Monday 27 December 2010

One Stop Spotlight - Anthony Desmond Scott

Hello everyone, I'm Gay Cannon and I'm so excited to tell you I have joined the @onestoppoetry team.  There are exciting new projects planned for the year ahead and it's an honor to have been asked to join the team in bringing them to you. 

I will be doing occasional spotlights and for my first official one, I want to introduce you to Anthony Desmond Scott.  If it hadn't been for Anthony, you wouldn't be reading this from me, I wouldn't know about poetry online, @onestoppoetry or probably even be writing again. Anthony was my first real twitter friend. I had been looking at twitter more or less as a news feed for many months. Then @MyWordWizard started following Anthony and me at about the same time and we were finishing their prompts. Anthony is in all things curious, and even though he writes deep, sometimes dark and very intense poetry; yet, his disposition is easy going,thoroughly likable, always polite and invariably upbeat.

Anthony discovered blogsites. We both created one and the rest has been a journey in meeting new poets, reading and being read by other poets spurring both of us to read more, write more and to connect.  Because of this I am happy to interview him for the spotlight today.

Anthony, tell us about yourself.

I'm a 19 year old guy with a passion for poetry and music. I've never been the average kid. I've always felt different from just about everyone. Through the years of coming into who I am, I've experienced feeling out of place and such. But with the guidance of my Mother and the will of myself, I learned to embrace all the things I enjoy and love being a true individual.

I know your mother has been a major influence in your life. Tell us something about her.

My mother is the one person who stood by me through everything. She made me the person I am today. My mother's writing evokes her tragic childhood experiences such as sexual and verbal abuse by family members. She could've gone down a destructive path but when she had me at 18 she turned those bad experiences around for the better as a Mom and now as a strong independent woman.



When did you start writing poetry and what and who inspires your writing?

I started writing poetry when I was 16 and fell in love with it. My first complete poem was 'Self'. When I had written that, something clicked inside of me. I knew poetry was my destiny.

Frank Stanford is a big influence for my poems. I love how tragic his poetry was. Yet there was sometimes a small bit of light in the midst of all his pain. I also take inspiration from paintings and music. When it comes down to it, the core of my poetry is the good and bad of life. I express it only in ways that come naturally to me.

I know you were as thrilled as I was to find @Onestoppoetry. What has it meant for you?

I think @Onestoppoetry is amazing because there's no competition, just love. One Stop Poetry gives us so many opportunities to showcase ourselves as the best poet we can be. I appreciate this community and I feel appreciated as well. You can't beat that.

What are you aspirations for the future?

I aspire to be a prolific figure in poetry. After I've lived a long happy successful life, I hope my work will live on and continue to inspire.

I am happy to share these poems of Anthony's with you today.

sElf

I'm staring at a vacant wall full of emptiness
Wondering if I'll finally make it my own
Intimidated by the knives in my soul
Cutting incisions in my flesh
Marking their territory
While hunters tread my grounds
And shoot my guarded veins
My spirit still remains

When the seasons change
Hunters rampage across the bridge
To destroy the light that shines on me
As winter approaches and summer passes
All that's left is a lonely breeze

Hunters put down their rifles
And charge full steam ahead
As pulses of blood rush towards my head
With battle scars resulting as tears
Running out my mind
Next target lies where my memories are confined
My pupils dilate as my eyes
Awaken back to where it began
A wall covered in my deepest secrets

© 2008 Anthony Desmond Scott. All Rights Reserved.



DARE
Rats are almost an equal to men, women, & children

Remove our skin cut it from our flesh
So it falls from heights unimaginable
Shells from shots we've fired
Fill our mouths to keep from swallowing our tongues
As they gauge our eyes & roll them in a pond of lava
Rip our legs off right below the knee
So one can't see over this fake fucking mountain &
Dare to make a judgement on who's better

© 2010 Anthony Desmond Scott. All Rights Reserved.


'Normal Is No Rule'

Cheap carpet harvested my open pores
Laid to rest everynight in the Sahara
Sand flew in my eyes while I made bold attempts to sleep
I wake up with dirt in my mouth
My spit forms a mudslide
That drains through my intestines
I wish to cough up blood in the midst of
Making an over dramatic statement
In regards to the ratio of too much or not enough love


Questions/Reasons

Perfect ways to get to know the honest form of human
Which came from woman on her back
Soft spoken gentle voices tender touch
So much of what I need
I already want but cannot have

I'll stay on my back

© 2010 Anthony Desmond Scott. All Rights Reserved.

You can find Anthony on Twitter @iamEPanthony
His blogsite is http://glassstaircase.blogspot.com

Photography courtesy of creative commons wall Laura Chifirium http://www.flickr.com/photos/lchifi/231115148/

21 comments:

Miranda said...

Glad you discovered poetry, you are very honest in your work. Keep it up!
Miranda<3

Unknown said...

I really enjoyed this - a talented guy. Sounds like he and his mom are a good team

Claudia said...

thanks gay for the spotlight on anthony. been reading his work for quite a while and it was good to get some background.

anthony, esp. enjoyed your poem "self" where you manage to express such deep emotions in such an honest way. think that's something poetry is about, allowing ourselves to glimpse into our and others souls when the doors slide open for a moment

the walking man said...

There is a narrative voice developing here that given just a bit of time and direction just may take you to your ambition of being a major poet of the world. I hope you get where you wish to be Anthony.

Brian Miller said...

excellent spotlight gay, thoroughly enjoyed anthony's works...

Anonymous said...

Thanks for this.

All the best, Boonie

Kenia Santos said...

Beautiful beautiful. I like Questions/reasons a lot. =)

Great work!

=*

moondustwriter said...

Wishing you the best Anthony. Please keep pursuing your dream

Gay -thanks

Moonie smiles all around

dustus said...

Being acquainted with Anthony's work through One Shot Wednesday, I am most impressed with the depth and variety I find in his poetry. It is wonderful to hear about inspiring influence of his mother, as both an artist and writing mentor. Excellent showcase of poetry today! Also, thanks to Anthony for encouraging the writing of Gay Cannon—so glad she is part of the OS team :)

Adam Common, Poet said...

Nice! You're all over my grill lately Anthony. Glad to see you featured!

The Lumberjack

Beachanny said...

Thank you for your comments everyone. Anthony, I'm so proud of you and so happy to know you. In such a short time, twitter and our associations with the great artists and friends @onestoppoetry have changed our lives. Kudos my friend.

hedgewitch said...

Great spotlight and some intense and worthwhile writing from Anthony Desmond Scott, with some insightful and informative interviewing from Gay. I don't know the chronology of the poems, but they seemed to me to show a progressively evolving clarity, especially the last one posted. Excellent work, and congratulations, Gay. I know both you and One Stop as well as all of us who appreciate the site will benefit from this partnership.

Is there a link available to Anthony's website?

hedgewitch said...

Oops, never mind, I found the link.

Maude Lynn said...

19? Holy wow!

Maureen said...

Congratulations, Gay, and thank you for introducing Anthony through Spotlight. His is a strong voice.

Unknown said...

such a talent!

Unknown said...

I'm overwhelmed by all thee amazing words I've read by you guys..... my deepest appreciation to each & everyone of you!

Robin Dalton said...

So wonderful to see Anthony spotlighted here. I've read some of his short poetry on Twitter, but the intensity an authenticity of Anthony-the-poet is breath taking at times. Gay, your interview is very well done. I really enjoyed this and feel honored to 'know' you both, even if only in short interactions on Twitter/One Stop Poetry.

Hope said...

I'm glad you were featured Anthony. nice to know more about you.

your poems are deep and inspiring. thank you

Great interview!

Bubba said...

I've been following Anthony's blog for awhile.

I was immediately impressed at the depth of his work, especially for such a young man- I think he's an old soul.

Nice to see him getting some recognition here.

Marshy said...

a wonderful spotlight on a wonderful poet...i have enjoyed anthonys work for quite a while so its good to see this and get to know him that much more...thanks Pete