I don't think that Devin has any sort of royal or ecclesiastical title, but he IS excellent.
Q. When did you start writing poetry?
A. Well, technically I started writing poetry somewhere
around age six. My only poem to have ever been published was written around
then. It was about a rapping candy wrapper and it was published in some home
school newsletter. I was homeschooled until fourth grade. In sixth grade, I
wrote some damn poem about a magical kitty that I submitted to a contest and
didn’t win or hear back from. We wrote a lot of poetry in ninth grade English.
I have been writing poetry consistently since age 16, and have since then
written over 500 poems.
Q. How do you define poetry?
A. Everybody always wants a definition for poetry, but I’m
not sure I can really give one. It’s certainly expressive words arranged into
usually somewhat cohesive thoughts. It’s a lot more emotive than most other
forms of prose writing, because often the sole purpose of a poem is to convey
your emotions to others so that they may share in them, whether the emotion is
elation or depression. It can also be a form of storytelling, but usually with
less of an emphasis on narrative and more on emotional resonance.
Q. What would you choose as your last meal?
A. Since I wouldn’t know what my death would be in this
given scenario, I would chose handfuls and handfuls of pain killers, so that
when I died I would be too doped up to feel anything.
Q. Where are you from and what is your spiritual homeland?
A. I consider where I’m from to encompass all places I’ve
lived past and present, so in that case, I am from Silver Spring, Greenbelt,
and Baltimore, Maryland. My spiritual homeland is a Cardiologist’s office,
because I am a poet and consequently, a bleeding heart. Or perhaps a food bank,
for I am also a starving artist.
Q. If they made a movie of your life, what would be the
title, what would be the theme song, and who would play you?
A. I already made a movie about my life, and who are they?
The movie I made is called “My Brief Life as Devin Taylor”,
though to be fair, I didn’t actually make it. My friend did. He directed it, I
just starred in it.
The theme song would be a little instrumental I made called
“Oingo Boingo” (yes, named after the Danny Elfman band).
[Devin later e-mailed to ask : “could you change my title
song to ‘The Boy With Perpetual
Nervousness’ by the
Feelies? And in that case, make the song I said was my
title song instead be
my theme song.” This film will have an awesome soundtrack.]
As for who would play me, if not to play myself, and
assuming this is fiscally and legally possible, I would clone myself and have
the clone play me.
Q. What's your sign?
A. If I had to choose, it would be a tie between “Beware of
Dog” and “No Trespassing”. Just kidding.
In all seriousness, I am a Sagittarius.
