Spotlight On Writers
Rochelle Foles
- Where, do you hail from?
I’m a country girl with a city heart. I settled in Baghdad by the Bay over 30 years ago. some people would crassly call my home, “Frisc0”, or “San Fran”, which makes us locals wretch. to us it’s properly called either, “The City” or “San Francisco”, and we’re proud of our town!
- What is the greatest thing about the place you call home?
I love The City bcuZ it’s vibrant, teeming with creatives of every genre and jam-packed with phenomenal cultural experiences and the best food outside of The Big Apple!
- What turns you on creatively?
I’m one of those artists whose creative juices are always flowing! I find beauty in the mundane, as I like to say. it means I appreciate everyday objects that have their own unique qualities- a surprisingly beautiful wrought iron fence, a sweet little window in the side door of a Victorian, the way the light filters thru the autumn leaves… I’m very much in tune with my emotional world and I’d say the peaks and valleys of my emo world definitely shape what I choose to write about as well as what I do creatively. I call myself a crazed creative and if I’m not making something or writing something fresh I’m very much off my game. I write incessantly and can always be found with a Moleskine of some size or color along with a fountain pen and colored felt pens. it makes for an awfully full purse! But who am I to stifle a potential poetic inspiration?!
- What is your favorite word, and can you use it in a poetic sentence?
I was asked my favorite word, as a poet and lifelong logophile that is an impossible task!
from childhood, words have had a prominent place in my life. in my family when someone used an obtuse or highfalutin word in an especially profound and appropriate way we’d shake their hand and say, “Excellent use of the English language! Welcome to the club!” my continued practice of this family game often confounds friends and confuses strangers.
if I had to choose the words I use most often in speech you’d recognize ‘princess’, ‘beloved’, ‘wonderful’, and ‘beautiful’ because that’s how I see my world. when I write I like to use precise descriptive words, words as pictures with multiple interpretations or conversely, metaphorical language, that I often find more concrete.
{tho truth be told I do love the word indeed!}
. It still ROARED
like thick maned plain Kings
Their Sahara dunes
A casbah mirage Of carpeted stairs,
arms,legs,mouths
Once more
For old times sake indeed
- What is your pet peeve?
I think more interesting than my petty little annoyances are the peeves people have about my writing. in my last peer graded poetry workshop, I missed getting 2 100% scores because the readers took issue with my lack of capitalization. a tad eye-opening.
I love playing with sound and the visual life of my poetry and have a playful relationship with both, spelling phonetically, breaking words apart and toying with fonts and color, adding particular emphasis in uncommon ways. I especially enjoy my poetry journal because I draw and play so much with the first draft of much of my scribbling. very unorthodox and oft times requires the reader to really examine what they are reading. once is rarely completely fulfilling, but that’s my objective, to ask my readers to pause their pace and contemplate. unless of course it’s just fluff!
- What defines Rochelle Foles?
I’m a walking contradiction of myself so let’s see…well, my beloved late mother would definitely say I do things my way without thought of convention. others would say I’m uber-traditional. my sister-in-law would say I’m eccentric. one of my best friends would say I’m insightful and honest. my art circle would say I’m original and creative. a poet friend says it’s my way of being “soft but deeep.” my friends would say it’s my loyalty. my clients would say it’s my broad expertise. my partner says ,”wow! there are so many things!”
my cats just say,”meoooow!”
as for myself, in any given moment you’re likely to hear something else. but I’d say the theme running thru everything is a bright eye on how to twist the conventional.
here’s a little letter play called, “the shoe of anxiety”
a familiar slipper one fearfully slides into
k p i G
the bravery of s I P N
A. l. o. n. g. towards
the edge of a
c
l
i
f
f
the faith
of a growling b
e
l
l
y
u m
the welcome of a b p
in the night
the unshakable knowledge of dawn
ever&all ways courageous
She is a logophile and her playful attitude towards words can often be seen in her writing through her use of fonts, space, spelling and design.
She considers it a privilege to be read and to be an active contributor to Spillwords.
- Grandad’s Arms - June 19, 2020
- Consumed - April 18, 2019
- Spotlight On Writers – Rochelle Foles - March 2, 2019
