Nelson, Unleashed
The Exclusive Interview With The Author Of The Runaway Smash Hit,
If I Had Wings
Copyright 2011 Heidi Zawelevsky and Denna Gollner
Smashwords Edition, License Notes
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Table of Contents
Heidi Zawelevsky: Today, we speak with the celebrated dog poet, Nelson, author of the runaway smash hit, If I Had Wings. Nelson, thank you for taking the time to give this interview, so your readers can get to know you and who is really behind the poetry phenom.
Nelson: You’re very welcome, Heidi. I did take a half an hour out of my sixteen hours of sleeping today because I really want to reach across the aisle and connect with my audience.
HZ: You’ve often been compared to a kangaroo. How do you feel about that?
N: I feel honored to be compared to a Roo, or even a Wallaby, because marsupials are naturally amazing. My mommy travels a lot to Australia, so it is a deep source of inspiration for me. I’ve never been to Oz, but I dream about it.
HZ: Would it be fair to say that you are in the spiritual lineage of a kangaroo?
N: Definitely. It would be fair to say, at least, that I aspire to be that evolved. Imagine having a pouch.
HZ: Help us understand how a little dog came to be a poet.
N: I feel that I was born a poet because I really needed wings due to my special forelegs. Poetry is, afterall, a process; it is, in its essence, the transformative power of language. I’m perceived as being a non-verbal species, other than barking and whining, so it is innately transforming that I voice myself at all, espceially through poetry.
Poetry is like looking at an animal. When you first look, he is a kangaroo, but when you really observe him, when you look more deeply, he is a dog. He is still an animal, but a different animal. There has been a shift, a transformation from an inital perception and understanding. It’s not static, but kinetic. Like me.
HZ: Would you consider writing an epic?
N: My brain is the size of a walnut, so I don’t foresee myself as having the attention span to sustain an extended work like that. Although, like an epic, I always start in the middle of the action. I’m dynamic in that way.
HZ: If I Had Wings is your first volume of poetry, but you are already considered prolific, writing, on average, one poem per month.
N: Yes, in dog words, I’ve written 70 poems in the past year. I’m at the height of my creative powers.
HZ: Nelson, you touch on universal themes such as love, death, separation, loss and union. What draws you to ponder such existential meanings?
N: This is the circle of life. This propels us. This promises us a dance with life. Life asks this dance of all of us. I live in awe, in wonder of these great themes, these great mysteries.
HZ: You write in Snacks about gravity, finding a sublime confluence between poetry and physics.
N: It’s autobiographical, too. I was starving.
HZ: Nelson, you’re an adventurer and you’ve traveled extensively, widely, especially by plane. That seems really unusual for a little dog.
N: Travel is fundamental to my life experience and a deep source of sharing my life with my mommy most of all. Although, I fly both jets and my single prop yellow airplane, I won’t go anywhere without my car seat. It is essential.
HZ: Are you saying that even when you fly, you sit in your car seat?
N: Absolutely. I even sit in it when I’m at home, working on the computer. It’s a must.
HZ: When you are traveling, how safety conscious are you?
N: Safety first. I always buckle up.
HZ: You have a striking command of the language. What are some of your favorite words?
N: Mommy. Sky. Love. Almond Butter.
HZ: You’ve created a new genre, Dog Poetry, single-handedly.
N: Figuratively speaking, perhaps, but I write in a much greater tradition of Critter Literature, with influences that reach back to central critter characters like, Pilot, in Jane Eyre. I stand on the shoulders of giants. I’m only two feet tall, afterall.
HZ: You are the embodiment of adaptibility. What advice would you give to other special needs beings?
N: If I can do it, anyone can do it. I’ve overcome a lot of obstacles and hardships in my life, but it’s been worth it. One of the greatest needs, beyond special physical needs, that we face, of course, is the need for all of us to find our homes. I was determined and destined to find my mommy. I know it’s possible for people to open their hearts and their homes to animals who need shelter. And love is the greatest shelter of all. I feel so grateful.
HZ: You are truly an avant garde dog poet. How has indie publishing helped you?
N: I labored in obscurity for years. First, I was what is known in the vernacular as a “stray”. I was just out on the streets, starving, with nothing but my own determination to find my one, true mommy. I couldn’t be happier in my life since I found her. So, all of this is to say, that I have a core independent streak that drives me, especially to connect.
In terms of indie publishing, I was thrilled to publish on Smashwords which is at the vanguard of supporting authors and their independence in the digital age. eBooks are the illuminated manuscripts of the 21st century. They make me new and whole as a poet--as in a much greater way, my mommy makes me new and whole because she gave me my forever home and I luvluvluv her.
HZ: Your book, If I Had Wings, is a runaway smash hit. Have you quit your day job?
N: Yes. I’m a force of nature.
HZ: You’ve noted that Pup Tent took a year to write. What was it about the process with this particular poem that it had a long gestation period for you? Most of your poems took less time to compose.
N: Well, I needed a lot of naps during the course of the writing itself because I do everything in an animated way. So, I was very tired from hiking. Hip Hop took less time because I was riding in my car seat during my commute.
HZ: Let’s talk about your identity as a commuter, about the life you have forged for yourself.
N: Well, not only am I quotable, but I am portable, too. It comes with the territory of living with my mommy who travels so much. When she goes places that I can’t go, especially because of draconian quarantine laws imposed on me, then I have to commute to my home-away-from-home with you, the H person. I get a lot of writing done when I’m separated and longing for my mommy. Also, being a kinetic writer, I punctuate everything with snacks and naps which are essential to commuting and composing.
HZ: You’ve been called “super cute” and “a damn fine poet”. How do these two modes of being inform your aesthetic sensibilities?
N: It’s of vital importance to me simply because I like the element of surprise. Let’s be honest, the irony of looking like this, particularly my ears which I inherited from the Chihuahua side of my family, coupled with writing ecstatic and lyrical poetry, really creates a thought provoking experience for the reader. It’s very cutting edge--or shredding edge if I use my teeth.
HZ: Your poems read so effortlessly on the page, they have such grace and fluidity, but have you experienced writer’s block?
N: Absolutely! I’ve torn the curtains off the walls and shredded the bedding more than a few times just out of sheer frustration. That usually helps. I get my creative energy fired up.
HZ: Are you fired up for a second volume of poetry, hot on the heels of If I Had Wings?
N: You can count on it!
HZ: Thank you, Nelson, for taking the time from sleeping today to share so much with us.
N: You are most welcome. Let’s do lunch.
***
If I Had Wings
If I had wings
I could fly
I would be home
Free
If I had wings
Gounded on the streets
Hounded but not lost
Seeking my destiny, if
I had wings
East coast, West coast
Sunrise, sunset
I, I am a traveler, the distance of
Love, looking
To the horizon, my journey
Calls out to me, Epic
Fly home
If I had wings, soaring
My calling, roaring
Fly with me home
Jet wings across the sky
Parallel lives touchdown, my true pilot,
Compass of my heart
Now I have wings, I am home
Free
***
Nelson is a poet and traveler, known for howling at the moon. A former street dog, he now lives with his mommy in the San Francisco Bay Area. His favorite bridge is the Golden Gate. Hie favorite airplane is a Boeing 747-400.
If I Had Wings is his first volume of poetry.
Connect with Nelson online:
Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/authorauthor
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nelson.dog.poet?sk=wall&filter=1
Cover Photo by Denna Gollner
Cover Design by Heidi Zawelevsky