We love learning more about our contributors, and an interview seemed like a fun way to hear more about the writers and artists we publish, so we gave them a choice of questions to answer. We hope you also enjoy hearing more about the artists and their works. Read on and check out issue 24 for "Spot of Moonlight" from Brian Builta.

Or you can let him read to you!




What was the inspiration for the piece published in the issue?
After the death of my son, I dealt with a lot of anger issues. It struck me one night sitting in a French restaurant, how unwell I was, but how normal I must have seemed. We are all probably like this, normal and unwell, I thought. Then, with a pencil, I acted out a different ending to the meal.

Who or what inspires your work generally?
My poetry comes out of a place of pain and suffering. Being one of the okayest Catholics in Arlington, my poems usually exist between the heaven of Creation and the Hell of how we humans treat each other and our surroundings.

What is your creative process? Do you plan pieces out or let them happen as they come?
I basically create a space for poetry to happen: journal, iphone notes, spare poetry parts, lists of titles, bowl of favorite words, candle, coffee, paper, pencils, other people's poems, fragments of the previous day, dreams still dangling from my dendrites, car sounds out the window, silence, a low existential hum, the planet spinning, birds being birds, a dog barking (probably at nothing), and offhand screams that are either people having fun or being murdered.

What is your favorite vice? What are you drinking at happy hour, in a literal or a metaphorical sense?
Nothing metaphorical here: gin martinis, margaritas, bourbon and related beverages are my favorite vices. For me, happy hour creates a bubble between work and home, a space to relax, think deeply, get a little too emotional, and then reach out to friends and family via emails you regret the next day.