We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Soul Stuf a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Soul thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?
Poetry was never something I thought I’d want to pursue professionally, but had always been in the background of what I do. Growing up, I had an instantaneous love of the stage and performing arts (a place I felt most understood), so I gravitated towards the platforms front and center for me: music, dance, acting, etc. I also really enjoyed listening to rap and hip-hop, so I learned some of the basic mechanics of verse and flow, though I never felt confident enough to really write anything. I did, however, become pretty fluent in freestyle after years and years and practice.
Fast forward to my undergrad and the hip-hop organization I helped form started collaborating alongside the spoken word poetry group on campus. We had an innate kinship (and similar clientele), though again: I felt like the craft of rap was more a cousin than a direct relative of poetry. Stylistically, they felt worlds apart. However, from this formative period (and being exposed to some really inspirational poetry online), I slowly started trying my hand at writing poetry, especially after I graduated and moved to Los Angeles. A lot of the mechanics translated smoothly: rhythm, meter, creative vision. However, within the realm of poetry, I wasn’t constrained to any particular beat or melody. I had complete control over the tempo of the piece.
My skillset in poetry is derived largely from my background in performing arts, clear creative writing skills I picked up in school (pursuing a degree in media and journalism), and patient practice in the craft itself over the course of about eight years. I sometimes think that studying poetics in an academic setting might’ve proved useful, but by that same metric, it very well could’ve turned me off to it, too. I find some traditional poets and forms to be a bit difficult to parse through / connect, so I think my avenue to poetry was exactly what it should’ve been and at the pace that was right to me.
Skill-wise, I think having a handle on good grammatical structure (or at least consistency) helps for exploring the work on the page. As a performer, understanding the beats of your piece and the inherent build or arc of “where you’re going” is important to keep in mind. And for both, I think strong, distinctive vocabulary is a great asset.
Soul, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
Soul Stuf is a true connoisseur of poetics. Originally christened “Christian” at birth, Soul spent his formative years slowly building his skillset in the performing arts, in true Filipino fashion- school plays, improv shows, vocal jazz, av club, you name it: he tried it. He proudly participated in over thirty extracurricular groups on campus in his short four year tenure at his undergrad in Upstate New York.
Soul Stuf eventually found his craft (and his name) when he moved out to the west coast, discovered the open mic scene, and started more formal training with marquee institutions such as The Spoken Literature Art Movement with Matthew Cuban and Alyesha Wise, Our Mic led by Arianna Basco and Beau Sia, and The Community Literature Initiative with Tommy Domino and Ravina Wadhwani.
With eight abundant years under his belt, Soul Stuf has now become an institution himself:
-teaching creative writing and storytelling via Creative Acts, The Story Pirates, Get Lit- Words Ignite, The Poetry Lab, and as an independent entity.
-facilitating typewriter generation with The Los Angeles Poet Society and Typewriters Anonymous.
-offering poetic services with the Los Angeles chapter of the Poetry Brothel.
-hosting and performing on the current roster of The Creative Love Network.
Soul loves working with any and everyone, as long as their values and principles align. He sets a high standard for production and execution and always aims to represent poetry the best he can. He’s been extremely blessed to have been able to share his craft in some remarkable places: Comic-Con International, LA Times Festival of Books, The New York Poetry Festival, The Utah Arts Festival, The Electric Forest Festival, The House of Blues Anaheim, and The Comedy Store, to name a few.
But anything regarding poetry, Soul Stuf is confident he can do.
Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?
Here’s a shortlist of resources that have become a cornerstone of my mindset and philosophy regarding poetry:
video:
“An Invocation For Beginnings” by ZeFrank (YouTube)
“Music as a language” by Victor Wooten / TED-Ed (Youtube)
“Everything Is A Remix Part 2” by Kirby Ferguson (Youtube)
“Tips on Stage Performance from Spoken-Word Poet Sarah Kay” by BigThink (Youtube)
books:
“big magic” by Elizabeth Gilbert
“steal like an artist” by Austin Kleon
“the subtle art of not giving a f*ck” by Mark Manson
music:
“That Power” by Childish Gambino
“Can’t Handle This” by Bo Burnham
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
The most rewarding aspect of my lifestyle comes most clearly and consistently from the agency I have over my life. I don’t think I could mentally sustain a desk job or 9-5 life structure because of how accustomed I’ve become to the “chaos” of my whirlwind lifestyle. Granted, financial stability is still a pretty big growth edge for me, but I love being able to travel / take odd jobs / or disappear when I need to.
On a slightly smaller scale, I think the smaller victories come from executing events well and changing people’s lives with the poems I write or perform. Someone told me recently, “your poetry is needed most where you least expect it” and that really resonated with me. And I think that’s part of the beauty of participating in a craft that can be experienced asynchronously.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.christianperfas.com
- Instagram: @soulstuf
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/christianperfasAPS
