**The following is a page excerpt from my interview with Gabby Mahabeer on their love of reading and writing poetry.

Alie: Can you talk me through the process of writing a poem?

Gabby: Good question, I think I don’t have one standard way of writing poetry. Sometimes I’ll be laying down, for instance, and randomly think of two lines of poetry and just keep writing. Sometimes I’ll think of a topic and just write based on the topic. Other times it is just academic writing assignments but I choose to write poetry. For the OBS winter talent showcase, I wrote a poem for it based on the theme of the future. I can write poetry prompted and unprompted. For me, it is fun to write prompted poetry because it is interesting to see the intersection of my thoughts and the person giving me the prompt. 

Who has inspired you as a poet?

My favorite poet is Ntozake Shange because of the power of her words and her experiences. Just the fact that she is a black, female-bodied poet. Her book was my re-awakening and re-birth and my picking-up of poetry and the believing of my lived experiences: knowing others have struggled with depression and considered suicide when the rainbow isn’t enough. I identify as non-binary but I tend to gravitate towards black women writers. I’d love to see more black, non-binary authors presented in terms of academics. I personally want to read more from black, non-binary authors as well. Even today, it is a way for me to think through and process my thoughts. One of the latest series I wrote was called Body Politics about my experience growing up in a very homophobic and very strict religious denomination: talking about the sexism I encountered in this church space. I’m realizing that poetry is not only a good way to share my lived experience but also process my lived experiences and traumas. There are some poems I’ve written and cried over. One poem I wrote called Survivors Guilt was about my uncle’s death. He died 10 years ago, but I’m still very hurt. He was very young and his family still needed him. He died of sickle cell anemia but I was stuck to him the entire day. I think what if it was me instead of him because his family would be in a different situation if he was still alive. Poetry is a safe space for me to explore my own identity: my sexuality, my gender identity, my experiences, my traumas, my fears. Just being able to have a cheaper therapy, really.

Do you find that there is a certain space: maybe a physical space or a state of mind where you feel like you have to be in to produce your best poetry?

I like sunlight, a lot. Usually if I just sit on the couch in my living room in my apartment I get direct sunlight from the window. In terms of mental state is when I’m calm because I am most open to my reflexivity when I’m relaxed and not worried about anything. I want to create more space in my day for poetry–not just as an academic thing but also a self-care thing. After I meditate, I usually write poetry with calming music: R&B [Smino, Noname, Sza are usually who I listen to]. I find their music is poetic and calming to me. 

How do you think people will receive your poetry? What are you looking for in publishing your poetry?

What I write is very personal and intimate, but I realize that I am not the only person going through these things or thinking about these things. My main objective is for people, even one person, to relate to what I am saying and find comfort in knowing someone else is going through the same thing. 

In which medium(s) do you hope to publish your work?

In high school, I had a few poems published in our school’s literary magazine. My friend and I are now working on a digital archive of our work. My friend does more visual arts and I do more poetry so we are combining our talents to share a story. 

What community are you hoping to reach with your poetry? 

It depends on which poetry I am using for this website. My parents and I don’t have the same ideologies. My parents are very queer-phobic and I am very queer. My parents are very avid believers of the religion I grew up in and I am not. Usually, I just share it with my closest friends. 

 

My interview reflection with Gabby:

For my second interview of the week, I was paired with Gabby Mahabeer who I had previously been acquainted with for our class teach-in project focused on ethics. I appreciated the opportunity to revisit some of the initial conversations that were initiated during the first week of the course. Entering the conversation, I was still unfamiliar of Gabby’s background, so I premised the conversation by asking them to give me a brief overview of themselves. I realized I had made this mistake earlier this week when interviewing Reed, so I made sure to best establish rapport with Gabby before diving into more specific and personal questions. Unexpectedly, Gabby’s introduction gave me a great starting point for honing in on the topic of conversation for the interview. They mentioned in their introduction that they were starting to take greater interest in reading and writing poetry. I have similar interest in poetry and thought it would be intriguing to learn more about Gabby’s personal proclivity towards the medium of writing. My greatest challenge interviewing Gabby was my hearing over Zoom. I often had to ask Gabby to revisit and repeat something they said. 

From the BOX 22 exercise, Gabby provided me with some feedback that reinforced my own thoughts about the flow and content of the interview. They mentioned that they felt comfortable sharing their experiences with me as a result of our established rapport. From the readings this week, I specifically focused on asking open-ended questions that furthered my understanding of Gabby’s love of poetry and how they interact with both physical and mental ‘space’ during the poetry writing process. As a result of their open and affable personality, Gabby was incredibly easy to converse with and the exchange flowed naturally. I believe this was reflected in their thoughtful answers. 

In retrospect, if I were to revisit this interview, I would have asked Gabby to share a piece of their poetry with me (if they felt comfortable) and explain its significance. This is not something I thought of in the moment during our conversation, but something that came to me as I was in the process of transcribing. Overall, I found my interview with Gabby not only enlightened, but challenged me to reflect upon the potentiality of poetry as a medium to drive social change.