BCC Shines A Light On: Koss
BCC Shines a Light On:
[Koss]
Name of the piece published by BCC:
When/where was it originally published:
Entropy in 2019
Tell us more about your piece! What is the background of the piece? What led you to write it? What’s your process?
I was writing about a then-recent loss and all the other losses started to surface as they tend to. I don’t remember if I thought I was writing zuihitsu at the time (I have often done this kind of stream-of-consciousness writing), but this form leant itself to the unravelling of these ideas and memories. There’s a sort of respect for the unfolding during this kind of writing, and it is very much like the path a brush takes. You have to allow yourself to be the brush and trust where it’s meandering.
How did you feel when it was first published and how have your thoughts or feelings on the piece changed from then to now?
At the time, I was deep in grief and every publication felt really emotional. I still can’t articulate what publishing was doing for me, but it probably had to do with some kind of validation that I wasn’t getting in my real life. And I have to say this, I don’t think seeking validation is a good or realistic expectation from publishing—but it IS one of the things that makes me write. At the time, writing was survival.
Also, when I look back at this piece, it strikes me that even in the state I was in, I was still able to drum up some humor in the writing which is always cathartic. It is good when you can come back later as a beholder with more emotional distance.
Is there a specific message you would like readers to take away from reading this piece?
No, I’m all for letting people have their own experience with my work. But as a writer who is prone to experimentation, I hope it might spark a question in the mind of the reader about what writing might be, as opposed to what it should be.
What else would you like to tell readers about your writing? (Doesn’t have to refer only to your BCC piece)
I have been criticized for being discursive and stylistically inconsistent in both my writing and art, but it’s partly my Aquarian nature. I have several modes of working that I return to—have always been like this. In writing, I think each poem has its own internal rhythm and structure—just as humans do, and it’s important to listen to what the poem wants each time. It’s easy to reduce your own work to mannerisms if you get too comfortable. For me, every piece is a unique journey—sometimes a familiar one, but often to some place entirely new. I need to be just a bit uncomfortable...
Where can readers find more of your work? (Website/social media, etc)
There are links to my work at https://koss-works.com and I have an “unlinktree page” with recent links to work at: https://koss-works.com/unlinktree/
