Former Flame Fridays - Alison Lubar
1/24/25
You were featured in volume 666, what has happened since?
Since then, I've won Harbor Editions' Laureate Prize for my manuscript, The Other Tree. Also, my debut full-length collection came out, and we had a launch at one of Philly's favorite bookstores, A Novel Idea on Passyunk. I also became a cat dad.
Broken & Holy Tidal Villanelle
after Mercutio, for us
They look as if to part the sea
I let them gaze
I budge for no man’s pleasure. Me,
object permanent. I see
myself in midnight ways
while they’re lost at sea.
Elemental sanctity,
oceanic climax waves:
I am the one to treasure me.
Tandem two-hand synchronicity
in honeyed enclaves
radiate bioluminescent sea.
Boundless as golden deity
above the mortal haze
incorrectly measure me
because there’s nothing heavenly
in heaving breath. Raise
your white flag, lost at sea
when I am half infinity.
At my lapis alter: whose hubris prays
to part the sea?
No man has ever truly pleasured me.What/who inspired Broken & Holy Tidal Villanelle? How does it fit into your style/body of work?
My first published poem was a villanelle, and I really love using form as a way to explore an idea. Writing formal poetry feels like bungee jumping, while writing free verse feels like sky-diving. For this particular poem, I was thinking of Mercutio’s line in Romeo and Juliet, particularly as delivered by Harold Perinneau in the 1996 film version: “Men’s eyes were made to look, and let them gaze; I will not budge for no man’s pleasure, I.” His queerness and confidence is palpable; though this, in just the text of the play, seems to just be a refusal of moving aside for the Capulets, especially Tybalt, who later kills him, I also see it as a firmness of identity. I consider the male gaze, and the danger of living as a femme-presenting person. I’ve been the target of so much unprovoked violence (because of misogyny, queerphobia, not to even mention institutionalized violence and racism), and this villanelle is my clap-back. It’s the poem version of not moving aside on the sidewalk, of standing firm in my queer, femme, biracial, nonbinary identity. In that sense, it’s also about self-love and reverence. It’s a little sexy, but I’ll let the readers parse that out.
Why Troublemaker Firestarter? What compels you to submit your work? Why be a writer at the end of the world?
What else are we to do in the anthropocene except to create, create, create? I write for my own catharsis and to see what emerges-- writing is a place of safety for me, and sharing it is the way I connect with others. It’s an exercise in love-- for self, for others, for community, for hope.
Who are your current favorite writers?
My writing friends! The queer Philly writing community is so rich. To name a few, Adam Gianforcaro, Alexandra Naughton, Sean Hanrahan, Lucia H. Benítez (who’s in CA right now), Lindsay Hargrave, Warren Longmire, Mónica Gomery, Elliott bat Tzedek to name a few. CA Conrad, as an absolute paragon. Nyds Rivera, who's up and coming.
Are you a troublemaker, a firestarter, a heartbreaker, a lucky duck, a devil, a terror, or sad and horny?
A themme fatale.
Where can people find you 😈?
www.alisonlubar.com or on Twitter as @theoriginalison
My IG is private, but if we’ve interacted, you can also find me there as @theoriginalison.
What would you want the lovely readers of Substack to do?
Write with wild abandon! Create a google doc and write it in every day for a month, even if it's just a singular word you like, or a phrase you thought of while you're walking the dog, driving to work, cooking, etc. Give yourself an unrestrained and safe place to do so. If something comes of it, cool. If it seems like nothing does, something already has. ;)