Monday, January 19, 2015

MY INTERVIEW ... HOW DID YOU BECOME A POET?




 AMARILYS, HOW DID YOU BECOME A POET?  INTERVIEW BY TAMPA WRITERS ALLIANCE POETRY COORDINATOR, ELLIOT GREENBAUM.

                                                       

Would you tell us about events in your past that contributed to you being a poet?

 Ms Rassler:                                      

I started writing poems about seven years ago when I was meditating on a Good Friday, on the crucifixion of Christ, and had something like a vision of Him on the cross. The words to the poem, The Vision, Jerusalem 33AD, came to me easily and fast as I put down what I was seeing. I decided to try a poetry group and found that Tampa Writers Alliance had one and I attended it with fear and trembling holding tight to my one poem. There I found the warmest welcome through Ella and Warner Conarton. Warner was leading the group. When I read the poem, Warner’s kind words were, “I wish I could write like that.” Of course he did and so much better than I do. But those words were exactly what I needed to continue to write.

 

Are there other poets in your family?

 Ms Rassler:

Yes! My grandmother, my Abuela, was a great poet and her sister also.

 What about music? Do you play an instrument? Sing?

 Ms Rassler:

I play the guitar a little and I’m teaching myself the ukulele. Sing? Of course. Are there any Latins who don’t sing? The question is how well? LOL. I try to sing for at least a half hour every day. It’s my medicine. I love music. Really feeds my muse.

I know you are also a writer of fiction. How do you see your poetry influencing your other interests?

Ms Rassler:

Poetry shapes my writer’s voice. I believe it weaves itself into everything I write. Poetry is in my blood. It cradles my soul in sad times and creates a fast happy orbit for my heart to spin in during those joyous moments life brings. For a writer of fiction today, poetry is an excellent exercise because the writing teachers of our times encourage us to trim our writing and tell a powerful story without being wordy. Poetry does just that. It tells a story using potent words within a small space. Great poems touch our hearts and move us to tears or laughter. Many have great endings that impact. All those elements align well with the perfect fictional story.

 

With all the chaos in the world now,

do you think a poet can help make a difference? 
 
 

 Ms Rassler:

Oh yes! Poets can be a voice to fight for what is right. I definitely think we can make a difference. I wrote my book, Cuban-American, Dancing On The Hyphen, with poems like La Cola, (The Line), protesting the injustices of Castro’s Communist regime. I wrote it to make a difference. I wanted to bring to light, through the poems and stories, the needs of an island in torment, stripped and raped of freedom. So I wrote many of those poems with the idea to protest against the conditions there and to inform the public that it is still happening. Little did I know that some of the book’s poems I would read at MacDill Air Force Base to encourage our armed forces … to let them know the importance of what they do for us in protecting our liberty and freedoms. Poetry is a strong weapon. It can teach, inspire, engage and motivate our world toward change. It can comfort, caress and entertain. A poem can be very memorable.

 

 

I know you have published one book of poems and prose, Cuban-American, Dancing On The Hyphen. I have a signed copy. Anything on the horizon we can look for?
                                                                                       
      

Ms Rassler:

Yes. December, 2014, my new book, with a Christmas theme, went on sale at Amazon. It is called THE CHAIRS, … four vignettes, stories, connected by supernatural activity around four Adirondack chairs. It is prose but, of course, has a poem in it called The Chairs. I’m also still working on my memoir, Beyond The Veil, and a novel, Commuters, a tale of demonic transference.
                                                                       



 

What is the best advice you think you have received on writing?

 

 Ms Rassler:

The best advice I have received on writing has come from what Julia Cameron says …

“Write because something ‘touches’ you, write because you want to ‘touch’ someone else, but most of all write to ‘get in touch’ with the divine or because the divine somehow has ‘gotten in touch’ with you.”

 
Two Poems By Amarilys Rassler (Marggie)
 

IN "NIKE SHOES"   A Poem For The New Year

  by Amarilys G. Rassler 

Nike, from Greek origin meaning "Victory."

 

Here I am

Running, running,

My soul's feet

Clad in "Nike shoes,"

My heart with Hope afire

Lit by fuse of 2015 plans,

Oh rising flames

From my desires!

 

Here I am

Running, running,

To Finish Line

Somewhere toward

Unknown horizon.

No knowledge of how close

My final moon shall be,

Or number of morning suns

He has left for me to see.

Yet I run.

Propelled by

His Good pleasure,

Carrying backpack of 2015

Dreams I treasure,

Trusting in His Abounding Love,

Impossible to measure.

 

Here I am.

Have extra pair of "Nike shoes" for you!

Come, come run with me ... too.


  ****************

¡SOFRITO!  Garlic, Onions And Green Peppers By Amarilys Gacio Rassler

From book, Cuban-American, Dancing On The Hyphen by Amarilys G. Rassler

 

Garlic, onions and green peppers,

Bathe in heated olive oil, 

Trinity of scents ascending,

Soon to pot of beans descending,

Make my cravings come to boil.

 

¡SOFRITOOOOO!

 

Moving to a little cha cha.

Feet caressing kitchen floor,

Cooking sofrito sabroso,

To surprise my darling esposo, 

Fast a-coming through the door?

 

¡SOFRITOOOOO!

 

Sensing warm anticipation,

And a thumping heart sensation,

The sofrito and aphrodisiac?

Causing pleasant transformation…,

Amorous thoughts, sofrito rendering,

That’s the dart, sly Cupid’s sending!

Sizzling senses,

Now surrendering,

Leaps of passions... kisses start!

¡Ay Sofrito! ¡Que Sabroso!

CUBAN CULINARY ART!

 

 

 

 

 

(Sofrito – garlic, onions and

green peppers, cooking. Then, used as seasoning for a Cuban dish.

The staple Cuban seasoning!

                                                                                         

Sabroso – delicious

 Esposo – husband, spouse                                                

¡Que Sabroso! – How delicious!

¡Ay!- A Cuban’s heart cry.)

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


 

  

 

 

 

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