Maleia Mortis is a queer Filipinx-American experimental poet based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Their poems have appeared in Visual Verse: An Anthology of Art and Words, BuliLit Magazine by Sampaguita Press, and Datura Literary Journal.
Readers can find more of their writing on their poetry blog, mxmortis.wordpress.com.
DILIM: We wanted to ask you how you came up with your ideas and also your titles because the two that you submitted are so evocative and mysterious, and make us want to read more.
MM: In how I write, I tend to free write. So I do a lot of that. It helps me unscramble my brain, unscramble my thoughts. From there I tend to use a cut-up technique, so it’s exploratory, Once I’m done freewriting a particular piece, if I’m having a focused theme or subject, I use the cut-up technique that was popularized by Brion Gysin and William S. Burroughs back in the day, they’re from the Beat generation, and it was a way of seeing what new words you reconstruct. So it’s deconstructing and reconstructing my poetry.
I used it for I Dreamt of Gold, and then for Sapin-Sapin, that was written more like it flowed, and then I had to go through some editing. I felt it was more personal because it was also a memory that I had and that I share with my mom during the holidays.
DILIM: Wonderful, so going into some more, we are embarking on new journeys, the theme of this is Galleon Dreaming, but I think that other folks who are reading this are interested in the creative process. The other artists and poets are like a filter. You bring it in so that you can turn it into something that other people read. So how does the poem evolve? Do you do a first draft and then put it aside for a little bit?
MM: Yes, I do a bit of that. Sometimes it’ll come in one go. I’ll be freewriting, I’ll apply the methods that I use and then I’ll draft and then I’ll put it away.
There are other times where I’ll be free writing, I’ll need to get it out during the moment when it feels strong or fresh in my mind, then I’ll step away. It’ll be days, it’ll be composting or fermenting, then it’ll come out as something new. That’s where I’ll start creating the draft outline or the structure, the form of the poem. It feels esoteric essentially, because it’s when I’m digging, or I’m operating through that, I’m sitting, relaxing.
My other creative process is if I need to do a micro meditation, and then focus and relax my brain in the background, I’ll play space ambient music and I’ll just let the words flow. With using the cutup technique, I’m also weaving new words that start popping up, and sentences start to form when I look at the written work. I see what’s coming up and then it flows from there. It’s finding sentences in a chaotic message. It feels like baby giraffe legs trying to form the poem, it can get awkward and fumbly. So, it’s like the teenage phase until I get to where I’m at right now. So not saying that I don’t have those struggles in my writing process.
DILM: Poets have the hardest job because you are sensitive enough to pull things out of the universe and the ambient, but then also create something and not let it take you over. You are sifting and blending in your brain, and then you’re creating out of that, helping distill the chaos of the universe into something more orderly and digestible for someone else.
MM: Exactly.
DILIM: Are there certain ongoing themes that you find yourself continuing to explore in your work?
MM: I think the first earlier theme is grappling with mental health. I really started taking my poetry seriously when I was starting to write more and more during the pandemic, so talking about health, the psyche, grappling with difficult straining relationships–whether it’s family, friends, romance–and then also grappling with identity because there was also that, too.
I would say around 2016 I was having conversations with groups of friends who cared and were interested in their own journeys through the decolonization process. Living as someone who is half Filipino, half white, it doesn’t really get talked about much. It feels more erased or feels minimized, that aspect.
DILIM: I think it’s very important. The role of the artist is to create new landscapes, new worlds. We don’t have to abide by what we’ve been given. We come up with something new, that’s the creation part, and if nobody else is talking about it, that doesn’t mean that it shouldn’t be talked about. Maybe things haven’t caught up yet.
MM: Yeah, exactly.
DILIM: Have there been any moments on this path to publication that have really surprised you or have made you stop and re-evaluate, rethink?
MM: For this first initial one, I was thinking, “Oh my god, did I actually do this?” Every single time we send things out, sending our poetry, sending our babies out there, the rejection is so familiar. It means so much, after I get past that initial reaction, I just become more excited. I’m part of this community of writers and we’re all coming together to create this amazing project!
DILIM: Absolutely, we have so many obstacles, and it often feels we’re just constantly trying. But on the other hand, why should we fit into something that’s not yet ready? Independent projects often push the boundary of what the rest of the world is coming up to. We are reflecting the current mode, we’re in the current moment.
MM: It’s kind of creating your own pathway in a thickly dense forest. We have these established pathways, ones that’ve been used most of the time, but then because we don’t have enough other pathways that touch upon our unique experiences and cultural perspectives, that’s why we’re doing it, forging the path for ourselves.
DILIM: Yes, Ralph Waldo Emerson, ‘Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and make a trail.’
Tell us more about your next idea or what you’re working on next.
MM: The next idea I’ve been working on is figuring out whether I want to do a chapbook or go with other micro-publishers. I’m currently fleshing out different types of themes, and have a few political poems that I’ve been meaning to release for awhile now. It’s still in its birthing or incubation phase.
DILIM: Like kombucha.
MM: Oh, yes.
DILIM: Thank you for your contributions and thank you for taking the time to speak with us.