An Interview With Myself
By: Sylvia Wohlfarth
Tags: Self-awareness, Poetry Writing, Humor, Nonfiction, Imposter Syndrome

An Interview With Myself

Now that I’m officially a poet

Tara: Today on my radio programme, I am interviewing the newly proclaimed poet, Sylvia Wohlfarth. Hi, Sylvia, thank you for coming.

Sylvia: Hi, and thank you, Tara, for inviting me.

Tara: Now tell me, Sylvia, when did you realise for the first time that you were a poet and as such would call yourself one?

Sylvia: Well to be honest, when I received a message from Medium telling me they’d appointed me a Top Poet… me… I was pretty shocked and off went the alarm bells and my imposter syndrome set in.

So, what to do? I armed myself with a bottle of wine and wrote my very first stream of consciousness poem. My African Accolade. I’d been wanting to do this for a long time as I just love Ben Okri’s, ‘An African Elegy’. I wanted to capture my own thoughts on it.

Once finished, I put down my pen, sat back and thought, “Now, I’m a poet like everyone else.” I even went back and deleted the “hopefully”.

Tara: How did you feel writing it?

Sylvia: Thrilled at the ease the words came, but at the same time I had to keep reminding myself not to think about what I was writing and just go with the flow

Tara: Did the alcohol help?

Sylvia: (Smile) Of course it did. I needed to loosen my mind. Unleash the beast, block the inhibitions and desire to stop and review. By the time I’d finished, I’d guzzled about three glasses of wine which, by the way, isn’t the end of the world, you know.

Tara: And what happened to the rest?

Sylvia: I finished the bottle off, of course. I had to celebrate. Naturally, it’s a question of balance you know, you don’t want poetic slur.

Tara: So, are you happy with the result?

Sylvia: Oh yes, and thrilled that I had to do so little reviewing. I really like it. My personal project.

Tara: What made you attempt this form of poetry in the first place?

Sylvia: Well, I’ve always been aware of what I call poetic weirdness. There is so much amazing poetry around I don’t comprehend, a bit like forms of abstract art. And I sometimes wonder what machinery is inside some poets’ heads. Thank God for tags.

In fact, I was and still am, in awe at the skilful use of language and poetic forms that many poets implement. I wanted to try a bit of weirdness, too. Yeh, and I mean weird in the positive sense (smiles).

Tara: And what’s your next project going to be about?

Sylvia: To try and write a similar poem set in Ireland, the other half of me.

Tara: Will you open another bottle of wine for that?

Sylvia: I’d love to try it without. You know, test my sober mind but that would be less fun I imagine and anyway it wouldn’t really be Irish, would it?

After this, I’ll definitely go for dryer versions. Maybe something on dog poop, the bane of Irish pavements, or worms, certainly less controversial and divisive… unless you’re talking fishing (laughs).

Tara: Thank you very much, Sylvia, for this interview. I’m sure many an aspiring poet will now run off to buy a bottle of wine, grab a pen, a piece of paper, or a keyboard and drink and write to their heart’s content.

Sylvia: Emm, I’d rather they’d start the opposite way around, to be honest. First the pen, then the poem and finally the wine, if need be. I’m not sure there’s a category for inebriated poetry, but who knows, some of the best poems were probably written under the influence…

Tara: Yes, you’re probably right.

Good luck then with your next poem on Ireland and I’ll certainly come back to you on the dog poop.

Sylvia: Thank you!