BCC Shines A Light on: Sam Moe

BCC Shines a Light On:

Sam Moe

Name of the piece published by BCC:

What if we were just two horses in a river

When/where was it originally published:

Diphthong Mag, 2022

What is the background of the piece? What led you to write it? What’s your process?

I wrote this piece during a period where I was uncertain how I felt about surrealism in my work. When I write, I’m usually scrolling through Twitter and Tumblr for inspiration from other writers and artists. I wrote this piece by hand, in one of my journals, and let it become a stream-of-consciousness prose poem before revising the language so there was a coherent narrative. I also try to draw up memories when I write, so there are a lot of memories from different points in my life that are stitched together to create this piece.

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 excited that the piece found a home since I tend to get into multiple rounds of revision that usually don’t stop until a piece is accepted. I’m still writing surreal prose poems, but I’ve started experimenting with free-verse and trying to carve away some of the metaphor to figure out what I’m really trying to say. I think I wrote this piece during a time when I wanted to prove that surrealism was valuable (to me) and important, and I could use it to give language to memories I found too painful to write about without distractions (or distracting images like angels and halos and disco balls).

Is there a specific message you'd like readers to take away from reading this piece?

I think I want readers to take away that they should/can be reckless with their metaphor, and honest about the ways they see/move through the world (and sometimes I move through the world in a surreal way, so in some ways this piece is very honest and it’s important to me to acknowledge that).

Where can readers find more of your work? (Website/social media, etc)

I’m still in the process of making a website, so for now twitter and Instagram are good ways to find more of my work! Both handles are @SamAnneMoe