I’ve been reading Todd Cirillo’s poems for almost as long as I’ve been hanging around the small press, so when the opportunity to work with him came along, it was a no-brainer. First came Disposable Darlings, and now we have Happy Hour Heart of New Orleans. On top of that, I finally got the chance to meet and read with Todd last autumn at the Underground Lit Fest in Toledo.
Of course, there’s never enough time at those things, so until we can get the gang together again, I thought I’d ask Todd a few questions about himself, his beloved New Orleans, and his new book, Happy Hour Heart of New Orleans.—MM
What does “home” mean to you?
Home is where one feels like their best self. Where one is always excited to return to despite where they are coming from. For me, it has to be a place of colors, music, weirdness, creativity, tradition, rhythms, depravity, acceptance, and encouragement of all those things. That is New Orleans.
You’re really good at the, I wouldn’t necessarily say “love,” but the romantic poem. There’s a romantic sensibility about a lot of your writing. Where does that come from?
Thank you, that is really appreciated. It is perhaps the way I experience this life. A perpetual search for shiny moments. It is acceptable to say I write love poems, I think every poem I write is a love poem in some twisted way, whether it is about a person, place, feeling, moment, a memory or totally made-up. I like to think the act of creating is some form of love, even when writing about something others see as challenging, sad or fucked-up. I have tried to make something beautiful out of what I experience, even situations that can be sad, broken or hurtful and not every poem is true. But it could be that I just write romance poems. I think any writer who has lost their romantic sensibility probably puts out very boring or sandpaper writing i.e. very harsh, doesn’t punch the heart.
I used to suggest to other writers, when they were stuck or had writer’s block to go out and fall in love with something new. This is my way and hopefully helped others. Strangely enough, most hear that as “someone new” and that is not what I mean. I have always been open to what is out there at any given moment for inspiration. However, one has to make the time and space to get out there and place themselves on the railroad tracks to get into that creative space to see what can happen. There has to be some risk to writing, to experiencing, to observing…testing the depths the heart can go to without imploding.
You go a long way to conveying the spirit or mood of a particular place in time, the seizing of the moment. Have any authors influenced you to write in this way? Who do you enjoy reading and why?If we were doing this interview in person over drinks I would request an example to answer more completely. I am unsure about influence because since I first started writing as a heartbroken fifteen year old, I have the same feeling when inspiration kisses me; all-encompassing, full-bodied, in bright technicolor, the poem starts as a polaroid picture to me. Something grabs me and says “pay attention to THIS!; be it a moment, some dialogue, an action by someone or the way a beer sign flickers etc. I would credit Hunter S. Thompson and Jack Kerouac for influencing me to pay attention and record my version of what I thought happened and do it in a well-crafted way. Create and craft the best story in the fewest words, leave the reader with that feeling/emotion of the poem.
Some of the writers I reread and take with me for poetic inspiration when I go out to write and on adventures are Julie Valin, Ann Menebroker, Bill Gainer and William Taylor Jr..Julie, Annie and Bill also have always influenced me in their encouragement and editorial talents with my work. I trust them with my work and they trusted me with theirs. They write, along with William, with such beauty, humor and completeness even in the broken moments. There is an honesty and desire for connection in their poems and I hope mine as well. I encourage everyone to buy their books. I also happen to be close friends with them all, though sweet Annie died years ago and now Bill died June 19th. It is a loss that I will deal with for many years.
The poems feel very conversational and accessible, yet they’re carefully crafted. How do you know when a poem is finished? Workshops are all the rage, do you get down like that?
Poems and all writing in general has to be relatable. Make it easy for the reader to connect with your story and take it as their own. Bill Gainer used to say it is our job as poets to fill the heart, not the page. I have always believed that. Poems should create a connection, as I said above. Give the reader or audience something to remember, to take as their own, to make their own and leave with a big feeling. Also, it should be entertaining, many writers forget that. The poem has to be a complete story, not just words written on a page. I know a poem is finished after I revise it, rework some of it, sit on it for a few days and read it aloud over and over so all that remains is the rhythm, the story and the economy of language so it goes off like a cherry bomb.
Workshops are not for me. I can appreciate that it helps some people get their feelings or thoughts onto a page but it feels too formal and forced to me. It lacks the intimacy and connection that I thrive on. It is the same with editors, all writers should have and utilize good editors. I have had about three or four that I work with who can really help shape or direct my poems. I’ve read some writers who don’t feel they need to revise and I wonder who they are in service to, the poem or themselves. It is like feeling you have met the love of your life or your best friend and then not investing the time for it to become those magic things.
New Orleans is almost a character in this book. What do you think people who have never been there most often misunderstand about it?
New Orleans is a character in and of itself. New Orleans is as inspiring to me as a first kiss. It is always the right place at the right time or the right place but the wrong time, to shout out the great Dr. John. It is a place of stories and secrets. It is a place one can come and create themselves into anything they need to. A celebration of creativity. My home New Orleans, it is the best of the best and the worst of the worst. I could not exist for long in any other place.
I think the thing people misunderstand about it is that if you come here and expect the city to be the same as wherever you came from, you will be disappointed, disgusted and the city will not take kindly to you. If you try to change or adapt her to your needs, she will rebuff all your advances. And there is a difference between coming here and acting a fool versus getting creatively weird.
If a reader could walk away from Happy Hour Heart of New Orleans with one feeling or one realization, what would you hope it would be?
Perhaps a desire to visit these incredible places in New Orleans I mention, have big fun and buy me a drink.
Todd Cirillo was born of bastard lineage. He has many books and misdemeanors. Books include: Sucker’s Paradise, Burning the Evidence, ROXY, Kisses from a Straight Razor, Disposable Darlings, Three Poets Walk Into a Bar, Happy Hour Heart of New Orleans from Roadside Press. His poems have appeared in numerous national and international literary journals, magazines and on cocktail napkins everywhere. He is editor and co-founder of Six Ft. Swells Press. Todd lives in New Orleans, Louisiana where he seeks out shiny moments and strange wisdom while looking pretty.
