[note: riles is a bad interviewer and forgot to ask aishwarya to introduce herself. #priorities. but i will do it for her. aishwarya is a poet, a friend, and basically the best human.]
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alright so, if you could be a toucan or an armadillo, which would you be?
i don’t know what i said the first time, but i’m gonna go with armadillo.
what? i’m pretty sure you said toucan the first time, why are you feeling so armadillo?
i don’t know, that’s just what i’m feeling today.
aight, that’s fine, you can have armor today. okay, well now we’ve got that out of the way... when did you start writing poetry?
seriously? maybe four years ago. but just writing poetry in general.. maybe since i was 11 because this sad boi had too many emotions as a barely teen, and i just needed to make sense of whatever the hell was going on in my head.
why at that time was poetry your outlet instead of something else?
i think it was mostly because it was the least disruptive. i could be doing my own thing in one corner of the house, and nobody would pay any attention to me, because i’m not causing a disruption, there’s no noise. so it just made the most sense to do that.
who’s the first poet that you felt inspired by?
i think the first poet i was introduced to was mirza ghalib when i was seven by my mom because she really liked him. and i didn’t know what the deal was, but he called himself a nutcase, and that was a huge mood at that time. i’ve always had an affinity for people who are like “you know what? no, i am crazy, and i’m proud of it,” and that’s something that i definitely related to, even as a seven year old. even though i didn’t understand what he was talking about because i was too young to understand the vast life that he had lived.
and then there was neruda. and there was anne sexton, virginia woolf, sylvia plath. just a bunch of amazing people who spoke of how life worked for them and didn’t work for them (big mood) and it was like “hey, you know what, i’m not alone. there are all of these people who have been through these things, it’s okay.”
so you started writing when you were eleven and you said you’ve been writing more seriously the last four years or so. what inspired you to start taking it more seriously? and when you say take it more seriously, is that when you started sharing your writing? or?
yeah, i guess that’s when i started sharing. i don’t know what inspired me to start sharing my writing, actually. like even now there are times where i’m just like “this is dumb, i don’t think anyone wants to read this” because that’s just how brains work.
my poetry works in a way where i have one line that just runs through my head for hours at an end. and it started off where i would just post “hey, this is a thing that’s going on in my head” and people would be like “oh this is cool we want more of this”
where were you posting at the time?
i think tumblr
cool.
and it just kind of went from there. i don’t actually remember how it happened, it just happened.
and you’ve published a book before?
mhmm.
wanna talk about that?
no.
okay, that’s fine. we can leave that in the past. so, we talked about some of your first poetic loves and people you’ve read along the way; who are some of your poetic inspirations right now? (besides kaveh akbar.)
yeah, shout out to kaveh akbar for just existing. it’s amazing that you exist. (all praise kaveh akbar. but not in a weird way.) but so, i’m inspired by anyone and everyone i meet. and i’m lucky to have so many artists to call my friends. definitely riles, they inspire me in ways they don’t know. nicole sealy, rachel mckibbins, paige lewis, fatimah asghar, just all these amazing people. (shout out to all y’all. please be our best friends.) but not in a weird way. (no definitely not in a weird way.) also i just think that it’s amazing that fatimah does what she does.. it’s nice to have someone like her existing. even though i don’t share her story, it’s so important to see that representation existing.
so getting to your writing process.. do you have a specific process? do you have certain things you like to do, a certain time of day? talk to me about how you make your poems get from your brain into the world.
no, it’s definitely just like me as a person. very unpredictable. but lately i’ve been waking up from my sleep because i’m remembering things or seeing things that i want in print, so i wake up at 3am, put it down in my notes, and then go back to it when i’m more awake. like, do i have something here, is this something i want to get into.
okay.. so, you had a lot of good questions for me about the current state of poetry. what are your feelings on what one needs to have to be a poet. are only people who feel a certain way able to be poets? do people have to have read a certain number of other poets? is there some sort of bar for entry, and if so, what is it?
you definitely have to have read things. it doesn’t necessarily have to be poetry, but you have to have read things to get into writing. but otherwise, no. not like, you have to be sad, or you have to be happy. i think those kind of rules are dumb. poetry is constantly evolving. social media is a thing. i don’t know if i would say that “insta poetry” is not poetry because at the end of the day it’s people expressing how they feel and what they are feeling and just being human, doing their best at being human.
would you say “insta poetry” a different genre of poetry, or how would you characterize it as different?
yes, i would definitely say it’s a different genre, but i wouldn’t say it’s not poetry. did that answer the question? what was the question?
sure. it doesn’t matter. the questions are really just to facilitate you talking about yourself and your thoughts, so who cares if it answered the question. what are questions really? (that wasn’t a question.) but here’s one. so. you do share you poetry on instagram now. do you plan on continuing to do that? do you see yourself moving toward publishing poetry in a different way? or do you have thoughts on what your future might look like as a poet?
uhhh, not really.
no thoughts, or no plan to publish elsewhere?
both? that’s the thing about thinking about the future. you don’t know what’s going to happen, so planning for it in any way is pointless, because most likely it’s not going to work out the way you want it to work out.
big mood. so. what inspires you to write?
oh, everything. the way i feel things is very intense, so it’s very easy for me to be inspired. i’m inspired by my sadness, i’m inspired by my happiness, other people’s happiness, by my friends, by dogs, by cats. (butts? are you inspired by butts?) sure. (she rolled her eyes at me.) personally i believe inspiration is everywhere if you just care to look.
word. so, what do you think characterizes a “bad” writer or “bad” art, if you think there is such a thing.
hmm. one of the things about being an artist is that you know what it feels like when someone says your poem is shitty or your art is shitty, and you don’t want to do that to another artist. so i don’t think i’m qualified enough to say “this art is shitty.” i just think there’s art that i don’t understand, and that’s okay, because that art makes sense to someone else.
do you think anyone is qualified to do that? do you think there is someone who is like, the person qualified to say “that’s bad”?
no. because we’re different people who feel things and understand things differently, so something that’s nice to me might not be nice to you. something that’s shitty to me might not be shitty to you.
what advice would you give to someone else just starting out writing poetry?
find your voice. don’t try to emulate someone else. i mean, you probably will because you’re inspired by someone, and that’s okay. be inspired by them, but don’t try to be them. and be patient. there’s a lot of media to consume, and it’s human to think people don’t care about your art. and that’s not the case, but there’s a lot of media in the world and people will get to you. you just have to be patient.
what are you reading right now?
women of resistance. (who gave that to you?) you did. also there’s a poem by kaveh akbar in there (what up kaveh, didn’t actually know your poem was in there when i bought that book, but i was pretty stoked to see it. had to give it to aishwarya.) shout out to kaveh akbar, thank you for existing. i’m also reading touching the void. it’s not a light subject, so i won’t get into it.
what do you think there is to be gained from reading poetry? why should people read poetry?
i think the movie dead poets society said this way better than i ever will. “we don't read and write poetry because it's cute. we read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. and the human race is filled with passion. and medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. but poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for."
so yeah, that says it way better than i could.
oof. yeah. love dead poets society. so.. do you think poets feel differently than other people?
i wouldn’t say they feel differently than other people. i would say they have the tools to express those feelings.
do you think anyone can learn those tools? or do you think it’s something innate to being born a way or raised a way or something?
no, i think anyone can do it if they try.
so what are your goals for whispers from home? what do you see this as? what do you want this to be?
i don’t know. when i thought of this it was something. i wanted it to be the vlogbrothers but in print form and related to poetry. but i don’t like to plan for the future. (good thing we’re both like that.) not in a “i have no goals” way, but in a “i don’t want to pay so much attention to this thing” kinda way. six months from now we could be like “this was a dumb idea we can’t keep up.” (and that’s fine, or six months from now we’re touring the world like rock stars. but poet rock stars.) right, exactly.
(shout out to kaveh akbar.)
oh as we’re doing this interview, divedapper has it’s festival in indianapolis.
why aren’t we there?
i don’t know, because we’re stuck in seattle.
we’re not stuck in seattle! we’re not stuck anywhere. except your own mind.
oh god.
okay. okay. so this first thing is an interview. what do you think your next article will be? (i’m just trying to cheat. i need to know what you’re going to do, so i know what to do.)
i have some things in mind.
c’mon let me see your answers for this test. is number 17 c?
no, it’s actually false.
fuck. i’m gonna get an F.
is there anything else in particular you want to share with the millions of people who are going to be reading this interview?
that kaveh akbar is amazing and i’m so glad he exists. (shout out to kaveh akbar, we love you). also danez smith, paige lewis, fatimah asghar, hanif abdurraqib. so many people. it’s amazing to exist at the same time as these people. also i really love riles. (grumble noises). and connor. and i love my mom.
you can (and should) follow aishwarya’s poetry on instagram and facebook. prints of all her work are available on request. she’s also an amazing photographer you can book for events. check out her portfolio.