BLOG OF THE WEEK ~ AN UPDATE WITH BUDDAH MOSKOWITZ

Buckle up, kids, because today we are chatting with one of our long-time members of Poets United, Buddah Moskowitz, of  I Hate Poetry: The Buddah Moskowitz Archive. You are in for a fun ride, as our friend has a lot of energy and humor. He has shared some wonderful poems with us, and photos from his happy life. Let's not waste another minute. Let's dive in!

Frasier, Phillipe and Buddah

Moskowitz

Sherry: Hi kiddo, it is nice to be chatting with you again. Nice curls, by the way! I went back and read our first interview in 2012, which was such fun. I had more brain cells back then, and only hope I can do you justice this time around. Would you bring us up to date with your life today, so our newer members can get to know you better?

Mosk: Nice to be asked back.  Things are roughly the same as before, when we last spoke.  I’ve been trying to keep writing and refining whatever I can call my technique.   I realize that in my quest to write in an unadorned (and presumably, unpretentious) style, that my writing can tend to be somewhat prosaic.  I’ve even added as a tag to some of my works #fuckyouthisisntpoetry as a pre-emptive strike to anyone who would (justifiably) question my credentials as a [ahem] poet. 

Sherry: Oh my. You are a poet in our books, kiddo! And "prosaic" is not a word I would associate with you. Are you still firmly rooted in southern California? Still working in academia? How is your family doing?

Mosk: Yes, very much rooted in California.  It’s the land of my people. Seriously, I did one of those DNA Ancestry tests where you spit in a vial and send it to their labs and they tell you where your DNA shows up around the world.  Surprise! Surprise! My DNA shows up here most in the Americas (North, Central and South Americas).  A little bit of my DNA is also found in the Iberian Peninsula and a similarly small proportion of my DNA was found in Greece/Italy.  

What does this mean?  Mostly, it confirms what I had long assumed: I come from a long line of indigenous people and a wee bit of (I’m assuming) Spanish explorers.  I told my kids when they bought it for me as a Christmas present, they probably wasted their money as I *knew* I was going to be part of that long continuum of Mexican lineage.   Either way, it was good to get the confirmation.

Mosk at two

Sherry: How cool to know your lineage exactly. I would love to have indigenous ancestry (and hope that I do!) - people who know how to live with and upon the land.

Mosk: I’m still an educational researcher at a southern California community college.  I’m getting to the age where I’m seeing many of my colleagues retiring and I want to join them!  By my estimate, I have about seven more years here before I can retire, so I’m trying to make the best out of this time.  Don’t get me wrong. I love my job, but there are many other things I’d like to do with my time, like watch my grandchildren, of which I don’t have any yet.  However, I’m betting at least one of my childbearing-aged children will pop out a unit in the coming years, and I’ll get to be Pop-o to the next generation.  

Wedding Blur

In the meanwhile, I still live with my beautiful bride, Anita, my son, who’s an emergency room nurse, and my younger daughter, Sarah, who attends the local college.  

My older daughter, Rachel, just moved out and is working and going to school. I’m very proud of all of them.   Since we last spoke, I think some of the animals have moved on (how’s that for a death euphemism?), so now we have Magnolia and Mona Lisa the Yorkies, Sadie the Cat, and Frasier and Phillipe, the cockatiels. My house is nothing if not lived-in and noisy.

Sherry: Oh, it sounds glorious! But wait a minute! Are you seriously trying to sneak a WEDDING past me? Spill the beans! When did this happen? Everyone looks so beautiful and happy. And congratulations! 

Mosk: The wedding pic is from 2002. All those kids are adults now. Now, I'm older and grayer!

Magnolia Moskowitz

Mona Lisa Moskowitz

Sherry: The wedding looks wonderful, and you have a beautiful wife. You began writing poetry in high school. What was it that drew you to poetry as your means of creative expression, rather than prose? What do you love about poetry? What keeps you writing it?

Mosk: I gravitate to poetry because it’s a brief form (for me at least). I don’t have the best sense of concentration, and I can’t sustain interest for too long in any one subject.  

More than that, originally, I started off being a songwriter.  The songs are similar to a form I call the poemonologue.  A poem, like a song, is like a little performance.  You can tell so much by the voice of the piece.  The poemonologue is meant to be read aloud. It’s a direct (confrontational) communication to the audience.  The poemonologue is mainly a monologue, with presumably more poetic flourishes.  I like writing in different voices, as if I were writing for characters in a play, but in this case, I am the sole actor.  (How’s that for narcissism?)   

Sherry: I like this idea; a poemonologue sounds fun. I am intrigued.

Mosk: I keep writing because in writing I have found the one form of therapy and amusement that works for me.  I also get a lot of my personal identity from being a writer.  I tire of writers who kvetch about not being inspired enough to write. That’s baloney! Keep writing!  You have to keep writing, and one day you’ll get lucky (not inspired, but lucky) and something will tumble out that’ll tickle the hell out of you. It’s mostly luck – the more you write, the better your chances at writing something good.

'My writing is my memoir.'

Sherry:  That is exactly right. I read in your interview at The Poet’s Corner, your statement “My writing is my memoir”. I love that! What do you try to capture, in your poems?

Mosk: I am really inspired by photography.  A photo taken by 65 different photographers can give 65 different perspectives – it’s all in how the photographer takes the picture.  I see my “memoir” poetry as my way of taking an emotional or spiritual snapshot of whatever I am documenting.  

I think if my poems resonate with readers at all, it’s because they’re recognizing something in themselves that I have also seen in myself, and felt validated. That’s usually how art affects me, as a doorway to validation.  Mostly, I think I am writing as a piecemeal way of documenting this life of mine. I like having all these stories, events and Ideas all collected together so that if anyone ever wanted to learn about me, then all they’d have to do is point their browser at http://ihatepoetry.blogspot.com and read on!

Sherry: Yes! Me, too. How has blogging impacted your writing?

Mosk: Blogging has given me an easy way to publish and distribute my writings. Also, it’s allowed me to share other writers I enjoy with my readers.  I used to have a site called virtualpoetryreading.com, and I would have writers read their poems into my Google Voice line and I’d post them because I liked hearing the voices. 

Now, there are many superbly talented writers that I read daily and I have no idea how they sound, or for that matter how they look, and in some democratic way I like that relative anonymity.  That’s why I’m very reticent to put any pictures of me on my websites.  I don’t want to bias anyone against me, if they didn’t like my looks. Or I didn’t want them to be in favor of me just because they liked my looks. 

Also, I have come to love the community of readers who generously comment on my works.  I like to say that it doesn’t matter if no one read my poetry, but I am writing for an audience.   I get a great sense of validation from my readers and I never, ever take their comments for granted.  There are a billion sites on the internet and somehow they found mine, and I am grateful for their patronage.  Also, I am fortunate to read some of the most talented and powerful writers, and blogging allows me to tell them to their face (as it were) how wonderful they are and how thankful I am for their talent.

Sherry: I feel the same way. It is such a privilege to belong to the poetry community, it is balm for the soul, and definitely keeps me writing much more than I would without it. 

You sometimes write about your long journey of recovery since 1990. That is a real accomplishment. Would you care to share anything about that journey?  I find that the poet’s journey is the real story, reflected in his writing. There is much for our readers to take inspiration from, if you wish to share.

Mosk: I’m still on the journey of recovery.  I don’t have any secrets, but rather the tiny bit of self-knowledge that while I can be very self-disciplined, I can also cave very easily into temptation. 

Here’s an example: in January, my daughter and I joined Weight Watchers, and I lost 20 pounds in 3 months.  It wasn’t as difficult as I remember, and I feel better now, my clothes fit better, and in all ways my health is better than ever.  But… ever since I lost the weight, I’ve been letting my two weaknesses creep back into my diet – cookies and candies.  I’ve still kept the weight off, but every day I vow to be strong, and every day I give in. Why?  I know it isn’t good for me!  Thankfully, it’s only sweet things that are my weaknesses, but with that knowledge of how easy it is to slip, I stay clear of the booze.  Ok, here’s a boozy-cutie:

The Lady Who Never Says No

The lady who never says no

whispers that no one will

ever know.

She's all dressed up

for the holidays

like a call-girl,

wearing her best

skin-tight

electro-amphetamine

frosting.

She knows how

to make that sound

with her perfectly

lipsticked

mouth

that makes even the

most innocent utterance

sound slutty

and tempting.

She's giving me that

"Take Me into

That Darkened Corner

and Do Whatever

You Want" look

and she's right

no one will ever know,

but I know me.

And one time

will tumble into 20,

then into a hundred,

and we'll go at it

cheap and angry

in my car

in the far end of

the Wal-Mart parking lot,

and then I'll be

sucking down mouthwash

before coming home,

and I probably

will only stop

when the red and blue lights

stop me,

and I lose my license

for a year.

Then,

everyone will know.

Fuck,

just keep on walking.

For Christ's sake,

it's just one aisle in the grocery store.

After 26 years,

ain't you got over her yet?

Sherry: Smiles. I love the self-talk going on in this poem! Would you choose three more of your poems to share with us? And tell us something about each?

Mosk: The first one is pure documentary.  Happened in August 1994.  I was 30 and still young and naïve  and horny – a bad combination at least.

Be Careful What You Ask God For

I asked God

to give me an experience

to write about,

one to illustrate

the human condition,

visceral and exciting,

to make my writing

sail through the blank pages.

Be careful what you ask God for.

So when

the hell broke out,

and Lauren left me

for another man,

I asked God for

something

to take away the pain,

and along came Kim,

and with

a giggling acquiescence

without a struggle,

she disrobed,

and climbed upon

the dessert cart,

naked and splay-legged,

and invited me

to partake.

And take I did.

Be careful what you ask God for.

I thought I could

talk my way out of it.

If her husband

ever found out,

I'd just deny it.

(yes,

I know, I know.)

But when he called,

three months later

screaming and blood

furious,

(she told him

I raped her)

telling me he was

going to shoot

my balls off

and he knew where

I lived,

the police told

me to go into hiding

until they could

calm him down

and I could get

a restraining order.

So, as I began

recounting

this sordid tale

I realized,

that I was writing about

the human condition,

visceral and exciting,

I just never guessed

it'd be for

a police report.

Be careful what you ask God for.

Sherry: Yes, be careful indeed! Wow!

Mosk; This next poem is somewhat autobiographical, but written mostly for middle aged men, as they transform from the hunter to the invisible.

Sherry: Oh, women become invisible too! Even more so! Trust me, I know these things!

Grandpa Dracula

He used to be sexy

with his slim figure and

sharpened fangs.

His cool demeanor

and sartorial elegance

mesmerized women

into breathlessly

offering up their necks

as prelude to

their pulsating

sweet

essence.

These flowers with

thick eyelashes,

shiny red lips

and pendulous curves

would avoid his gaze

for fear they’d be tempted

past the point

of redemption.

But now,

he’s Grandpa Dracula,

fat, toothless

and domesticated.

They look

straight into his eyes,

and chat with him easily,

and it is

worse

than being invisible:

he is deemed

cute and harmless.

The eternal life

he coveted,

remains forever elusive,

as he replays his memories,

which mock him

like an endless stream

of Viagra commercials.

Sherry: Ouch! "Worse than being invisible". It gets easier by the time you're my age, kiddo. Smiles. One grows accustomed to being benign, like a shrub. Cackle.

Mosk: Finally, here’s a brief poem about my religious beliefs:

The Big Picture, IMHO

No dogma,

no apologetics,

no complicated legalism:

only Love,

and if that’s too abstract,

then try Jesus.

Not the Bible,

not the church,

just Jesus.

Sherry: I love this one, kiddo. Simple and profound. I see you published a book some time back. Congrats on that! 

Mosk: Thanks, I think my e-book is still on amazon.com  here. 

I published that 5 years ago.  Where did the time go?

Sherry: You mentioned in your interview at Poet’s Corner that your second collection would feature Christian-Universalist-Humanist poems. Is this collection still in the works?

Mosk: Well, that hasn’t materialized, but I do have a new way to describe my religious beliefs : post-theistic, Christian existentialist. It’s taken me a long time to be able to state where I am in my relation to God.  That label comes close.  I’ve only been a Christian 9 years.

Sherry: That is a way cool description. I understand one of your other creative interests is creating digital music. Might you have a link to your music, that we can include here?

Mosk at 13

Mosk: Well, I have a site at soundcloud.com, 

https://soundcloud.com/noisytherapy, but it only has a few snippets of ideas, some remixes, mashups, etc..  Although I anticipate making more music, as I have been creating a studio in in my closet where I can make my noisy therapy.  

Also, I plan on making more videos for the Moskowitz Media Machine at https://www.youtube.com/user/ihatepoetry I have poems there about Richard Pryor and Love.  Check them out. Maybe it’ll inspire/irritate someone enough they’ll make better art to show what a collection of dreck mine is.

Sherry: Smiles. Again, "dreck" is another word I wouldn't use in connection with your work. But I do like the humility.  In closing, is there anything you’d like to say to Poets United? You were away for a while, and it is lovely to see your name popping up again at Mr. Linky. What brought you back??

Mosk: Thank you to everyone who has stopped by to read my writing. It always makes me smile to see any comments. What brought me back?  I just fell off the writing scene for like six months, and when I came back I saw that a lot of my favorite writers were active on your site, so I decided to join back up.  Seriously, the community of writers that I have been lucky enough to read are a constant source of inspiration, encouragement and creativity and I hope I bring them at least a little of the happiness they bring me.

Sherry: Thanks, kiddo. We are so happy to have you back at PU! It has been fun chatting with you, and we look forward to enjoying much more of your work in the months to come.

Wasn't this fun, kids? I enjoy Mosk's humor so much. Do come back and see who we talk to next. Who knows? It might be you!