I honestly cannot believe that we just finished our second month of interviews for the Poets of the Week Series. Please feel free to read the previous articles from the last two months here.

This week, I had the privilege of interviewing two phenomenal poets: Caseyrénee Lopez, Editor-in-Chief and Founder of Crab Fat Magazine, and Mckendy Fils-Aimé, Slam Free or Die's co-organizer and co-host! These two poets answered questions on their passions, their flaws, and what poetry means to them.

Q: What is your defining characteristic?

Caseyrénee Lopez: That’s an incredibly broad question, but I suppose, from both a personal and professional standpoint, I try to be fearless and go after the things that I want in life. I write my fears so they don’t manifest in harmful ways, and I’m always open to new experiences. I hear from my friends and loved ones that I can come off as really aggressive, and that it can be intimidating, but honestly, I’m just busy doing me, and giving no f*cks about how I’m received. This isn’t to say that I’m rude, careless, or oblivious, it’s just that I spent many years trying to heal/help other people and ended up putting my own aspirations and life on the backburner—and it was because I was scared to let people down, or let people go, and I ended up plunging myself into a deep depression and before long, I didn’t know who I was anymore—this was all only 3 years ago! It took a lot of courage and commitment to cut ties with the toxic people in my life, folks that I’d known and loved for 5, 10, 20 years, and set myself on a trajectory that I wanted for myself. In the 3 years since I decided to improve my life and commit to a career path in writing, I’ve given up drugs, alcohol, and smoking, deciding instead to focus all my attention on improving myself, personally, professionally, and emotionally.

Mckendy Fils-Aimé: I’d like to think that I have a high level of perseverance. I try to see everything through even if it becomes detrimental for me to do so. I don’t like breaking promises so I always aim to finish what I start.

Q: What was your favorite subject in school?

Caseyrénee Lopez: I really loved History class in high school. I read a lot and love to research earlier time periods, so I was always the go to person in the class that had the answers. It came easy for me, and the interest in certain time periods, and how literature is a reflection of history sort of led me to focusing on English in college.

Mckendy Fils-Aimé: Before I ever set foot in a creative writing class, I really loved history. I was always eager to learn about the past. The world is a complicated and strange place and I like learning about where it's been.

Q: What is the first thing that people notice about you?

Caseyrénee Lopez: I can be very intense, like in a general attitude/aura way, if that makes sense? I don’t try to be, it just happens—and my social awkwardness doesn’t help!

Mckendy Fils-Aimé: I’m a black man and the world likes to remind me of that in subtle, blatant, rude, and violent ways. Its exhausting and sometimes dangerous to have a truth like that factor into every interaction you have. For the folks who I meet that aren’t fixated on my blackness, I can seem pretty reserved. I think I’m student of the quote “Do not speak unless you can improve upon silence.” But I don’t ever think of silence as just quietude. Sometimes silence can be loud, disruptive, and ignorant. Sometimes to speak upon silence means to call something out.

Q: What are you most passionate about?

Caseyrénee Lopez: I have my toes in a lot of things, so it’s really hard to talk about only a few passions. I run a small press specifically for queer and trans writers because I’m devoted to platforming underrepresented folks in the queer community, and I also helm two literary journals, Crab Fat Magazineand TQ Review, to engage with amazing, contemporary writing. I’m also passionate about learning and educating, both myself and other people. Like I mentioned before, I love research, and that extends to so many different areas; I look up random facts and engage with in-depth research of certain topics of interest almost on a daily basis. I think I’m a very diversified person, definitely not a 'one track mind.’

Mckendy Fils-Aimé: I’m really passionate about the arts and maintaining spaces that allow people to use creative writing as a means of self-expression. I also really love sneakers, music blogs, and the Pokémon video games.

Q: Where do you see yourself and your writing in 3 years?

Caseyrénee Lopez: I honestly don’t know! In the last 3 years alone I’ve changed dramatically, like night and day difference—I can’t imagine where another 3 years will take me. I’ve recently completed my first full-length poetry collection, and I’m shopping it around for publication. I want to continue my formal education by getting into a Ph.D. program, but there are also a lot of uncertainties for me right now because I want to uproot my life out of the Southeast, and land either in New England or the Pacific Northwest. I only see positive changes coming my way in the new few years!

Mckendy Fils-Aimé: Great question! There’s so much in the cards right now. In the next few years, I’d like to enroll into an MFA program for creative writing. I’d also like to attend more writing retreats, residencies, and conferences. Really, I’m looking to inhabit any space that’ll help me grow as an artist. I’m currently working on my first collection of poems, which is scheduled to be released next year. I’d like to be well into writing my second book by the time the first one drops. I’m currently co-editor for a new literary journal called Beech Street Review. Literary magazines come and go. I’d like Beech Street to be one of the exceptions.

Q: What does poetry mean to you?

Caseyrénee Lopez: Everything: social reflection, change, empowerment, community, unapologetic authenticity.

Mckendy Fils-Aimé: Like a lot of folks, for me poetry started out as a means of catharsis. There were issues in my life that I hadn’t found a way to work through yet. Poetry became the means to confront those experiences and grow from them. While poetry remains an avenue for tackling difficult issues, these days I’m giving it more space to be my art and to be fun. When you start writing poetry as a means of healing, it's easy to not consider craft. And when all you do is create emotionally cathartic work, it’s easy to think of writing poetry as something that’s emotionally taxing.

Over the past few years, I’ve really tried to become a student of the page. I want to write poems that show an understanding of craft. I also want to explore different parts of my life. At this point, to continue to enjoy writing, I need to write just as many pastorals as poems about trauma.

Q: What do you feel is your biggest weakness or flaw? Why?

Caseyrénee Lopez: I can be really critical of people and it’s not something I’m proud of—I try really hard to soften myself and not exploit flaws in other people. I think it’s because I can often be hypercritical of myself, as a writer, spouse, student, teacher, and person in general. I’ve gotten better over the years as I’ve matured, but I still find myself sometimes being a judgy asshole over petty sh*t—but as I’ve become more comfortable with myself and engaged with the writing community, it’s helped me become much more receptive to other peoples’ experience—I’m not living in a vacuum and am finally realizing, more and more every day, that I can offer so much more to the world than pettiness.

Mckendy Fils-Aimé: I’m a bit of a workaholic. I work a full time job that’s not related to the arts, co-organize a poetry reading, attend other readings, run regular writing workshops, co-edit a literary journal, and I’m currently working on two books. When I’m not doing any of those things, I’m trying to maintain my personal relationships. It’s difficult, but a labor of love. This year I’ve learned that when you become involved in so many different projects, you have to really consider which new ones you can invest in. As a result I’ve become more selective about which projects I give my energy to.

Q: What are your plans for the rest of the year?

Caseyrénee Lopez: I’m traveling: beach vacation in September, Sex Down South Conference in October, and featuring at a reading series in Kentucky in December! In between my traveling I’ll be teaching, writing, reading, and publishing books for Damaged Goods Press and issues for Crab Fat Magazine. I’m really looking forward to the rest of the year!

Mckendy Fils-Aimé: There’s not too much in the works outside of the usual. I have a book that’s supposed to come out next fall and I want to make that my primary focus. I’d also like to enter more spaces that will allow me develop as an educator. And if I have time, I’d like to do some more traveling. I haven’t been outside the country in a decade and it’d be nice if that changed. I’m also working on a website or at the very least a very pretty Tumblr page.

Q: Anything else you’d like to add? (Comments, poems, links, etc)

Caseyrénee Lopez: My first chapbook of poems, QueerSexWords, is out—you can buy a copy directly from me or check out Yellow Chair Press for info. I also have some new poems in Seafoam Magazine and Thank You for Swallowing, with work forthcoming in Walking is Still Honest Press, Yes, Poetry, Glass: A Journal of Poetry, and Tiny Poetry.

Mckendy Fils-Aimé: If you google my name you’ll find different poems and performances. You can reach me by email or Facebook or Twitter.

NEXT WEEK: Matthew Guerruckey and RJ Walker