Clay Barclay is a poet and a regular contributor to ZIGZAG since the first issue. His first feature was titled "Los Nuevos Pecados,"inspired by David Byrne's public art piece The New Sins. "The new sins are what we often mistakenly consider virtues: Beauty, Ambiton, Temperence, Contentment, Charity, Cleanliness, Honesty, and Hope." The first sin is juxtaposed with a still of Bill Murray as Raleigh St. Clair: "Our ambitions are a sin, the need to be better / and impress / just made us abandon our family and friends."
In the second issue, Clay returned with a pseudo existentialist journal entry on, "what is real?" written for public access of the school board. Concluding mockingly, "The answer is irrelevant. The chair is real enough for you to still sit on it and smoke out of your bong." Needless to say, he earned a D+ in his composition class.
Then on a hot hazy night in April 2009, Clay Barclay's steering wheel turned into shatters and he lost control at 90 miles per hour on an empty street. He survived the seven rolls in a crunched geep and the concussive wait for help, miles away from civilization.
After rehabilitating with all of his teeth intact and a metal implant in his ankle, Clay sent in two new poems for the 3rd issue of ZIGZAG. The first called "BONES BREAK" from the point of view of a soul suspended above a crash site, "I'm not the only one / Who's felt like they're in the wrong place." The second poem, "GRINNING SKULL" produces the image of a man who feels outside himself in a different way, inhabiting a space of inner solitude, a dead man's party. The narrator in Barclay's poems seems to be half man and half memory, appearing and disappearing in front of his own reflection.
How did the accident impact you as an artist?
I guess I wrote a poem about it.
Did you write while you were in the hospital?
No, I was to busy flirting with the nurses. I got a body rub out of one. Forgive me for not wanting to mention that he was an overweight black man.
Who do you admire in literature?
Most of the authors a young man should read while growing up. I'm mainly into modern works. To contradict what I just said I've been focusing on German literature such as Hesse and Goethe. They both have an incredible relevant feel to them. I don't know if many would count this as literature but I think that comics are a very underrated form of art. Each time I open up a new series I'm equally surprised to how much thought is put into them.
What compels you to write?
Sometimes I can't feel anything at all, and other times I feel way too much. I write during my period of emotion to celebrate my passion in my own way. CARPE DIEM! SEIZE THE DAY MOTHERFUCKER!!.
I understand you've intermingled at Ringling and in creative circles in Sarasota. Has that exposure had an impact on you, or have you met any artists along the way who've been inspirational?
Any relationship I've had with anyone was inspirational, of course.
What does ZIGZAG need more of?
New contributors! The last issue was amazing!
If you could choose who to illustrate a book of your poems, who would you choose? And what would you call it?
A very creative artist named Van Jazmin comes to mind. It would be called Sad Bones or Sad Boners, depending on how I'm feeling.
Where do you see yourself in 2012?
A place called Kokomo.
Who is N.O. Moriar?
N.O Moriar isn't real.
No comments:
Post a Comment