Splat Art Magazine May/June 2011

my little being. And I knew right then and there that I would try to be some kind of artist and live or die by it. That really happened and that feeling has never left me. Being any kind of artist in our society is difficult but I reserve my right to do it whether I succeed in some small way or am a complete failure.

I think people write poems because it’s a way of saying things and communicating with people that you can’t do in normal conversation and discourse. It’s the same language but somehow different. Also, for me anyway, it’s a way of trying to make sense out of nonsense.

I think that all creative things come from the same place, whether it’s dance, music, film, sculpture, and also things like cabinetmaking. Poetry is just one way it manifests itself. I kind of wish I had a talent for music. Not that it’s any less difficult, but at least you have a fair chance at making a little bit of money. Unfortunately, poetry seems to be the poor uncle/aunt of the arts.

There’s no money in it whatsoever. At least it’s inexpensive. All it takes is a pencil and something to write on.

I can’t imagine what painters must go through with the cost of art supplies. You’re in the middle of a painting and you run out of white paint and you’re totally broke. I guess the painting gets put on hold until you can come up with a new tube. Whereas a writer can always bum a pencil and find a piece of paper blowing in the street.

Back to Jack is an annual memorial reader’s theater dedicated to the work and memory of Jack Kerouac. There’s a rough script comprised of several dozen selections from Kerouac’s prose and poetry. 5 poet performers called “Jacks” performed as Kerouac in different stages of his life, the young writer, the traveller, the 148