Today we’d like to introduce you to RJ Ingram.
RJ, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I was stuck inside of a snow globe for ten years with nothing but a pack of tarot cards & a typewriter to keep me company / I ate olives & candied lemon rinds from toothpicks & wiped the corners of my mouth with the sleeves of angora & cashmere sweaters / I arranged bouquets for no one to look at & when it was my turn to entertain the company my parents kept I got shy & hid in the attic / I drank too much lighter fluid / I drew circles around football fields with a single line of chalk / I regretted most of it / But then I discovered poetry could quiet the minds of the monsters who were fighting each other for my attention / Words banged together like a dictionary caught in a blender during one of mom’s midnight margarita parties / And if I listened like really listened / I could make out the meanings the way a newspaper jumble reveals itself just after you’ve stopped thinking about it / I stopped ordering drinks & started getting to know the bartenders / I learned how to raise the dead from their discarded closets & libraries / And I got to work writing my thoughts in big bubble letters the way the goddesses intended / That was the most important part.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I have a proclivity for getting ran over by cars I always have / When I was twelve I was smashed by a semi truck leaving a factory & my family never really recovered from that accident / On my way to an AA meeting I got hit by a woman pulling onto a busy avenue who swears she couldn’t see me & I absolutely believe her / Something about me keeps me invisible which used to be a superpower before I started getting hit by cars / So I started dressing to get people’s attention / Diva’s wear wigs & Dandies wear top hats & I’ve got a pointed witch hat for every day of the year / When people ask about my hats I say they’re part of the uniform & that’s mostly true / I think of them like a habit or a mortar board / They’re meant to remind myself that I’m still studying the ancient arts & to let those around me know that I’ve probably got my head in the clouds / I get compliments on my hats every day & they’re always a great conversation starter for folks who don’t know how to talk to me / Sure they’ve probably kept me away from some professional advancements / But I haven’t been hit by a car once since I started wearing them / And I used to get hit all the time / So I used them to commune with my higher powers & keep myself safe while crossing the street.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I spent the last year writing a Choose Your Own Tarot Adventure game about dandies who move into a fictional Peacock Lane / It’s a collection of love sonnets about flamboyant men & tricksters responsible for the inventions of art music & dance / A lot of the dandies resemble characters that already exist in the media but there are dozens of dandies I have invented myself & a handful of dandies I’ve borrowed from my real life / Peacock Lane is a sequel of sorts to my first poetry collection The Autobiography of Nancy Drew / In my first book I tried to write a prayer every day for for 30 or so potential higher powers / Divas I admired for their wit style & professionalism / These prayers took the form of love sonnets as a kind of votive I was lighting for my communion with the divine / Peacock Lane continues that project by investigating the diva’s effervescent best friend / While I still think of my poems as love sonnets I really tried breaking away from the short stilted lines I used when writing about the divas / I studied the patter song & the rich history of slippery characters who sing their way into a company of stodgy townsfolk using fast talk & empty promises / Thinking of the poems as a long winded sing-song soliloquy allowed me to shake up the shakespearian form & give each dandy room to flaunt / When I was about halfway done with the project I realized the dandies weren’t just living in Peacock Lane but they were also trapped in a deck of tarot cards / And that’s how the shape of the book found itself / The fool’s journey spread out across 78 cards with a pantheon of trickster archetypes guiding the reader along.
Risk taking is a topic that people have widely differing views on – we’d love to hear your thoughts.
Do poets have much authority on taking risks? / Every time I go to a poetry reading a small room inside of me fills with the kind of terror that used to be reserved for turbulence on airplanes & the first drop on a rickety rollercoaster / Leaving the house for anyone involves more & more risk every day & whenever I stand up to take my place behind the microphone I am reminded of the great risks performers take by standing on a stage / I live a relatively simple life / I work in retail & spend my free time watching cartoons & writing love poems to mothers I see on TV / I spend my money on thrifted hand bags & dresses made for women who make twice as much money as me / You can spot me crossing the road because I let you see me / I try to not take up more space than I need but I have discovered that unless I dress in a way that lets me stand out folks will ignore me / To be ignored too closely resembles being forgotten which is a risk I am more afraid of than getting hurt trying to cross a road / So I admire men & women who dress loudly & do my best to model myself after them / And I still do get occasional catcalls & sneering eyes from religious folks who yank on the crosses around their necks / But I get so many more compliments than I used to / And I hardly ever get hit by cars anymore / So I guess I take some risks when it comes to my poetry & the way I dress.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://whitestagpublishing.com/rj-ingram-1
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/RJ_Equality
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RJEquality
