In our first ZOOM interview, host Aaron Tyler Hand is joined by the amazing Melissa Lozada-Oliva for a conversation about writing in different forms, spoken word vs written poetry, the importance of therapy, and the power of going head first into hurt.
Melissa Lozada-Oliva
I am not defined by this pain but it did shape me, so I make my own definition instead.
Poems:
Untitled
Today was another wait in line
so many so many problems
mine seem inconsequential
to so many others
so important to me
Then to another specialist
and still more lines
and more sad people
and I am still not fixed
Another day to make
the doctors richer
and me poorer
and still no relief
Tomorrow will be better
but never is
it’s the same—take this pill
do that exercise
and still no progress
still the pain
The Kid Always Dreamed…
about a male doll with different clothes & styles, which he
could mark the doll with a marker & create some art.
He could walk the walk and talk the talk, just like his
heart imagined.
He always dreamed about the doll & created a life for him.
The doll was light skin tone & lived a gangster life.
20 years later his dream came true.
If you can picture him now, he dreams
to be nine years old again
My Pencil Broke
I want to write about a thousand things
And you
Tell you about all the sweet nothings
When we were young
How we clung to ideals that were meaningless
Immature
To cure the heartache I put you through
But my pencil sheds tears
I fear no words can ever mend or make you see
I am not the person I used to be
Nor am I yet the prayed for “he”
Because you see only the shore of the wasteland
I left behind
But keep in mind
The person you saw behind my blue eyes turned gray
is only today beginning to breath
Trying to say
I think I’m beginning to finally love you
That I pray
You will find someone worthy of holding you
So I scribble some words
Meaningless but true
This paper is messy
Pencil down to a nub
No matter what I write
You’ll read it with a sigh
Maybe I’m not good at writing
Perhaps one day I’ll try
Where Does This Come From?
seen as a threat & someone unwanted
to stay cooped up
like a bee unable to fly,
but wanting to be the swaying hive
could be the entire entracing city
confined to a single building
& that is not what I want
to be here, and here alone
when all that is wanted
is to be seen singing laughing
spending time enjoying myself
to know when to go when seen
as only
no body, no home, but
even then I still may be
mostly valiant mostly complete
exquisite dancing sunshine
Writing Prompts:
In I LOVE YOU IN MY GRANDFATHER’S BUTTON DOWN, Lozada-Olivia opens up about how life can feel so painstaking the same from year to year. She describes several mini scenes that help paint the picture of a year within a short poem. All of which come together for the larger story of her life. Think of the ways that life feels the same from year to year. Try to write a poem that captures different scenes from that year.
HE WAS OBSESSED WITH SAYING WE ARE JUST MACHINES is a playful poem that looks to strike down the idea of people being machines. The larger goal of the piece is to help give people their personhood back. That means, it is trying to show that all people have value and shouldn’t be seen as machines, or animals, or anything less than human. Write a fun/playful poem about how people should see you. Think of silly ways that people see you and then how you see yourself. Remember to have fun with this prompt, but still show who you are.