Interview: Poet Jessica Helen Brant

Jessica Helen Brant is a poet, photographer, and freelance writer from Buffalo, NY. She has written for BuffaBLOG, Buffalo Rising, Auxiliary Magazine, In Good Health, and Alternative Press.

She is a NYSAI Press Poet and is working on her first book of poetry.

Jessica Brant recently spoke to BBW about Poetry and Photography.

MCL: Do you write prose or just poetry?

JHB: I write poetry prose, I guess. If that's a thing. When I was in NYC for a poetry event I overheard a couple talking before the show, saying stuff along the lines of how the newer generation of poets kind of have this new experimental hold on the genre. We tend to like writing prose and cubing it into chunks. I guess I don't really pay mind to form as much as other poets, so maybe that's partly true. I like experimenting. I like limericky stuff and then other stuff that veers into story or dialogue form. I would say my poetry is a witty combination of those two styles.

MCL: Do you write every day? What is your writing process like?

JHB: I try to write a little every day, but life becomes a habit. Soon writing will become a habit, and I'll just kick life in the face haha. Or, I'll kick life in the face with my poetries and be able to do both at the same time. Until then, I remain stubborn with writing time. I write when I feel a groove. This might not happen for days, or even months. Right now I've been concentrating more on my photography. But I'm reading and listening, always.

MCL: How did you get into poetry?

JHB: I got into poetry, more heavily, my senior year of college at UB. I took an American poetry course and fell in love. Learned about the language school, the NY school, all of the schools of poetry. I began writing here and there, mostly about love and dating and yadda yadda thereafter.

MCL: Some poetry influences?

JHB: I like Emily Dickinson, Bukowski, and Dorothy Parker. I read them the most. They got me into poetry.

MCL: Describe your poetry?

JHB: You basically have to read my poetry how Ellen Page would read a bed time story to Zooey Deschanel. The cynical, dark humored, too cool for life kid reads to the awkward, quirky misfit girl with nice teeth and unknowing sex appeal. I write about real life. Any poet who can't impart a little bit of real life, their real life experiences, into their work, is not a poet, in my opinion. You're just playing a part of a poet. I write about the dynamics between people, relationships, sometimes about writing. I feel like writing about writing gets so overdone, but I still try to concoct new ways haha. My poems are not long. They don't have to be. I plan to experiment more with form over the summer. I really want to get into more experimental poetry, the type of stuff that makes you lose your shit on stage.

MCL: What's the Buffalo, New York poetry and writing scene like?

JHB: I wouldn't know, I try to shy away from it. I mean I know, I've met a lot of talented folks. A lot of spoken word artists. But I don't do spoken word, which is pretty prevalent here. I like pen to paper, I like publishing, I like holding something in my hand and pointing to it and saying, "I created this." I stick with that.

MCL: Let's talk about photography. How long have you been doing it?

JHB: I've been taking photography in my mind since I was two. The experience of experiencing means more to me than the experience in years. Gee, that sounded like a very Prince thing to say. RIP Prince. Anyway, I would probably say threeish years more seriously. I own four cameras. I love them all and continue to learn on them.

MCL: What strikes your eye through the camera? What motivates you to snap that photo?

JHB: It is very difficult to pinpoint where the epicenter of inspiration is. It could be a feeling, a "hunch" that I go with. I see a design in the architecture of a building and zoom a close photo of a detail because it looks like a painting to me, I will snap it. If I see water reflections in a canal that look like sound waves, I'll snap it. A geometrical design in a park bench, I'll snap it. People on the street, I'll snap it. Little kids at a skate park, snap snap snap. I love abandoned buildings and graffiti. I love Toronto graffiti. I've been getting more into Vivian Maier's photography too. She did street photos. I'd like to do more of that. I like knowing I can catalogue a stream of moments that can only be lived in the same exact way through a photograph, just like some songs for people invoke the same kind of feelings, images, and memories.

MCL: What's more of a passion ... Writing or Photography? Why?

JHB: I love writing and photography equally. Both are beautifully delicate art forms. I strive to master both. I am impassioned by both the written and visual.

MCL: Finally, promote yourself. What's going on in 2015/2016 for you?

JHB: I have some photo projects lined up for the summer. I will be shooting some car races, hockey tournaments, and etc. I sell prints of my work too, so I plan to sell some at a few local craft fairs. I am slowly working on a book of poetry. This will take a while. I really want to have an independent publisher publish it. I don't want to self publish. It's been my goal since I was little to publish this way, instead of instantly. I've done the whole instawriting, instapoetry thing, and I'm done. I want more longer form projects to work on. I want my hands tired and calloused. I'll be clacking away at the type writer during most of my free time.

For more information on Jessica Helen Brant:

https://www.facebook.com/customprintsbyjessicahelen/?__mref=message

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