Alexis Bravos
Alexis Bravos, a poet and an artist, breathes new life into ancient tales.
Passage
Can you tell us a little bit about who you are?
AB: That's a hard question to answer. At the moment I'm a full time second grade teacher to a quarantined 8 year old. I'm an optimist, at least I try to be. I'm afraid of the ocean but I'm drawn to it. I read a lot. I used to be against wearing headphones outside, but now I'm pro headphone. Whatever gets you through the night.
Growing up Catholic the titles, Letter to St. Brendan the Bold and Passage (St. Margaret Mary), immediately orient me to a space of simple/solitary benediction almost mirroring the tradition of keeping holy cards. What’s your relationship with saints?
AB: I grew up in what I'll call a spiritual household. I went to Catholic school for 13 years and went to church every Sunday until junior high. I never bought any of it frankly, but I was fascinated by the stories behind the beliefs. I had a lot of time on my hands during church and religious instruction. I stopped listening to the priests and spent a lot of time looking around at the paintings and statues. I started reading about saints at a young age, and was really captivated by some of their lives. It seemed to me like a lot of them were mentally ill, or what our current society would perceive as mentally ill. Lots of visions and strange sojourns. I also loved the symbolism and imagery, to the point of having the sacred heart tattooed on my back in an ill conceived ploy to impress a dude who wanted to tattoo me with an exacto blade. Thankfully it's on my back and I don't have to look at it. That tattoo style influenced the drawing that goes with the poem "Passage". I wanted it to look sort of kitchy, which is how I see the bulk of religious imagery. A lot of it seems very campy to me.
Speaking of holy cards, can you talk about the relationship between the images and poetry?
AB: Both of the drawings are modeled on holy cards at least loosely. It's sort of an experiment for me to do that. I write and I draw but I've never put the two together. You don't need to experience them together, however. I'd like to make a book of poems about saints with drawings and photos. These are the first attempts.
In Letter to St. Brendon the Bold, there is a beautiful shift in your poem from discovering, adoring to being discovered, handled, adored. Can you talk about this move?
AB: I don't really want to explain that because I think that the reader should interpret that however they see fit. For me this poem is about this particular saints journey (which is bananas- look it up), but it's also about how lovers relate to each other, and give and take of a love relationship.
In addition to writing, you’re also a filmmaker. For you, does one influence the other?
AB: For sure. I wrote poetry long before I made films, but it was always a secret pursuit. I never really shared the writing with anyone outside my family. I guess you could say my films are poetic. I've included my poetry in some of the films as text or voice over. In my film The Argonaut, the protagonist has a diary which is read as voiceover. Some of it is taken directly from her real life journals in the mid 1800s, but I needed her to be more descriptive at points, so I added lines from a poem that I wrote for the film. I wouldn't say that films affect my writing though, other than generally as inspiration. I remember Tarkovsky's The Mirror inspiring some writing.
In quarantine, how has your writing changed, if at all?
AB: Quarantine has not changed my writing. The only thing that's changed it is aging. The funny thing is that my poems have always been a little gothy and dramatic. But the style has matured. I think I've come a long way from writing poems about Jim Morrison at age 13. I would hope anyway.
Alexis Bravos is a dogwalker, poet and filmmaker from Hillsborough, NC.
Casserole Recipe of the Week:
Italian Turta
Not quite a casserole but a family favorite. Turta is an Italian dish passed down in my family straight from the old country. From my great aunts to my father. My twin brother, Conor, recently made it for his own family. Simple and delicious :)
