Perfect Wasteland
We travelled like we were more than just passengers.
We travelled like we could see the sun and stars.
We travelled like we were wind between the enormousness of the skies and the Utopias of the background air.
I declared myself a bee in my need for the frowning sun with two pairs of wings
and a welcoming tree to call my local nightshade,
in the reliability of greenness rung with empty flags, like the way the moon is the earths shadow.
Skipping past the junkyard,
we barely blink the bric-a-brac’s full elegance-
because we put it there like it had a purpose and a punch line,
cutting the soil like unique distant noor in dazzling motifs making generations and generations.
We travelled like the afterlife was a mosque crossword
in someone else’s version of a rose-bud.
And in the heap we asked, is this just rubbish in air
or just another perfect wasteland.
(Ph: Mara Palena)
Last time I was in London, I read a couple poems at some hole-in-the-wall reading in the heart of the city. It was there that I crossed paths with multi-talented, poet extraordinaire: Greta Bellamacina. Not only has Greta published words in Vogue, NYLON, Tatler, and Harper's Bazaar, but she has also modeled for Burberry, Tom Ford, and Dolce&Gabbana under VIVA Model Management/was short-listed as the Young Poet Laureate of London in 2013/collaborated in fashion campaigns for All-Saints & Vivienne Westwood/is the current poetry&prose editor for Champ Magazine.
(Are you questioning what you've been doing with your life yet? I kid, I kid. Kindasortamaybe.)
As a young twenty-something, Miss Bellamacina has certainly racked up a hearty list of accomplishments and the Renaissance woman shows zero signs of stopping.
What is most impressive about Greta, however, is her ability to pull a genre of writing that is often labeled as "unmarketable" out of its niche and successfully intertwine it with more popular forms of art: fashion, film, photography. Such a feat in this day and age (I mean, do kids even read poems anymore? I feel like they're all on Instagram...) is truly a notable one and it's because of this (in addition to Greta's slew of achievements and her hauntingly beautiful, moon-dipped poetry) that I couldn't resist hitting up the lyrical and poignantly philosophical poet for a Q&A part deux. Scroll down to read this lovely genius's thoughts on poetry, fashion, and music.
Last time we
talked you just created a fashion- poetry film for Harper's Bazaar, what have
you been up to since then?
Where to
begin, hmm. One project I made over the summer, which got short-listed at various fashion film festivals, is a Surrealist film I made for CRFashion Book
with Natas Pictures.
Here is the
teaser version below:
I have been
working on my own collection a ‘Devotion To She’ as well as my debut novel.
I also
finished editing a collection of poetry entitles ‘Nature’s Jewel’s’ with MACK
publishers that launched this year. And in the heart of working on numerous film/documentary
projects.
But mainly
surviving with my experiments and dreams.
I am very
interested in how you've been able to fuse fashion with poetry since they are
two of my favorite art forms. Whilst the fashion world has been welcoming
creative writing (Vivienne Westwood with poetry and Prada with prose) it seems
that poetry still isn't used ubiquitously in fashion or is still featured
separately from fashion in magazines/blogs/etc. Do you have any ideas on how to
make poetry more relevant to fashion?
I think art
creates culture whether it is poetry, fashion, or music. It can educate and influence
people from all arrays of life and that is invaluable regardless. Vivienne Westwood often refers
to Matthew Arnold’s view on culture and art: creating one's ‘best self'. So with
this in mind- I think there are endless possibilities.
Do you think
there is any way to fuse poetry with journalistic forms of writing?
Interesting, I
was talking about this the other day. I think if you can write something
topical, which responds to the time, then indeed I think it can offer a
journalistic narrative and be quite informative.
You wear many
hats: writer, poet, model, to name a few. Do you identify with each label
separately or do you wear all the hats at once? If so, how do you manage to
model and write? Do they feed off each other?
I think the
misconception of generations is to label people with labels. I think we are all
complex strangers who are always adapting. So in answer to the question I think
all roles seem to be interplaying at once and indeed feed off each other
regardless of names.
Since you
started off as a model, was it hard to get people to see you as also a
poet?
I don’t
really know- I just try and focus on what I am creating at that moment. I think
if you have conviction in what you are trying to create regardless of the role,
people will join in and become a part of it.
I think also
because the nature of
fashion is married to some kind of statement- it seems almost normal to be an
author within it.
Favorite
person you've worked with recently?
I very much
enjoyed an impromptu poetry reading at a bus stop in Hackney with artist and
poet Zimon Drake and friend James D Kelly a few weeks ago.
Also I made a
poetry film vignette with director Paul Franco in Paris last month- most of it
was shot in the suburbs or Paris with a horse to represent the surrealism of
place.
http://www.wonderlandmagazine.com/2014/10/paris/
Opinion on
poetry readings?
I think they
are quite an organic way to self edit your work. But also a spiritual approach to connecting to someone’s
soul through the writer's voice.
Upcoming
projects?
I am
currently editing a contemporary British collection of Love poetry, which will
be launched on Valentine's Day next year. I am determined to feature the language
and poets of our time and feature all the different versions of love.
I am also working on a few exciting film/documentary projects.
Do you listen
to music when you write? If so what's your favorite song/album you listen to?
Bands like
Rowland S Howard, The Waterboys, Joy Division
Any last comments?
Time to go
outside.
