As WEbook's first ever poetry vote continues to accept submissions, we're shining the light on Brian_Kupillas, WEbook poet extraordinaire. According to Brian's profile, he's "in love with the world," and it shows. His WEbook project, My Body, the Waterfall, is a collection of poetry that celebrates the beauty in everyday moments and explores the mysteries of life and death.
Pretty deep, right? To find out more about the mind that brings us these poems, WEbook asked Brian a few equally deep questions.
Q: What's the brief story of your life, including your history with writing?
A: I am a young, white male, born into the middle class. I went to good schools, and never struggled for much. The world has always been at my feet. Nothing out of the ordinary, I am pretty much your average person. I have problems with small things, and I write when I can. I started out emulating my favorite writers and musicians, and just wrote lyrics, but over time have become more and more free verse and poetic and have come into a style I'd like to think is somewhat my own. Like I said, I have nothing special in my back story, but it's the life I'm in right now I think is interesting -- the one that makes up all these ideas.
Q: What was the title of the first poem you wrote?
A: I couldn't tell you. I've been writing for a long time. And I'm constantly writing more and more. Whatever it was, it was probably in 4th grade and not very good.
Q: What is your favorite word?
A: Cedar
Q: What kind of poems do you like to write best?
A: Haiku. Because there's so much beauty in some of the simplest things. And when you say something profound it only adds onto the weight of those words when the phrase is short.
Q: Who is your least favorite famous or canonical poet?
A: I don't know. I can find a fault with most poets. But I can also find a strength. And there's something dangerous about stating who your least favorite poet is on a writing website, especially when literature seems to create people that will argue over anything to do with anyone who claims to be an author or poet. So to avoid a battle, I'd rather not.
Q: What's a better subject for poetry: love, or heartbreak?
A: Love. It's infinitely better. Both enter into the realm of cliche very often, but it's a lot harder to believe in something as grand as love then it is to simply be sad or angry at such a hard thing to grasp. If you can write well in the way of love, you must be quite the writer.
Do you have a line on the wonderfullest writer on WEbook? The fantastickest feedbacker? Or anyone else who goes above and beyond to make WEbook the best writing, reading, and publishing community on the internet? Drop me an email, or visit my profile and send me a message with the title "WEbooker of the WEek" to nominate your favorite WEbooker and he or she will have a shot at joining the ranks of the immortals -- and getting a free WEbook T-shirt to boot.
Sign up for WEbook today and start reading, writing, and feedbacking.
-- Melissa
