Former Flame Fridays - B.A. O'Connell

2/7/25

You were featured in volumes 4 and 666, what has happened since?

Since then, I have continued to pursue my MFA—I’ve started working on a novel or two. I independently published a screenplay/experimental novel called Amber and Glass—which is now available on Amazon. I am also working on a few other projects and continuing to publish poems whenever I can.

Love in The Time of Crucifixion

There is a desire that will not be named between us—
it is the flesh of flesh and bone of bone.
It is the twisted barbwire they put upon the brow of Christ. 

At night I dream of your wine rich blood. 

Am I Judas or Magdelene? 

I dream of reincarnation, 
I have always, since I was a child—

or maybe since I have been living 
the centuries as several children.

Repeating love, repeating obsession—
kill or be killed—save or be saved—

but that's nobody’s right to decide, is it? 

When the night falls—as it always must—

I dream of the sweat on your aching ribs, 
the wounds of your side—given by the Roman Centurion; 

I dream of the vinegared wine on your lips; 
I dream I am the spear or that I am the wine—
I dream I am the nails 
in your palms and your feet;

What is it to love you?

Do you even know what you were born to be? 
Do you even care to know? 

Do you know what I do to protect you—
what I put myself through because of the visions I have of you—

It is you starving, shaking, beaten, and torn, 
Either you are bleeding at my hand 
or because of the fault of my hand. 

Sometimes I am the hammer or the wood—
but I am never the savior—

I am never the thing that loved too much.

What/ who inspired Love in the Time of Crucifixion & When I Dream of You, it is in the Form of Del Toro’s Pale Man? How does it fit into your style/body of work?

Many things can be said to have inspired those particular works—religious trauma, frustrating romance, a fear of being a monster, and the idea that loving someone or being loved by someone doesn’t always make us better.

I say that these works, I am particularly proud of in my body of work—they are a peculiar and poignant example of what has become my voice. I love to mix up religion, pop culture, surrealism, and the particular neuroses of my mental illnesses to create a self-referential l mythology.

Why Troublemaker Firestarter? What compels you to submit your work? Why be a writer at the end of the world?

I was attracted to Troublemaker Firestarter because of the title and the attitude. I also really loved the design of your website—but in a real manner I felt like it found me. I was browsing twitter, looking for a place to submit and the attitude of the editors/lit mags official twitter really drew me in.

I’m compelled to submit because it’s the only thing keeping me sane and focused in this world. Everything is falling apart—nobody knows what is going to happen next—what disaster political, environmental, or global—but art continues to be the universal communication. Art and writing continue to be the things that let us keep trying, keep fighting, keep hoping to be better people and that we can use to inspire greater change.

Who are your current favorite writers?

I love, love nat raum, Pascale Potvin, Ebony Stewart, and Eric LaRocca

Are you a troublemaker, a firestarter, a heartbreaker, a lucky duck, a devil, a terror, or sad and horny?

Mostly, I’m sad and horny.

Where can people find you 😈?

I’m on twitter @OnceIateataco and on TikTok @hellishrebukesystem

What would you want the lovely readers of Substack to do?

Keep their heads up and use art and writing to support their neck when it gets tired.