BRASSWAX photo 1 wide, credit Steve Rokitka.jpg
Artist of the Week: BRASSWAX, editor, writer, and performer in South Seattle
Seattle Refined
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BRASSWAX is from the Detroit area (9 Mile, to be precise) and now lives in South Seattle. He has worked as a mechanical engineer, ticket salesman, librarian, gas station attendant, English teacher, and volleyball coach, and he now writes, performs, records and exhibits throughout the Pacific Northwest
Seattle Refined: How long have you been writing/editing?BRASSWAX: I started writing poems just before quitting my college engineering program back in Michigan. Almost immediately after that, inspired mostly by Bruce Anderson of The Anderson Valley Advertiser, I decided to become an editor, i.e., to commit my finite time and maybe some talent as an advocate for other writers, at least until I found one or more advocates for my own writing and then do it for a living. As it turns out, I still make my daily bread as an editor.
Tell us about your process and how the different stages work into it.Whether the result is a published poem, a performance, a recording, or a visual piece, the process always starts with writing. I try not to force it when I’m not inspired, but then to work fiercely when inspiration hits. That’s the luxury of low stakes. For my visual work — haiku pyrography (literally: “playful verse” + “fire writing”) — I start by matching the poem and the material. Word meets wood, so to speak. Then I design the poem using photo-editing software and then burn the design by hand into the wood. I suppose it’s ultimately a form of radical self-publishing, currently practiced by no one else I can find.
Tell us about where your inspiration comes from.I’m inspired most immediately by hunger, thirst, fatigue, libido, wanderlust, and a deep desire to compose poems and music that are at least somewhat unlike anything either of us has ever read or heard before. Over the longer term, though, coming up in Southeast Michigan afforded me access to more world-class poetry mentors than anyone has any right to claim, and I continue to take inspiration from Anne Carson (Canadian poet and classicist), Lorna Goodison (former Poet Laureate of Jamaica), and Thylias Moss and Alice Fulton (both inimitable poets and MacArthur “Genius” fellows).
Do you have a specific genre you like best: fiction, poetry, nonfiction, etc.?I’ve published a lot of music journalism in the past, but these days I mostly write poems and I mostly edit stories, both fiction and nonfiction
Do you have one piece of work that means more to you or is extremely special to you?I’m currently shopping around a book-length manuscript entitled Live from Laniakea, comprised of 100 haiku, as is the Japanese tradition. The collection came together with the support of so many people that I kept extensive notes so as not to lose track of them all, and the feel of collaboration that I associate with the process of assembling it will remain a lasting memory that I wouldn’t trade for anything
What experiences most affected your work?I learned more about writing from teaching and editing than I ever did as a student, and when I have the opportunity to travel, I take inspiration from new places, cultures, and people, and I try actively to welcome their influence into what I write after I return home
For more of your work, where should we look?I have some work online (social: @brasswax, web: brasswax.com), and I perform at leasta couple times a month at various stages in Seattle and Portland. Local galleries have begun to exhibit some of my haiku pyro pieces, and I also have poems forthcoming in both the next issue of Clockhouse Magazine and a paperback anthology about rage from Beyond the Veil Press
What is next for you? Anything you’re working on right now that you’re really excited about?Whenever I consider a poem finished, it’s then fair game for adaptation from the page to the stage, or the studio, or the gallery. Still, I’m currently developing both a live show and an album as companions pieces to Live from Laniakea
Lastly, how do you take your coffee?Black and hot
About ‘Artist of the Week’: This city is packed with artists we love to feature weekly on Seattle Refined! If you have a local artist in mind that you would like to see featured, let us know at hello@seattlerefined.com. And if you’re wondering just what constitutes art, that’s the beauty of it; it’s up to you! See all of our past Artists of the Week in our dedicated section
GET TO KNOW MORE ARTISTS
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- Artist of the Week: LUGH!, electronic music DJ from Tacoma
