We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Todd Cirillo. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Todd below.
Todd, appreciate you 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.
The learning came from two places; the living and the listening. When I was 15, inspiration felt like getting turned on for the first time in adolescence. A strange and wonderous feeling from nowhere which eventually had to be taught and told what to do and why, for the satisfaction of all involved. I had these wild and unbridled thoughts and images that I put onto paper and felt some kinda way about but they were not really cohesive or coherent, they were pure emotion. I lucked into teachers, professors and older writer friends who mercifully took time to teach me about revision, accepting feedback and craft. Impressing upon me a philosophy to create the simplest, most easily accessible and understandable lines. They taught me the most essential skills in writing are; economy of language and to write with clarity so the reader (audience) can understand and experience. I want the reader to feel and share in the words/stories I write, providing a scenario or moment we can all share together. That “hey, that happened to me” moment. I have been fortunate to have books published that I am proud of. My most recent book, Disposable Darlings, was released in March 2024 by Roadside Press. The inspirations, the pen to paper, the publishing and performing are a craft. My style of that craft always involves writing around others; a bar, a restaurant, a park, anywhere I can observe, look and listen. I never write in isolation.
I learned that poets/writers putting out work that appeared only for other poets/writers were not for me. Writing to sound pretty rather than just be pretty. Same with performing, I watched others get on stage with an attitude that felt elitist with a “let me explain this to you.” This immediately turned me off to what I felt was possible with poetry and writing. The thing I would have done differently would have been to learn the promotional side of things much earlier and better. After all, I would like my work to be read!
Todd, 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?
I am a poet, writer, publisher and pirate in New Orleans, Louisiana. I explained the writing part in the previous question. I became a publisher and editor with two other writers and created Six Ft. Swells Press in 2007. This was a means to shine a light upon those writers we felt deserved recognition for writing in a straightforward, economy of language, After-Hours type of way. Give us the good stuff, the secret stuff, the side-glance sensual stuff, the moments you will remember forever and those stop you in your tracks lines. I enjoy collaborating with other writers that I admire.
I am also a performance poet and producer of events. I believe it is my job to entertain the crowd. Give them poems that they can easily relate to and give them a show that they remember. At its dirty core, it is, have a good time. I desperately want the audience to have fun. In my performances, I want them to feel they are not at a poetry show, but an exhibition of their own heart’s desires, loves and losses. I believe the writer owes it to the audience to be one with them, never above them or disconnected from them. Don’t make it hard for people to enjoy poetry. I call it poet’s killing poetry. Every performance to me is the most important one I’ve ever done. I have to give it all. I have also hosted various poetry series and produced Unleashing Bukowski: New Orleans reclaims the Laureate of American Lowlife which was a festival here in New Orleans that celebrated the famous Loujon Press which published his first two books, providing him with national recognition. In addition to an annual event called Poets With Drinks that makes me smile.
Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?
My goal, put simply is, if the poet has to explain their poem to an audience, then the poet has failed. I believe in economy of language and simplicity of subject. Allow the reader to sit on the barstool next to you rather than exiled on the other side of the velvet rope. It seems that too many poems are written for other poets or MFA programs to finger snap at readings. The challenge is to bring in others; the bartenders, the truckers, people who go bowling and the soccer moms and dads. My biggest joy is a non-poetry person to tell me, they understood and related to my poems. To me, that is true connections through the arts. That is not to say that writing doesn’t require discipline and understanding of the craft, it does and is. Writing can be taken seriously; writers are a bit more difficult when taken too seriously. There is no difference between the writer’s sacrifice and the audience’s understanding. This is what we owe them.
For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?
The two most rewarding aspects of being a creative is connection with others, connection with moments; shiny and sad, love and lonely. Though, to be honest, it also means I feel those moments immensely. I don’t like to be lonely. Second is the actual creation of a line, poem or story, I still marvel at where it all comes from. Once I did a reading at a bar here in New Orleans, the bartender was very old, been slinging drinks for years, endured this poetry series for years at that point. I had a new book out at the time, Burning the Evidence. I read my poems and when I went to the bar after, the bartender said “I’ve listened to this shit for 6 years and yours is the only poetry that I actually listened to, love it..” That is the most rewarding to me. I gave him a book of course. Ultimately, it is about having fun. Fun for the poet and the audience. We all deserve a good time.
Contact Info:
- Website: toddcirillo.com
- Instagram: @suckersparadise
- Facebook: facebook.com/toddcirillo.com
- Youtube: todd cirillo
Image Credits
Carrie DeMay