This year for the writers seminar we did in class my group did Shane Koyczan. A brilliant spoken poet that I had the pleasure of going to see when he came to Calgary in October. He has done some beautiful poems and is well known on YouTube as well as through TedTalks. It was a joy to learn and be inspired by this amazing writer
Interview:
Before we begin, I was hoping you could tell us a little bit about your past and what made you want to become a writer in the first place?
I had a very unhappy childhood with a lot of problems, writing is the best way I’ve found to work through some of that trauma. Writing has always been a passion of mine and once I found out that I was both good at it and that it could help me work through things I stuck with it, bringing me to where I am now.
Tell us a little bit about your style and what genre you do.
I like to write spoken word poetry or slam poetry, I find that it works best for the range of emotions that I can express during a poem which helps me to understand the memory or trauma I’m working through. My style is one of both lyricism and flow, I like my poems to almost be songs in the way that they sound. So much to the point that some of my poems have backing tracks of musicians in the background.
Can you describe your writing process for us?
My process involves sitting alone and working through my past trauma, I like to just get everything out on paper as fast as I can, then add, take out specific parts and polish up for flow and lyricism. I like to work through my writing alone first then go to loved ones, other poets, and editors for feedback.
What advice do you have for the writers in the audience?
Just write, there is no trick or special way to write that will make you better. You just have to write on a consistent basis and believe that you’ll write something good. As long as it means something to you it should come to you without too much difficulty. Write alone at first to get your poem, then go through and ask for others opinions, but remember it’s your poems so your word is final in how it looks.
Who are your favourite authors?
I cannot say that I have one favourite author. In fact my list of favourite authors mostly includes other spoken word poets. As the genre is quite a small community it is very close. Most of my influences come from other spoken word poets not only by what they say but how they say it. We all love to bounce ideas off each other, so I’d say any spoken word poet is my favourite author.
What this writer means to me
Shane shares a lot of the same feelings that I have towards life, I agree with him on most points he makes and while not as severe I have lived through many of the same hardships that he has. I like to think that we are similar people with similar hearts and minds, he connects with me a lot whenever he speaks, I can feel the pain that he has and can empathize with it. I think the main thing though is that he gives me a lot of hope, hope that if he can get through something I can too, that means something to me, that I can learn from his mistakes and his accomplishments.
emulation:
This piece, especially the beginning, was inspired by Shane’s piece “To This Day.”
Other piece:
I see you from across the hall
nearly every day I sit and see
you laugh, you smile,
sometimes you even look back at me.
Your shy smile matches my own
it’s fleeting and barely visible
but I can see the edges of your lips curve
just before you look away.
I don’t know why I can’t speak to you
I don’t know why I can’t get up
why can’t I sweep you off your feet?
I don’t know why.
All I do is sit here and smile shyly,
look away and repeat day in day out
hoping beyond anything that you will take the jump first.
I think the problem is that I see you there
like an angel.
And when I look back at myself I see
nothing.
I want to get up and kiss you,
to hold you and touch you.
But I’ll never do it, I’m just the looser,
that sees you from far away.
So let me pray that one day
Ill see myself as the superman you deserve,
then I can swoop down to sweep you into my arms.
for now though I hope.
I cant remember what this was from, I don’t think it pertained to any one seminar’s piece I think it was in my head and I forced it when hearing about love or something like that.