BCC Shines A Light on: Alex Carrigan
Name of the piece published by BCC:
Kornbread Dreams of Brighter Days to Come
When/where was it originally published:
diphthong lit 2022
What is the background of the piece? What led you to write it? What’s your process?
I’ve been writing a lot of cento poetry over the last year. Back in March, I published my first chapbook, May All Our Pain Be Champagne: A Collection of Real Housewives Twitter Poetry where I made poems found on the Twitter accounts of 16 current/former members of the Real Housewives TV franchise.
I wanted to try the same process again, but this time used RuPaul’s Drag Race contestants, as there are probably over 200 across the international franchise and they are more active on social media. The process involves pouring over months’ worth of tweets on their official pages, mining quotes into a doc, and then seeing what verses I could come up with. This would involve finding repeated phrases, turning long tweets into stanzas, and more.
I do this for the sheer fact that it’s fun. It’s a challenging process that can take hours to write a single one-page poem, but it’s a way to turn what could be seen as artless content and recontextualize it into a new format. And of course, every person I make a poem out of provides a unique, interesting voice, so to turn them into poets in the process is quite astounding to see realized.
With this piece in particular, Kornbread “The Snack” Jeté was a newer figure in the community, having been a contestant on the recent 14 th season of the show, but in just a few months had produced some hilarious tweets and documented her life in ways that were silly and touching. She could tweet stuff like “It’s dick:35 pm” and talk about how she had to go vegan for six months due to losing a bet, but she could also talk about her transitioning and how her life has changed since appearing on a national platform. She provided a hilarious mix of humor and heart that made for a great poem.
How did you feel when it was first published and how have your thoughts or feelings on the piece changed from then to now?
I was disappointed when dipthong lit collapsed due to some behind-the-scenes drama, but getting the chance for “Kornbread Dreams of Brighter Days to Come” to find a new home and a new audience really pleases me. Part of its resurrection coincided with my renewed work on my collection of Drag Race Twitter poems, which I’ve been looking to expand into a full length collection since it’s proving too long for many chapbook calls. At the time of this writing, I have just under 40 poems written and I have several more planned, so I hope to start querying the manuscript in early 2023.
When I see “Kornbread” featured in Bulb Culture Collective, I see the poem experience new joy and life. The site is all about the joy of having work saved and rediscovered. There’s a thrill each time a piece is published, and if my poem with lines like “I’m so down to shake a titty” can be a part of that, it makes me thrilled that my publication with the site can be attached to someone who radiates joy.
Also, getting the piece published on Bulb Culture Collective meant that Kornbread herself found and read the poem, and that if anything makes it worth it.
Is there a specific message you'd like readers to take away from reading this piece?
Kornbread is living her best life doing her art and existing as her true self, and the poem shows that unbridled honesty and peace that she has found in her world. I feel like getting to create poems like that has been affirming for me. I just entered my 30s and feel like for the first time in my life I’m truly living a balanced life where I can make a livable wage and have plenty of time to work on my art. If Kornbread can do drag for a living and a guy like me can make silly poetry that makes people laugh, then why can’t the reader also find their own way to be artistic and spread joy.
Where can readers find more of your work? (Website/social media, etc)
You can find me on Twitter @carriganak to find out more about my publications and any writing I’m doing. You can also check out my author website carriganak.wordpress.com to see an archive of my work.
If you would like to support my work, you can find May All Our Pain Be Champagne: A Collection of Real Housewives Twitter Poetry on Amazon. It’s a perfect gift for any Bravo lovers in your life, and it can be enjoyed even if you don’t watch any Real Housewives show and just want to see some satirical poetry. Thank you in advance!
