Today we talk about Lapdance and other Poems, a book by Teresa Mullan published with our publishing house Europe Books.
Europe Books had the pleasure of interviewing the author Teresa Mullan to get to know her better, where she found the inspiration to write Lapdance and other Poems, as well as how her passion for Writing started.
Below you can find our interview. Take a seat and enjoy your reading!!!
- Where and when did you find the inspiration to write your book of poetry?
These poems have been written over several years and I’m really not sure where the inspiration has come from for many of them, but for others it’s been based on an experience or experiences. I started this collection a few years ago but only thought about a book in recent times. I wanted to have the work formally collected and see if anyone would enjoy it. Everyone has stories to tell and I like it when the fancy to write takes place. Sometimes I am telling other people’s stories. Some are pure invention. Many are provocative. I’m not sure if I’m sticking my head above the parapet with some of them. Perhaps I am. My children and grandchildren inspire me. Also, my family and friends. I’ve been inspired over the years by work colleagues, great leaders, Kahlil Gibran, Rodriguez, Taylor Swift, Dire Straits, Pink Floyd, Fleetwood Mac. Music is poetic. The list of influences is a long one. We all know what it is to be inspired. Inspiration is a human trait and I’m sure it’s also there in the animal kingdom. You just have to tap into it. How else could the planet have evolved into the amazing thing that it is?
- What is the message you want to convey to your readers?
I hope anyone reading the poems can identify with them in some way and enjoy them. Some of them are meant to draw a laugh. Some are meant to identify with others. Others are just me, saying what I think. I think there might be a message in each poem but it’s up to the reader to find it and I hope anyone reading the collection can get something of value from it. Like anyone, I want action on climate change, for wars to end, for an understanding that peace and love for all living things are the only way to survive as a species. For politicians and people in government to be honest and hard working. We need to reconnect with mother nature and generate love in our undertakings. I know it’s a bit retro and hippy but there it is. The universe awaits.
- How did your passion for poetry start?
I started writing poems as a young child. I don’t know why. They just came to me. The words take shape and the rhyme just comes. It happens in a rush. I like the rush and I trust the motivation. I can think in rhyming verse and enjoy reading such verse. For years I loved reading Kath Walker’s (Oodgeroo Noonuccal) poems and Judith Wright. I discovered Kahil Gibran as a uni student. Poetry is an easy thing to enjoy because of the verse, the rhythm. It can be obscure and intellectual, visceral, fun, deep and meaningful or simply an observation of life or love, loss and anger, whimsical, rhetorical. I think that when you enjoy writing poetry, it becomes a channel that resonates. After you’re finished writing the poem and you’re happy with it, you get a rush like you do with any job well done. If you show it to an audience and someone likes it, that’s gratifying.
- How would you describe your Writing style?
It’s predominantly rhyming verse and includes commentary on politics and government, human emotion, love, romance, sexuality, life in general, relationships, the state of the planet, challenges. I think paring back so that the poem is not repetitive or boring is a good style. Words of difference appeal to me and making sure the right word is used in the right context.
- Are you working on a new writing project, you can tell us about?
I keep writing poetry and who knows, I might publish another collection at some stage. It will be more of the same but I’m also trying my hand at a novel. It’s in the very early stages so I need to have the confidence to finish it.
Europe Books thanks the author Teresa Mullan once again for taking the time and answering our questions. We are really pleased to have walked alongside her on the editorial path that led to the publication of her book Lapdance and other Poems. We wish her the best of luck for his book and for her future works.
To you, my readers, I hope these poems can entertain you and that you can somehow recognize yourself in them, drawing from them some food for thought that you can reflect on and apply in your everyday life.
So, my dear readers, all I have to say is to enjoy your reading!
Your editor!