We were lucky to catch up with David Fitzpatrick recently and have shared our conversation below.

David, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?

I had a tyrannical third-grade teacher who loathed me in Delaware at Most Blessed Sacrament Elementary and I got these phantom and nasty headaches, so I found myself in the deep end of a pool in Orlando, doing laps with Gup, my undercover IRS Gramps with a fragile ticker, so we devoured massive oj glasses WITH PULP with French Toast. A jazz appreciation student volunteered to ride on Space Mountain for Gup’s ticker was shitty. Rhonda, the jazz student told me too much much about John Coltrane and Miles Davis as we both flew up, down, and through the manic dizziness I discovered on the ride and that day me and Rhonda rode and screamed into the wild and raw and aching pitch, nothing but young kids having a blast, but the whole day sped past, and I forgot what I was going to confess to the malodorous priest and his heinous secrets and mortal sins that never seemed to recede. Gup and I rented a Ford to follow the Yankees at baseball’s spring training. So I picked up a crayon or number 2 pencil or Sharpie during the nights and wrote like a possessed spirit on those same goddamned legal pads they sell at Staples in Middletown today, and so I truly haven’t stopped my frantic and heinous tales of wonder and whoah! So now Gup vanished and I’m fifty-nine with a titanium stent in my own heart, and almost four books to my name. Then it’s growing late and I’m sleepy and fading faster than ever and soon I will dream of blue velvet and huge lobster claws getting into my face.

David, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I went batshit in my young life but was rescued by an old buddy or pal or maestro who helped channel and steered my wildness into a collection of bloody tales and people added their five cents and a novel here and another one over there, and we throw in some sexual magic or abject confusion before an Amtrak flying past down the hill carved my black poodle into three profound pieces of flesh! So, blood entered my subconscious, and some came running fast and rescued me, or wait a second? Did they ruin me? You have to skip three grades to catch up to properly slow down, understand? And so we take baths in a claw-footed tub in Dublin, and clean up so everything is shiny and tout suite, and then everyone is wearing tuxedos and prom skirts, and by then confusion has a whole room to herself, or one from the kid who freaked everyone else the hell out, I mean, what happened to swimming freestyle with Gup, before most of us flew home to conserve our energy, know what I mean, my dear boy? Now we are lost but it’s okay, because in the end it’s only a freaking book, and that can be shortened or twisted with a leather cover for everyone to enjoy or loathe and soon those headaches are back with a vengeance, so expand and share about our next move, got me? Keep the faith someone whispers and takes a drink of milk. All is not lost.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

Mental Health Molasses is an essay I wrote once upon a time in a church I was married in.. Early on, you just don’t know if you’ll survive that trip.. So, the resilience enters the discussion and equation, but then it’s half a century later, and your crow’s feet reassures me.. What I mean is we are standing alone reaching out to both friend and foe, and nothing is a big deal in the same way. So you or another elder shouts, “It’s really going to be okay.”

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

I guess I’d recommend it making it easier with younger people trying to follow in our footsteps, Help the kids, don’t scare them all away with big words and scary music and Anthony Hopkins glaring your way. Welcome them into greener pastures before kids start giving up and throwing in their towels.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.david-fitzpatrick.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/author_davidfitzpatrick/#
• Soundcloud: I love that James Taylor and Reynolds Price tune called “New Hymn.”
• Other: Or “That Lonesome Road.” Hard not to feel you’re expanding into the world listening to that number, right?

Image Credits

Professional headshot by LJR Images, Cindy Ringer