Interview with a Pirate - Philip Thrift Chats to Grace O'Malley

I see your blog contains both poems and short fictions. How would you characterize the difference you experience between writing these two forms?

I feel I haven't really done much to switch between the two formats--I do try to bring the same kind of imagery and hallucinatory quality to both. The main difference for me is that I have a much easier time with poems. They are my downtime. Fiction requires a deep commitment to a continuing narrative that I, as a relatively new writer, sometimes have trouble extending. I've been writing poetry for almost a decade more than I've been writing fiction, and I think that's definitely reflected in my work. I use my blog as a place to post unpolished drafts and writing exercises like strict poetic formats, and I've been lucky enough to gain some street cred with my online writing community...but I am still new at writing for anyone other than myself! So you, as a reader, may be better placed to answer this question.

What are the particular subjects that you feel drawn to in your writing?

Some of my favorite subjects have to do with the sea, nature, volatile emotions (like rage or love), ghost stories, and religious iconography. Most of the world's religions are related in deep and fundamental ways, and I like to tease out those connected threads and show them off. I also collect a style of folk song known as the "murder ballad". I have a rather morbid bent, I'm told, so cautionary tales and generic havoc also weave themselves into my work.

Was there anything in particular that led you to creating your blog words like foam on the waves? And how did the name come about?

Well, for many years now I've been polishing my poetry on an anonymous blog site, occasionally submitting short pieces for publication and the like, even self-publishing an original chapbook. This year, it finally dawned on me--if I wanted more notice, I should begin building my online presence a bit more! So I moved over to Blogger and began "putting myself out there".

The title "words like foam on the waves" is a little play on Andersen's "Little Mermaid", a story with which I've deeply (and often uncomfortably) identified, ever since I was very young. My favorite version is the one which ends with her sisters bringing her a knife they've bought from the sea-witch with their hair, telling her to murder the prince and his new wife in their nuptial bed. They promise that if she does so, her tail will be restored and she can return to the sea. Yet the little mermaid refuses, throws herself off a cliff, and is changed to sea-foam floating on the waves.

That image, the last evidence of true love, left to dissipate, has always been a supremely evocative one for me, and a subject I find myself returning to often.

Your goodreads page indicates you are quite an avid reader. Do you have a favorite genre, and does that influence the poetry and stories you write?

I like to call myself a "librivore". I am a pretty intensely shy person, and I've historically been happiest while reading. So I spend as much time reading as possible--I consider it more medication than escapism.

I am, first and foremost, a folklore nerd. I tend to write versions of myth, fairytale, and folklore wrapped up with all the history and deep feeling possible. Yet I read nearly everything. I often see the evidence of folklore camouflaged within "ordinary" fiction or even genre fiction like sci-fi and horror. Even romance has branched out, lately, with books like Twilight and shows like True Blood bringing "supernatural romance" into the mainstream. I love historical fiction as well. Basically, the only things I avoid are mathematical textbooks.

I am also a ridiculously huge Stephen King nerd.

How would you describe the purpose of your writing?

I have all these stories in me, clamoring to get out, and if I don't put them down on paper, they will drive me absolutely mad.

Do you have a favorite poet that you feel influences you most?

I often joke that I am the depraved love-child of J. Alfred Prufrock (the eponymous subject of a T.S. Eliot poem I particularly love) and Edna St. Vincent Millay. A contemporary poet & novelist who does the same sort of thing I do, only billions of light-years better, would be the amazing Catherynne M. Valente. Of course, I have a wonderful online community who influence me every day, not only by reading, but making me feel as if I have an obligation to produce more (and better) work for them to read. One of my staunchest supporters is the lovely Marian, of  runaway sentence, who, upon reading one of my pieces, basically insisted that I begin showing my work around, at least on the internet. I believe I owe a lot of the attention I've been getting lately to her.

If you had to choose one word to describe your persona, what would it be?

This is a great question! I aim at all times for "Pre-Raphaelite".

                                                                                                                       Miranda ~ Waterhouse

Would you be so kind as to share with us your favorite memory to date?

I used to live directly across the street from a small Buddhist temple in Japan, facing their cemetery. In the evening, their wood and paper windows would be lit from within with an eerily perfect golden light, illuminating the stelae, square pillars that marked each grave with the occupants' family name, and sotoba, individual wooden markers. The scent of their incense and the rich tone of the bell at the entrance to the temple complex never failed to inspire something in me.

I'd like to thank you for your thoughtful questions, as well as inviting me to be interviewed. It's not often I try to gather these thoughts and set them out. Regards, Grace


You can read Grace's poetry and prose HERE