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 Contest Issue #3 to read "rut" by Jacob Friesenhahn.


What is your creative process? Do you plan pieces out or let them happen as they come?
For years I sat in front of a blank piece of paper with a pencil in my hand, and nothing happened. Now I wait for something to come, but I wait in a very active way. Attention leads to inspiration.


What turns you off when you see it in a work? What are your creative pet peeves?
In my view, too many poets and readers view poetry as strictly autobiographical and confessional. Of course, poetry has these dimensions, but I enjoy creating narrators who are very different from me, and I try to create a new narrator for every poem I write.


What do you do in the rest of your life and how does that connect and/or conflict with your creative life?
I teach religious studies and philosophy at Our Lady of the Lake University in San Antonio. I love my day job teaching spirituality and my night job writing poetry. Is there really a difference between spirituality and poetry?


Why did you feel like After Happy Hour would be a good home for this piece?
I couldn’t resist the call to write about Animals. Respect for non-human animals is important to me, and my poems reflect this point of view. I have written about deer, cats, spiders, praying mantises, unicorns, and more (yes, I count unicorns).