Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Malt Schlitzmann. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Malt, thanks for joining us today. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

Theory will give you the confidence to try, but resilience is what transforms an amateur into a professional. You can train all you want, but you will never know how your work compares until you step into the arena. And when that happens, you’re going to get hit.

For writing, which can often be the only time a person is honest with themselves, rejection is brutal. Even in writers who aren’t rejection-sensitive, to have the focused product of your best effort cast aside sucks! You sat down and distilled the essence of how you process the world, and an editor at a magazine said “no thanks, not good enough.”

My work exploded the minute I realized it’s never going to be good enough, and “good” is not something I can develop through effort. I can only be HONEST. I can only produce work that reflects how the world feels, and people who have had that feeling but didn’t have the language to express it, suddenly have that language. They know they are not alone in the world, that we are a collective organism having a collective experience.

Obviously, writing is improved by re-writing. But good is subjective, and if you try and aim for it you will find yourself chasing a moving target with every different audience. Be honest, and draw others to your honesty by reflecting a part of the world no one else is shining light on. That’s all you need to do. That’s all you can do.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

The Dirty Gerund Poetry Show is proof that the best art happens outside the institution. We are poets forged by struggle, lyrical in a language the ivory tower does not speak. Every week for fourteen years we have gathered in the dive-est of dive bars to speak our truths to a world who wants only our labor. We aren’t just an open mic, we are a multi-format open mic with live band accompaniment. Spoken word, comedy, monologue, all of it is elevated by the improvisational flow of a master ensemble. This is the rare event that warrants the term “cultural institution.”
We make hard art. We aren’t edgy, we’re marginalized. We stand outside the zeitgeist and are thus able to truly perceive it. No currency on earth can buy a style like ours. No one shows up this hard unless their life is on the line, and it is. Every week, for fourteen years.

Any resources you can share with us that might be helpful to other creatives?

If I was aware of fiscal sponsorship, I would have organized under a nonprofit much, much earlier.

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

Universal basic income. Not just for artists, but for their audience too. Rent’s too damn high, groceries are out of control, no one has the time, energy, or resources to engage with artists and artisans in their community.

Contact Info:

• Website: dgpoetry.com
• Instagram: @dirtygerund

Image Credits
Corey Lehman