Interview with Aulelei Love |
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I don't write pretty because I write life..." |
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Aulelei Love, a poet, playwright and mother, is a Miami native of Samoan roots who now lives in the Washington D.C. area. Though she has been performing in local venues for the past four years, it was only last summer that she entered her first contest - the Slamicide in Baltimore - where she took first place. Prior to her foray in poetry slams, Love found success in speech and debate competitions, even winning the 1999 Roland Lantham Oratory Competition at Northeastern University. She also worked alongside the acclaimed playwright Ed Bullins and helped found HoneyChile, an online collaboration of women writers. She has recently become one of the chosen few of Russell Simmons Def Poetry Slam featured on HBO. Aulelei is also the author of a book, I Don't Write Pretty: A Collection Of Confessions, which can be ordered through her website www.sheflypaper.com.
(Aulelei Love’s bio was taken from the HBO DEF Poetry website please visit for more information http://www.hbo.com/defpoetry/bios/season5/episode03.html)
Aulelei Love takes some time off from her busy schedule as a mother, poet, writer, and amazing woman to answer some questions for the Pacific Eye Magazine!
PEM: On your website (www.sheflypaper.com) you have a quote that says "I don't write pretty because I write life", Please explain the meaning behind that quote.
Aulelei: That line comes from a poem I wrote called "I don't write pretty".
The rest of the line goes:
"I don't write pretty, I write life
the parts of life people try to hide
the words that you whisper into hot showers,
hoping that they rinse away down the drain
and don't recycle themselves into your drinking water."
Poetry does not always have to be this beautiful and delicate master piece of words protected behind glass. We are poetry. When we're hurting, when we're broke or broken or both, when we are deep in self doubt or flat out wrong. Our story, our lives, our mistakes are all poetry waiting to be written out and ultimately what I’m saying in that line is poetry is not my craft, it is my right!
PEM: What was the first poem you wrote and how old were you when you wrote it?
Aulelei: I don't remember my first, first poem, but I remember the time frame when poetry changed for me. It was in 2000 when I started going to open mics in Baltimore city, previous to that, all of my poems were on the surface. I would do a lot of rhyme for rhyme, like a hallmark card. Roses are red, flowers are dead. That type of thing. I never put myself into the poems. Mind you, I had been writing and calling myself a "poet" for years. I even considered myself a good "poet" because I could make everything sound good, look good, and wrap it all up at the end with a big red ribbon. All of that changed in 2000. I started to take off the mask, let it all hang out. I started to use the stage to confess not just perform. I started to connect to the human element in people, rather than seeking praise. The poem that broke the mold for me was "miscommunication with god" and I was twenty when I wrote it.
PEM: When did you know that you wanted to write poetry?
Aulelei: I remember reading this poem by Gwendolyn brooks in elementary school. It was called "the bean eaters" and during our class discussion about it, I recall noticing that every other kid had a different interpretation of the poem. We were all fighting and yelling about which one of our takes on the poem was right. My teacher ended our war when she said "you are all correct". What? All of us right? One poem can mean 30 different things? That moment probably laid the ground work for where I am today.
PEM: What makes your poems different from other poets?
Aulelei: My DNA, my walk along this path called life, my slang, my hands, my name, my mother, my bloodline, my flaws, my past lovers, my children, my uneven hips, my uneven smile, my husband, my walk, my failures, my dreams, my prayers, my doubts, my lies, my laugh, my scream, my conclusions, my obsessions, my judgments, my weakness, my self. Every poet is different, just as every person is different.
(Aulelei on HBO's Russell Simmons presents: Def Poetry)
PEM: What inspires you to write?
Aulelei: As of late it has been hindsight. Being able to dig back in the archive of past conversations or people that I loved or choices that I made that affected my life; and of course I’m inspired daily by my daughters and son.
PEM: Can you describe your writing process?
Aulelei: A line pops into my head, I sit down, write it out and the rest comes flowing from fingertips to computer screen. It really is that basic. I don't do editing, unless it is spelling mistakes. I feel like the first word/reaction/thought is the purest intention, so I go with that.
PEM: What is the relationship between your speaking voice and your writing voice?
Aulelei: I write in my speaking voice. I’m not the narrator or the third person. I’m not the audience member. I’m not the performer. I’m the girl with a poem in her head who writes the words just as she would say them to you over coffee if she had the courage enough to do so. The difference is when I say it in a poem it feels less invasive. I don't feel so naked. I don't feel so alone in saying it. I don't worry about people judging me as a person, but rather me as a poet.
PEM: How important is your Pacific Islander identity in the poems you create?
Aulelei: I’m afakasi, although, I was raised by my Samoan mother, I always referred to and identified myself as black. I thought that I didn't know enough about "being Samoan" to call myself one, like I hadn't earned the right somehow. It wasn't until I left home that I realized that my mother had instilled in me the essence of being Samoan. The Samoan heart, the pride, the importance of honor, the central focus of family, and of course, how to make every meal a complete meal with a pot of rice. These are the things, minus the rice, that I have in me while I write. I don't know how much of it comes through the words, but my Samoan heart is in it.
PEM: Many people believe that poetry is very autobiographical do you agree with this?
Aulelei: I say that my poetry is my life made interesting. It is autobiographical, but with creative liberties taken to some extent. Just like in the movies, my poetry is based on a true story of mine.
PEM: What do you feel has been the most empowering poem you have written?
Aulelei: I think the poem I did for the New Orleans Katrina victims was the most empowering for me. Two weeks before the hurricane hit I was dancing up and down Bourbon street with all the other tourists. After Katrina, when the severity of their poverty was thrown in America’s face, when every news channel was blaming the government, I was blaming all of us who had ever enjoyed New Orleans as a tourist attraction but never stopped to see the injustices that were happening to the people that lived there year round. The poem is called "the levees been broke".
PEM: What do you feel are the biggest challenges facing our Pacific Islander youth today?
Aulelei: I’d say that all youth face similar battles. We were all trying to define ourselves once upon a time. Trying to figure out who were and who we wanted to become some day. I’m not that old (hahaha) so I remember the struggle between trying to define myself and letting a group of people, be it friends or celebrities, define me for ME. The biggest challenge is learning to be okay with who you are. Not the "if I were skinner" you or the "if I were richer" you, but loving you as you are today.
PEM: How can writing become something liberating for our youth?
Aulelei: No one can take away your words. Like I said in the beginning, poetry is not my craft, it is my right. It is your right! Your voice! Your feelings! Your emotions! Your ideas! Liberating your words from your head is like liberating yourself from a shell. On paper, you are art. Even if is to no one else but yourself. You are heard, you are felt, and whatever was stuck clogging up the pipes in your mind, you can let it out. You can share it or tear it up in a thousands pieces. You can be the victim or hero or both in words. You can dream in words. Erase nightmares in words. You decide. The power of having a choice is liberating.
PEM: If there was one sentence from your poems (or other writings) that you would like to share with our youth what would it be?
Aulelei: This was the hardest question for some reason.
"broken girls become broken women become mothers become broken mirrors become warriors become broken poems become broken backs. the only thing intact is the cycle."
PEM: Any final advice for aspiring writers?
Aulelei: Find your own voice. What one poet does may not work for you. What you end up doing may become the new standard. Above everything else, write for you. You can't go wrong with that.
