Voice & Terror: An Interview With Poet Jon Sands

By Shania Russell

We caught up with poet and performer Jon Sands when he visited the Bronx Academy of Letters’ Writers Forum on October 5, 2014.

Q: When you write your poems does the whole thing just come out on paper first, or do you write them with the way you’re going to read them in mind?

A: I try to write in my speaking voice. So that when you read it, I want you to be able to hear my voice as well. So that way, when I speak them out loud, I want them to all have my voice. Whether you’re reading it or I’m saying it, it has my voice.

Q: Would you say that you have a certain style with all of your work or that each piece has it’ own individual voice?

A: I value a wide range. And so I definitely think that each piece has it’s own voice. And I think that that’s because, even if its in small ways, I’m a different person every day.. And so a lot of the poems couldn’t have been written on any other day but the day that they were written. So in that sense, they’re very different. A lot of times it’s like, they’re dependent on the moment that they were written, even more so than the day that they were written.

Q: We’ve done some research and found videos of you reading on youtube. In some of them, you’re reading to music; have you ever tried or considered writing songs or writing your poetry to music?

A: I wish that I could write songs. Then I maybe would write less poems…. I listen to music when I write. I’ve been listening to the same song list when I’ve written for like the last seven years, and I add a little bit to it at a time… Like, Frank Ocean, Zero 7, D’Angelo, Bon Iver… But I love it.. I love, not just poetry and music, I love the way in which I feel about all these labels on a piece of art. Like people say “man, that’s a poem” “that’s not a poem”, “oh that’s a story” “that’s a prose” “that’s a song” “that’s a painting” – and I love that when you really get down to it, it’s all the same beautiful, creative and human force behind all of those. So the blurring of those lines between all the art forms, is one of my favorite things. Just ‘cause it seems so natural. It feels like what our bodies wanna do anyway.

Q: So does the music you listen to affect the poetry?

A: I hope so. I think so. I think the lesson is – everything affects my poetry. This interview affects my poetry! My friendships affect my poetry. And I think that’s when you’re the best kind of artist. Those are the artists that I love – those that aren’t thrown off by a curve ball, it just fits right in to what they were writing because the only thing they can be is what they are, at any given moment. So yeah, I’m sure that the songs- that writing to music, affects my poetry. I don’t know how, but I’m sure it does, and it’s different every day. Like, it helps me focus. I can’t write to music that has a whole bunch of lyrics going on. I love hip-hop, but I can’t write to hip-hop. I’m always listening to what they’re saying as opposed to what I wanna say. So I like music that lets me slow down and focus in.

Q: You do the “pop-up” exhibitions and you’re apart of Poets in Unexpected Places, so what was your initial reaction to surprising people with poetry?

A: Terror. I was really afraid of that. I was really afraid of reading poems in public. But- I was really afraid of reading my first poem ever on an open mic in 2006, in Ohio. I was really terrified the first time I competed in a poetry slam. I was really terrified you know, the first time I told someone I love them. These are moments of profound vulnerability, and that’s why they’re always accompanied by terror. And so I think the goal is to recognize that terror is not the worst thing in the world but like, a sign that something cool or big is about to happen for you.

Q: How do you not get thrown off, start laughing, or forget the words when you’re doing those sorts of things?

A: I care about it. I care about it, and I love it and I’ve really worked hard to develop the muscle that is focus. I’ve read a lot of poems in public – I mean, I don’t do it as much anymore but it’s something I care about and that’s where the focus comes in.