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[Father Luke]

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ms. vodka:  So, gigi... I've been thinking about this interview for a while now... and the most suitable first question I could come up with is:  Have you ever been to Craigslist?

gigi:   Well the funny thing about regret is, it's better to regret visiting Craigslist, than to regret not visiting Craigslist.

ms. vodka: lol.  Exactly.

gigi:  Without having checked out that site, literarymary.com would not exist today.  Tru Dat.

ms. vodka:  Yup.

ms. vodka:  Perhaps it would be good for people to know that’s the first writing site we ever visited, purely by accident.  You were there as Vainly Jane and I was vodkafamilywinston. It was also the site which introduced us to JohnJohnDoe.

ms. vodka:  Is that how he spells it?  Does he capitalize?

gigi:  john.johndoe

ms. vodka:  Is it?

gigi:  On CL it is, I think

gigi:  mmmmmmm, Snape just knocked down that redheaded ass in chamber of secrets, and I’m finding my loins inspired...

ms. vodka:  Yummy.  But loins is a gross word.

ms. vodka:  Are you speaking of Ron?

gigi:  No, the phony teacher.  mmmmmmmmsnape.

gigi:  So.

gigi: My question to you, ms. vodka, is this:   What gave you the inspiration to start literarymary.com?

ms. vodka:  le sigh.  Well, there was the leaving of the writingforums.com, excellent site that it is.  Then the opportunity really just presented itself. Someone I respect immensely offered to build it if I designed it, and after you promised to lend a hand it seemed like something that we should just do together.  I guess it was a sort of 'why not?' kind of thing.  It's something I’d wanted to do with you for a long time, to create a site for workshopping that also had a strong sense of humor and randomness.  And I have to admit, I missed posting.  It's weird isn't it?  I mean, you didn't leave writingforums, but you haven't really been active I know.  Have you missed the pointlessness of posting at all?

gigi:   I did for a while but then I felt strangely liberated.  The leash to the computer was released.

ms. vodka:  Yah, I have to admit that's nice.  I don't know... everything in moderation I guess...  Still though, the poetry.  The poetry...  (I’m hoping you're catching the inflection in that)

gigi  :I like the idea of a site where workshopping can happen, but a more mature forum.

ms. vodka:  Yah. I wanted to make a place where the writer would have complete control.  Of their work anyway.

gigi:  Of course.

ms. vodka:  Sort of like I have complete control of you.

gigi:  Only when you're dreaming.  In actuality, I’m a robot set to destroy you through emotional homicide.  Ironically.

ms. vodka:  Pisces and all that.  

gigi:  Pretty much

ms. vodka:  Why did you say yes to an administration position then?  Since you are all 'computer liberated'?

gigi:  Because you fucking pressured the hell out of me.

ms. vodka:  lol.  What would the site be without a little shake and bake?

gigi:  I wanted you to be able to succeed, truth be told.  I knew you wouldn't without my help.

ms. vodka:  Laughing.  I'll get you and your little cat too.  The site would have succeeded, you just didn't want there to be that uncomfortable 'I'm doing something really cool that you're not involved with' edginess to our daily existence.

gigi:  If you say so, ms. vodka.

ms. vodka:  Exactly.  Alright, let's switch gears.

gigi:  kk

ms. vodka:  Who's your favorite poet?

gigi:  You

ms. vodka:  Awwwwwwwwww.  Suck ass.

gigi:  Hehehehheeeeee  My favourite poet...

ms. vodka:  That's a LIE.

gigi:  Hmmmmmmmmm  Of all time?

ms. vodka:  Wait, how about top three?  Yah, let's do a top three, in any order.

gigi:  Christ on a cracker...  I don't know enough poets to answer intelligently.  So far it's: Bukowski fo sho, Poe for my first inspiration to write - and in verse, and...  Maybe Dorothy Parker for her tongue-in-cheekness.  I truly don't have enough of a knowledge base to pick who my favourites *should* be.

ms. vodka:  It's cool that you can openly admit that.  But I think that's also what's cool about poetry.  There's a lot to discover.


gigi:  I agree with that.  And it's always nice to do so.  That poem you sent me the other day was one of my favourites.

ms. vodka:  Which one?

gigi  :lol, Looking...  I can't find it.  It was the one that i said was obviously written by a man.
See how much i liked it?

ms. vodka:  The Philip Larkin?

gigi:  That's my other problem.  i read them and they drop straight out of my memory.  Yes, that one.

gigi:  ms. vodka:

ms. vodka:  I’m looking for it.

gigi:  Who or what has been the biggest influence on your writing?

ms. vodka:  I'd say more than any writer, my life has been a huge influence.  From the time I was a kid, things were always pretty hard and I found that writing helped me feel better about my situation...
Put things in context...  Maybe organized it.  But Bukowski.  I started reading him when i was about 17, a guy i worked with gave me 'Love is a Dog from Hell'.

gigi:  I think Bukowski's only risk of being cliché is in the mention of his name by so many poetry n00bs like me.  But i loved that book when i stole it from you.  The first, second, and third times.

ms. vodka:  Exactly.  I'm not going to spend my life being afraid of the cliché of Bukowski.  Sometimes i think things become cliché because they deserve to be.  Regardless, he's a extremely controversial writer in the world of poetry regarding whether or not he was actually any good.

gigi:  But i am on the side that believes him to be moving and genius  Stark raving real

ms. vodka:  Um, people tend to think he's too obvious.

gigi:  That's a strange accusation to a poet

ms. vodka:  Why do you say that?  Here's a link to that poem, btw.
http://www.cs.rice.edu/~ssiyer/minstrels/poems/793.html

gigi:  Thank you.  I say that because as a poet, I would like my intent to become obvious to a reader without being heard a thousand times before.

ms. vodka:  Exactly.  But you know, there's a difference between being obvious and letting concrete imagery lead your reader to the appropriate emotion.

gigi:  In that case, i don't know why Bukowski would be called obvious.  I find his clarity surprising.  They should call him 'plain' then.  'Unadorned'.  It seems that's the intent of the consensus.

ms. vodka:  Well, i guess because a lot of times there's no work involved in feeling what he's feeling.  Speaking of that, I came across a line the other day that blew me away.  You know how i dog ear the pages of all the books.

gigi:  You pretty much have the book entirely dogeared.

ms. vodka:  A poem titled 'Last Call’.  He writes:  ‘The face in your mirror is love drowned alone.’  How excellent is that?

gigi:  Very nice.  That reminds me.  One favourite writer of mine i always forget: Leonard Cohen.  You can replace Dorothy Parker with him.

ms. vodka:  Oh yah.  Cohen.  I hadn't really listened to any Cohen until you turned me on to it.  I had only read.

gigi:  heh heh.  I like both, but some let the music turn them off of the verse

ms. vodka:  Yah, i know what you're saying. Like the music can manipulate the meaning.

gigi:  vodka, where do you feel your weaknesses are as a writer, and how do you challenge yourself to improve?

ms. vodka:  Oh fuck.  Well, i see my weaknesses everywhere. Every day is a challenge to improve. And I’m never 100% satisfied with what i write.  In the end, i like probably one out of ten poems.  I think my greatest challenge at the moment is to get back to a point of honesty and simplicity.  I think i hit a point where i was over editing… overwriting things.  I think I lost my voice in others' critique.  I think where I’m at now is that i know the basic rules, and the challenge lies in finding out how to break them with style.

gigi:  Do you think there's a chance that can happen in any forum, including literarymary.com?

ms. vodka:  Of course.  Of course.  I think there's only so far a workshop setting can take you.  You have to be your own best critic in the end.  What do you think?

gigi:  What is your advice to new writers, or writers who are new to workshopping, as to how to receive critique while retaining their own voice?

ms. vodka:  Well, wait wait.  I want you to answer the question you posed.

gigi:  Which?

ms. vodka:  The one about the risk of losing one's voice in a workshop setting.  How do you apply critique?  Where do you see your own writing now and where do you want it to go?

gigi:  I see myself as a bit of a poetry victim.  Much like a fashion victim.  right now i am caught up in writing the 'you and i' of things.  I’m being less introspective and more observant than I’d like.  I also find that i get wrapped up in the beauty of linguistics, and am always a stone's throw from being too abstract.  I’m trying to be more concrete and intelligent in my writing.

ms. vodka:  I know where you're coming from with the beauty of linguistics.

gigi:  I apply critique by taking advice, seeing how that sparks my creativity, seeing if it feels like improvement, and keeping it if it does.

ms. vodka:  I think it's hard, when you use writing for a sort of therapy also… I've always loved the ornate quality of your work.

gigi:  Ah thank you.  We come from two different 'veins' when we write

ms. vodka:  It's true.  Even though our backgrounds are similar.

gigi:  But where do I want my writing to go...  I would like to feel inspired to write in form and rhyme again.  I would like to produce a higher quality of work in my own opinion.  I feel the spark and feel it fizzle lately.  I think i need to make myself read more.  I just got this book of Mary Oliver's work, and it looks promising.

ms. vodka:  Yah, I lost it there for a while.  I couldn't write anything.  I got sort of worried.

gigi:  I think it makes you become more introspective, and less observant.  So jen, tell me:  Who is Esther Hoffman Howard?

ms. vodka:  Shit.  I was just going to ask you that.

gigi:  lol

ms. vodka:  Well, I don't want people to think we are wanting to steal members from writingforums or anything...

gigi:  Of course

ms. vodka:  But i remembered being a huge fan of her work and her general attitude about life.  She's a bit of a firecracker, you know?

gigi:  She's inspirational, true.

ms. vodka:  i don't know.

gigi:  What kind of firecracker would she be?

ms. vodka:  I mean, you know her at least as well as I do.

ms. vodka:  How would you define esterhoffmanhoward aka FAYE?  What is the essence of FAYE?

gigi:  FAYE...  fenugreek, organic mushroom complex, fanta, and charlie girl.

ms. vodka:  Laughing.  Exactly.  She sent me some hand knitted socks for Christmas.  They were sort of crooked though, really tight in some spots and loose in others.

gigi:  She sent me home made mayonnaise.  but...  it took a while to arrive.

ms. vodka:  Dude, she does rock the mayo.  And the barbeque.

gigi:  She sketched out a nice portrait of my cat, though.

ms. vodka:  Oh yah.  Those are nice.  I wanted to have her do the art for literarymary, but she went on another bender.

gigi:  I think we both have been touched by FAYE.  One could say we both have a little FAYE in us.

ms. vodka:  Of course.  Maybe a little more so than others.

gigi:   Or a lot

ms. vodka:  But really, i think everyone has a little FAYE in them.  And FAYE has had many in her.

gigi:  She's a bit of a ho

ms. vodka:  Just a little.  Maybe if she'd lay off the Night Train.

gigi:  Sh-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-knees?!  KNEEEEEZ.  HUUUAH!

ms. vodka:  lol.  Alright, before we cap this off…  I'd like to know what you think of LiteraryMary, how you see it and what you want to use it for and what you'd like it to become.

gigi:  Hm

ms. vodka:  Like how i insert like twelve questions at once?

gigi:  Yeah, that's nice.  1) i think the site should always be used for good over evil. 2) I would like to see it become an active site where writers can freely post and remove work while they tweak their work. 3) I’d like to use it for inspiration.

ms. vodka:  That's good.  Me too.  I especially want it to be fun.  And especially delicious.

gigi:  In closing i'd like to say your brother's hot.

ms. vodka:  Gross.

gigi:  hahahahahaha

ms. vodka:  Wait, last question... which Beastie would you have sex with?

gigi:  dude.

gigi:  dude....

gigi:  


         dude.

ms. vodka:  Dude, it's Adrock hands down.  It’s the Adrock inches, if you know what I mean.  

gigi:  Triple trouble, y'all

ms. vodka:  Laughing.

gigi:  Do i have to pick just one?

ms. vodka:  Yes.

gigi:you know it's Adrock

ms. vodka:  It's always Adrock.

gigi:  hehehehe

ms. vodka:  You coming over?

gigi:  Yeah

ms. vodka:  Hott.