Looking to the future of creatives for our eco elements “Future” blog interview, I happened upon an interesting book of fairy tales, Midnight Comes. Primed to jet off to uni, the daughter of one of my favorite indie designers, Talitha Kuomi, took a few moments to sit down with Puddles and I (virtually speaking) to tell us about her craft. I’m thrilled to introduce you to the budding poet author, S J Blasko.
1. Tell us a little about your book and yourself.
Well, I just graduated high school, and I’ll be going to college in the fall to double major in writing and theatre for social justice. I’ve always loved writing, and my book, Midnight Comes, is a collection of six narrative poems based on classic fairytales. The fairytales featured are Beauty and the Beast, Rapunzel, The Little Mermaid, Snow White, and The Snow Queen.
2. Surrounded by such a creative atmosphere must be food for fodder for you! How did you decide that poetry would be your vehicle of expression?
That’s a funny question, actually! Growing up, poetry was not my friend. I just never clicked with the rhythm of it, and the majority of the poems I wrote came out stilted and on the nose. I just didn’t have anything to say, so I ended up recycling common phrases, and there wasn’t enough of me in them.
Then this April I had a creative spark and strange pull to write poetry, and since I was able to use what I had learned over the years since I had stopped writing it, this time it worked. ;D
3. When writing was there a poem in particular that spoke to you most?
Something about Rapunzel, with Love really spoke to me. I’ve always loved that fairy tale (and the Tangled version is gold in every way) and when I sat down to try and tell Rapunzel’s story, I really connected with the emotion she must have been feeling. (Though I would like to clarify that I in no way think of my mom as Mother Gothel)
4. What inspired you to write this particular poetry (as opposed to writing about something else)?
I’ve always loved reading between the lines of a book or fictional world and finding the stories hidden within the tale. I love the idea of all the stories that are implied, around the moments we, as the readers, get to explicitly see. I had a Creative Writing teacher my Junior year of high school who told us something about how novels and short stories were just a snapshot of a bigger story. They were like a window; the first scene wasn’t the beginning, and the last scene wasn’t the end, they were just the bookends for the span of time the author was revealing to us.
5. What’s your writing space like? Do you have a special space you keep just for writing or do you write on the go, notebook in hand?
I do a little of everything. I love writing in coffee shops (though I’m not a coffee drinker) and if it’s a choice between writing in a notebook, writing on a laptop, writing inside, or writing outside, it depends entirely on what I’m working on. I do love writing outside though. We have a wooden platform in our backyard (it used to have a little playhouse on it) and I love the feel of the breeze and the shade for writing there.
6. Puddles species to species question – any creatures make an appearance in your poems? Is yes, are they based on actual animals you know?
I don’t think any creatures made their way into the poems of Midnight Comes, since I was mostly focused on the people. I put up a poem on my blog inspired by my boyfriend’s cat though! You can read it here: https://flightsfromtheaerie.blogspot.com/2018/04/cats.html
Find Midnight Comes on Amazon in paperback here and kindle here
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