{"id":3223,"date":"2021-02-16T14:18:44","date_gmt":"2021-02-16T14:18:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/applesandsnakes.org\/?post_type=spotlight&p=3223"},"modified":"2023-02-21T16:09:07","modified_gmt":"2023-02-21T16:09:07","slug":"shaun-hill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/applesandsnakes.org\/2021\/02\/16\/shaun-hill\/","title":{"rendered":"Shaun Hill"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you are asking a participant to become something they have not been supported to be in society, how are you supporting them to do this?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Describe yourself in 3 words<\/h5>\n

@warmbloodedthing<\/p>\n

What inspires you?<\/h5>\n

‘god’, healing, critical theory.<\/p>\n

Tell us about your worst ever gig?<\/h5>\n

A conference for the business sector where after the first song of the first act over 90% of the hall turned away from the stage, leaving the artists one by one one to bounce words off the wall of noise. During my fifteen minutes on the mic I was able to gradually respond to the space rather than react to it, performing first to myself, then to the semi-circle of creatives around me, and finally to the growing tribe of eyes scattered throughout the room\u2014 humbled by the attention of each new mind, each sight-line an expression of gratitude. It was a formative lesson in the importance of being not only a poet-performer but an ad-hoc producer as well, relying on myself to frame how my work will be received.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s your number one poetry pet peeve?<\/h5>\n

Form as a means of pimping poems for prestige: Now That’s What I Call Poetry Collections with blurbs that patch-work a book together; pieces that would happily be 13 lines but are forced into being sonnets; words that get in the way of wonder reaching for hierarchy instead of the reader\u2026<\/p>\n

Whose words do you love at the moment?<\/h5>\n

Sarah Schulman’s Gentrification of the Mind: Witness to a Lost Imagination is a great read for any writer, especially during LGBT History Month (psst\u2026 it’s available as an ebook on a free trial of SCRIBD). Growth-wise I’ve been loving the wisdom of Say What You Mean: A Mindful Approach to Non-Violent Communication by Oren Jay Sofer. And like many others I’ve been enjoying daily treats from @poetryisnotaluxury on Instagram.<\/p>\n

What piece of advice would you give to your younger self?<\/h5>\n

Through each breath there is love,
\nso much, you can’t even imagine it.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s one material thing you couldn\u2019t live without?<\/h5>\n

My laptop broke a while ago and I’ve been enjoying the freedom of roaming the city at night finishing the final batch of poems for warm blooded things on a phone screen. I’ve been transitioning to minimalist living for the past five years now (I’m the crazy boy who sleeps on a yoga mat on the floor) and it’s empowering to be out in the world as an artist without a creative set-up that gets in the way. One thing I definitely need in this system is my bike\u2014 my third one after having two vanish from the streets of Brum. I definitely feel more alive having it here, gently encouraging me to read an audiobook in the rain or glide to the woods and climb a tree… I love my agile monkey body and I feel very lucky.
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