alright, so this is @poemsbypogi...
where can readers find your work?
Readers can find my work through my social media. I use the handle @poemsbypogi across all platforms, but I’m mostly active on Instagram.
how did you get started with writing?
I started writing because of a failed situationship, I guess, and then I started improving. I've been writing for a year, and I feel like I've improved a decent amount over the past year. So, yeah.
only a year? that’s wild. have you been published anywhere yet?
Yeah — four places so far. Two poetry presses, one newsletter, and a small youth-led publication. I’m hoping for two more soon — fingers crossed.
you also mentioned before our interview that you had writer's block. how’d you overcome it?
Yeah. I had writer's block because the motivation wasn't there.
how’d you overcome it?
At one point, there was no one interacting with my posts, and I felt no community when I would post and stuff. Then, when I was doing a poetry reading, I told my friends after the event that was the last time I'd ever do poetry because I just felt like an outcast throwing my words out into a void. But then, about a month later, after that restful period, I just started churning out poems because I had so much inspo and all that. Yeah, so ever since maybe January of this year, I've been writing consistently without any writer's block at all.
that’s incredible. so you write poetry — what kind specifically?
I like writing free verse, though I try rhyming poetry at times, but it's not very good. So I try writing in free verse without any structure. Sometimes some people consider my poetry like concrete poetry because of how it's designed, but it's just an aesthetic thing, usually. So yeah, free verse for the most part.
let’s talk about the name. what does pogi mean to you, like in your writing or identity?
Pogi means “good-looking” — it's meant to be an inside joke among Filipinos. So it’s just a funny twist on that and alliteration with Poems by Pogi — and it's very like, once you hear it, it stands out a bit. I feel like just because not everyone would name themselves like that as a pseudonym or a pen name, it's a good handle. You have poems, Pogi, they go together, yeah, that was the goal.
can you describe your work overall — beyond free verse?
Yeah, for sure. I would describe my themes, topics, anything that pops up in my mind. So I don't like relegating myself to certain aesthetics, whether that's confessional, love poems, or happy poems, sad poems. I like writing all of them, all the topics, just because if you're boxed into something or pigeonholed, then you kind of don't grow as a poet.
exactly, you can offer more than one style to your readers. you’re unpredictable in that sense.
Yes, you can grow, but I feel like if you diversify your writing topics, etc., then you're more likely to delve into different parts of yourself, and more people can resonate — not just the people who like sad stuff or happy stuff, etc., right?
i get that. okay, if your writing were a food — what would it be?
If it were a food, it would probably be fried rice because there’s a lot of things in the mix. There's nothing that's like just one singular piece, like steak or whatever. Yeah, it's not just one thing. It's a combination of a lot of different kinds of things.
is writing poetry a labor of love, or something else entirely?
It's a labor of love. But I think my word is catharsis — it releases stuff that's been up within me as well. Yeah, it releases stuff within me, so I don't bottle it up, as well as labor of love. Also, I just have a conviction inside of me, like I have to write. It’s like if I don't write, I feel like an addict, and when I don't write, I start getting antsy and feel like I need to write at that moment. And yeah, that's what motivates me. It is a labor of love.
do you have any vices?
I would say meeting with people because it gives me a buzz. I'm a people pleaser too. Yeah, I guess it just gives me a buzz to hang out with people. I could be overbearing at times because my energy levels are sometimes so high just from interacting with people. I guess I get buzzed from that.
so, like, that's your version of smoking a cigarette? you just go meet a person and you get buzzed off of that?
Yes, I do.
do you think it’s more important for a poem to have strong imagery or a strong emotional story?
I think it depends on what you're going for. If you want to resonate with someone who's really feeling something at that moment, I feel like the emotion must be there more than the imagery. But if you're trying to resonate with the laypeople and not just someone feeling that certain emotion, maybe imagery would be the way to go — just so they can imagine it without having to feel that feeling at that moment, right?
totally. then, would you rather write a poem that paints a picture — or breaks a heart?
I would prefer to break a heart, but at the same time, I like mixing it up. Obviously, emotional resonance is very important to me. So if I had to choose, probably the heartbreaker.
let’s talk about that visual style — what's with the highlighting?
It's an aesthetic choice, especially for Instagram, because it's very eye-grabbing. Even though it's not really something I would prefer doing, I do like how it looks now and stuff. Instagram is a game of grabbing people's attention. So if you don't have the bells and whistles of a poem — obviously, you need the content too — but you need to grab someone's attention first to want to read your stuff. So it's an aesthetic choice and kind of my signature at this point, and also a marketing choice.
are there any writers you look up to?
Yeah — I look up to very famous writers of the past, though some are contemporary. Charles Baudelaire, Richard Siken, Anne Sexton, to name a few. I also get inspiration from a few of the people I became friends with on Instagram: @redsunandroses, @prettypoemwriter are some of the writers I've met — they’re my friends. There’s also @dimoetry — this really famous Instagram guy. I like his vibe, even if not every poem speaks to me.
you’ve shown me the book 2005 by richard siken before — what draws you to his work?
I think this ties back to our conversation about emotional resonance. Even though it's very stream of consciousness, it's very evocative. Even though you won't get it in a literal sense, you can feel the yearning, the pain he's going through, as well as the heartbreak. If you take it too literally, it wouldn't make sense, but he evokes something that's hard to evoke, and I try to achieve that as well in my writing — the emotional resonance.
you’ve also read anne sexton?
If I'm in a sad mood or just feeling down, I feel like her poetry resonates with me. Though it's a hard read when I am not feeling depressed or unhappy because her topics are very dark and bring me to dark places, especially when I read her stuff. But I think she's technically very brilliant. It's just very dark stuff that can bring my mood down if I read it.
so you'd rather not read something that would bring your mood down unless you're feeling it at that moment?
Yes, I would read it if I'm feeling that at that moment, but if I don't, I wouldn't read such dark stuff.
can you share any poetry prompts — for beginners or for people having a rough week?
Sure. I’ve written some down. Most of them depend on the emotion that someone wants to convey. Some are very sad. Like: “Sadness lingers on my walls like cigarette smoke.” Or: “Stop yammering about love like a wine stain, sucking the folds of my brain.” Also: “June blooms, melancholic flowers.” “Mid-summer misery.” Not all of them are usually love prompts, but lots have emotional resonance, and that's what I go for when writing prompts.
and what about the algorithm? do you live and die by it?
Yeah, I do. It's hard not to sacrifice your soul to the algo gods if you want to get your work known because you learn all these tips and tricks. But at the same time, the algorithm can completely change the next day, and you have to relearn all the tricks I've learned.
is it going well so far?
Yeah, it's going well so far right now.
you’ve shared so many thoughtful answers... final question — is there anything you want readers to know about you that hasn’t come up yet?
I’d love for poetry to be my vocation, my job. Well, obviously that's a far-flung hope and dream, but as poets, I feel like you can dream. So yeah, that's my dream — to be able to write full time. But yeah, that's it.
that’s beautiful. thank you, joshua.
No problem.