Angeline's Paradisiaque Palaise

1. “Nah, I Mean No???” it is a interesting poem, but what was the story/picture in your mind while writing?

I think the original idea was two people (either in a crowded place – like a party for instance, or perhaps passing each other in the street… Or even in a more secluded place, like an elevator – which I suppose suits a film scene more) catching each other’s eye, or having to share the same space. In any case, one character recognises the other, and completely overthinks the relationship. They place a lot of emphasis on themselves, and how integral they are to a working social network.

The other character, may or may not be completely unaware. I hint towards them being in a completely different state of mind about the situation with the title. It’s like the first character finally strikes up the courage to say something, and the second abruptly shoots them down (nothing vicious, just as a fact of life and the situation).

Well, that was the scene I pictured, but for me, how the words are portrayed or pictured is completely open to audience speculation – pretty much the nature of poetry. Otherwise it would have been a short story, prose, or even a film of my own.

2. Who or what inspire you?

If this question was more of a general sense, inspiration comes from something a simple as rhymes. I really enjoy beat poetry from the 50s, for example. The basic idea is to find rhyme and rhythm, in a life situation where there is none.

So, my main inspiration is the modern language and how it slips in and around the mind, and then gets all muddled on the tongue, before it gets blurted out and makes slightly less sense.

3. What’s your motivation?

I’m not sure. I’m mostly a performance poet, so most of my motivation is from having something to say – and whether or not the actual content is interesting, the rhyme, rhythm and systems of language can be hypnotising.

4. Who is the target audience of your poem? anything special compared with your other poems?

I actually feel this poem is much more simple and straight forward than my other poems. For starters, it’s quite short, and so it sits in a very small moment of time. It still has the internal turmoil of one character, their train of thought, and how rhyme naturally infects the way they think – just because of the nature of modern language.

5. Is there anything that you would like to emphasize?

Perhaps that so much of what I write is more concerned with language, rhyme, rhythm and the confusion of everyday life. The poems are meant to be heard, I suppose, rather than read. But I’m not precious about how that converts to film, if you know what I mean. As far as I’m concerned, the ball is completely in your court.

6. As I know, “Nah, I Mean No???” is related to personal story and feelings, but we want to know more , like What the poem is expressing about ‘social network’? (this question is important)

It came from a place where so little of modern social interaction is actually done face to face. So much is done through other people, and heresay, and rumours, and reputation. That’s social networking. And if you want to push it into the modern era (or perhaps you even want to avoid it…), well that’s simple:

Have you ever had one of those moments when you know so much about someone, and you know them, and what they like and what they did on the weekend, but only because you’re aware of their presence on Facebook (for example)? You don’t even have to be friends with someone online to find information about them, and a lot of the time you don’t even have to look. All the social networking sites try desperately to connect people, that it’s too easy. So if you come across someone who is just not a part of that world, or just doesn’t place as much emphasis on it, there’s an immediate clash.

Just like in ‘Nah, I Mean No’ where one person has managed to develop a relationship, before there’s any actual contact between the two (or more) characters.

Whether or not the character of Nah, I Mean No is actually even using Facebook… It doesn’t really matter. That wasn’t the basis for the poem. All the poem hints at is that two people are part of the same planet.

The other character may even be thinking exactly the same thing, but we only hear one character’s point of view.

7. Your poem makes me think of a movie–”Stranger”, it is a story about complex relationships of people. If we want to put your poem as the theme of a movie, which movie you would like to be ? If there is none, can we know what kind of movie you prefer , e.g. romantic , sci-fi ….etc.

Good question. Wow. Hmm. The only movie I know by that name is about hunting down Nazi war criminals and clock towers. So I don’t think you mean that one (… Or perhaps you do. It’s a cracker of a film, in any case.).

The poem makes me think of a whole bunch of movies, just in the fact that there are people with lives that interact. Movies like ‘New York, I Love You’ (… Probably more so than Paris, je t’aime), and ‘Me And You And Everyone We Know’, and 200 Cigarettes spring to mind.

Those films are all just… moments of everyday life, and the people in them.