Clay for a challenge over at editred, remember? I think it was yours.

I only have the one poem extant elsewhere on the net that still can be found through Google search. And that's Water Colour. I have some of my dirty stories in a pulp magazine under my alias here, champagne1982. I read them and I'm a little embarrassed but ok with knowing that no one I know will go back and find those in a library. LOL.

Autumn's Kiss was the first poem I submitted for my Lit page. It's now in the retrospective thread. I wrote a lot of rhyming poems and eventually, with the prodding from challenges and the gentle folk here I changed my style...

Take a look at the one: Night of the Iguana and I think you'll see that while still rich language, there's a sophistication not found in my early rhymers. I don't know if I can pinpoint one particular piece that marks any change and so am left thinking that the changes are ongoing. I hope for the better.

All fixed now...

 

[todski28]

From the sounds of your military career you went to many different places. Is there some where you went that you fell in love with and penned a poem about? If so where and by

 

[todski28]

From the sounds of your military career you went to many different places. Is there some where you went that you fell in love with and penned a poem about? If so where and?

 

[champagne1982]

From the sounds of your military career you went to many different places. Is there some where you went that you fell in love with and penned a poem about? If so where and?

First off - Here

Istanbul

ancient minarets
that ululate from black
loudspeakers hidden
inside the imam's
tower as roads
of commerce still
with even infidels
taking pause to send
silent messages
to heaven in case
death finds them
waiting just outside
the Grand Bazaar's
eastern gate
at the west
side of the charnel
pit that's older
than the tiles lining
Sophia's golden domes

Istanbul still holds me fast as you can read again in the pantoum Teach-In thread. Seriously; the light, the scents of the spice bazaar, the unabashed pinches to women's arses by the rug merchants - amazing!

and home

The Woods In Late Winter

Okay, the days are getting longer,
three minutes or so, per spin.
The winter begrudgingly relinquishes
her icy grip on the soul
of this northern land.

The sun is certainly stronger.
When I feel Sol's heat on my grin
I know youthful life soon vanquishes
the dark season's bitter toll
on this northern land.

Boreal forest
my heart's home.
I could not choose
a better view.

the last verse says it all

and here

Above The Trocadero

Explore your bride as the Sienne;
drift through the heart of her
and wash against stone pillars;
fingers running through your hair.
Be her lover and explore cobbled
streets. Your footsteps tease
her rolling landscape; love's
fingers tap Martillo rhythms
to echo the thrum of sexual beats
as they drift up Mont Marte
out of Quartier de Pigalle.

Desire burning to flame
this skin; to flush crimson
need across these breasts
their peaks teased; arousal
wafting through the air.
In the bedchamber, honey-filled
kisses cloy our senses and slow
lust until your hand rests there.

My scorpion, my mate, my love
You have captivated me,
held me close in anticipation.
Together, our blessed union
floods the land, plumps grapes
so wine will wash the streets
clean and Paris will bloom,
in springtime, with lovers.
We two stroll intoxicated streets
and in the evening we'll tap
the Martillo beat and quicken
lovers to join in the night.

Paris was a place I visited several times during my tour in Germany. We were overseas for nearly five years and how could I not indulge in the, as my friends and I called it, "99 Mark - All You Can Drink Paris Tour" as frequently as I wanted. Don't get me wrong, Der Schwartzwald and Alsace were amazing, but perhaps familiarity breeds contempt since these were literally right outside our door. But Paris was sexy and tasty and visually appealing as few of the other places we spent any time visiting were.

 

[Angeline]

I'll think I'll leave this stuck a few more days, Champ, since I know you are cool with it. I appreciate your forthrightness and the clarity of of explanations as well as the wonderful poems you've shared. Like me, you came to this forum to learn and grow as a poet and we're both still doing it all these years later and I'm proud of us (and the others who've done the same) for it. Your willingness to always share and teach has been good for the forum for a long time.

Anyway didn't mean to go too sentimental on you! Tell me the main pieces of advice you would give to someone starting out writing poetry and wanting to learn.

 

[champagne1982]

I'll think I'll leave this stuck a few more days, Champ, since I know you are cool with it. I appreciate your forthrightness and the clarity of of explanations as well as the wonderful poems you've shared. Like me, you came to this forum to learn and grow as a poet and we're both still doing it all these years later and I'm proud of us (and the others who've done the same) for it. Your willingness to always share and teach has been good for the forum for a long time.

Anyway didn't mean to go too sentimental on you! Tell me the main pieces of advice you would give to someone starting out writing poetry and wanting to learn.

Isn't this where we sit at the table with our tea and start gabbing about all the wonderfuls we know? I'm as comfortable on this forum as I am in my best friend's kitchen and that says a lot since I've always known my best friend. Look At Us, Lizzie! is actually inspired by an old photo of us sitting in a silly Calgary Stampede ad prop outside of the Calgary Tower when we were 20.

Wanting to learn is key when beginning any new skill development. It's important to understand that simply because many poems are brief and silly and usually for greeting cards doesn't mean that poetry is easy. So, my first piece of advice would be to get rid of that assumption.

There will be moments when you want to just get a piece out to the world and throw it on a thread just because you can, that's fine. If you do this you shouldn't expect praise. Consider, praise for what? Not working, not producing the best you can, for being quickly creative? Sure, we get lucky sometimes but that doesn't mean everything that's posted should get rave reviews. If you expect that you are delusional. My second bit of advice is for any poet to be prepared to feel disappointment. This is healthy and prepares you for rejection from publishers, so accept it and let us help you develop a thick skin.

And yes, I'm going to state the obvious and say once more that the best way to learn is by doing. I'll now add some caveats:

• read more poetry than you write,
• give more constructive critique than you get, and
• accept or reject review and critique as you see fit, your poetry is yours and you decide what happens with it.

Try to be gracious and don't be surprised that other people have bad days, too. There'll be times when doing something else will be the best thing for you, but don't forget your notebook. Enjoy the journey for if you aren't having fun, why are you doing it? Embrace the cliché but don't let it hold you up and with that being said, remember if it's worth doing, it's worth doing well.

Take heart and keep reading.

 

[UnderYourSpell]

There were 5 ladies that most drove me on when I first came here (some none too gently) to keep trying and to be more than I ever thought I could be. They were Angeline, Tess, Eve, Anna and you. Thank you

 

[champagne1982]

There were 5 ladies that most drove me on when I first came here (some none too gently) to keep trying and to be more than I ever thought I could be. They were Angeline, Tess, Eve, Anna and you. Thank you

This is making me speechless. You honour me and I thank you.

I love how, although we're oceans and continents apart, we communicate as if we're talking over the back fence. There's a fellowship on this forum that fosters a neighbourhood feel and it's up to all of us to make it a place we want to keep coming back to.

 

[HarryHill]

Why are you so quiet?

 

[champagne1982]

Why are you so quiet?

I'm only noisy during sex.

 

[Angeline]

This is making me speechless. You honour me and I thank you.

I love how, although we're oceans and continents apart, we communicate as if we're talking over the back fence. There's a fellowship on this forum that fosters a neighbourhood feel and it's up to all of us to make it a place we want to keep coming back to.

I'll lift my Earl Grey to that!

And the poetry service announcement (psa) is that I'll unstick this guy tomorrow. (I have to: it's the only way I can stop procrastinating working on those damn stickies.)

Champ you are the best, all that I've remembered and more. I'm sure this thread will continue to be enlivened like the other interviews. You go girl. Thank you for this, and I'm so glad you're back.

 

[champagne1982]

I'll lift my Earl Grey to that!

And the poetry service announcement (psa) is that I'll unstick this guy tomorrow. (I have to: it's the only way I can stop procrastinating working on those damn stickies.)

Champ you are the best, all that I've remembered and more. I'm sure this thread will continue to be enlivened like the other interviews. You go girl. Thank you for this, and I'm so glad you're back.

Y'know, even though we disappear for little whiles and long bits, there's always a lurk or two going on just waiting for something important to turn the lights on into the corners. I never left and I probably never will.

 

[Angeline]

Y'know, even though we disappear for little whiles and long bits, there's always a lurk or two going on just waiting for something important to turn the lights on into the corners. I never left and I probably never will.

You know what smithpeter used to say. "You can leave but you always come back."

I think it's our version of "Just when I thought I was out, they pulled me back in again."

 

[champagne1982]

You know what smithpeter used to say. "You can leave but you always come back."

I think it's our version of "Just when I thought I was out, they pulled me back in again."

The "Hotel California" of porn forums...