This month, we are not having a big author spotlight and this Thursday, we’re releasing a special podcast to explain why this month is a little different. Hint: The world is crazy and we’re adjusting to it.

Today, however, we do have the first of two author highlights this month. To kick us off, a poem by Todd Sullivan titled “Equator.” It’s a beautiful piece, we hope you’ll enjoy it. Then, stick around after for a little written interview with the author about his piece.

Equator

A Poem

by Todd Sullivan

We're from two separate countries,
the man-made seas dividing us
rolling waves of ethnicity
from one distant shore to the other.
I live in the land of New,
where the laws are written seconds before
I'm forced to decide if I should break them or not.
You live in the land of Old,
where the dead refuse to decompose
and wrap arms around cold flesh to keep on gray bones.

I know your country is stronger than mine,
hell, you have commandments from God falling like rain to flood your homes.
You have thousands of years of teachings housed in haughty fortresses
of culture and tradition.
The penalty of breaking these rules is exile
and you don't understand yet what it's like to think on your own,
alone,
but I do,
for all I have is myself,
and though I've made mirrors to surround myself with so that one becomes legion,
all I truly have is myself
and a gift for hearing unsaid glories destined to become traditions
of their own one day.

My hearing is sometimes on strike,
I admit,
and I make mistakes,
like when I thought what would be said was that I should
invade your country.

So I attempted
and sailed my mirrors to your stone shores
and walked down your marble streets.

I stood in your town square amidst your masses lead by the dead and I
spoke modern words in ancient ears hoping to finally force
arms apart to release cold flesh from gray bones.

The living asked me what I promised them if they turned away from lifeless lips speaking
Old words.

The living asked me what direction could I give to replace the centuries Old directions they
based their life on.

And I stared at them and the dead surrounding them,
knowing I had lost
for how could I tell those only looking to follow that
in my land of New,
each must be their own leader, their own teacher, their own hero.

How could I tell those looking only to follow that in my land of New,
the laws are made seconds before you're forced to decide to break them or not,
there's no time to sit down and think things through.

How could I bring these people to New when the dead voices speaking in their ears
have made even children gray-haired and wrinkled?

I knew I couldn't sail you across those tumultuous man-made seas of race, caste,
and economic class,
so I flew back to the lands of New,
on the winds of defeat and humility.

I continued to exist in the loneliness of Unique and Original,
leaving you to your families of Same and Always.

Questions with Todd

1. How did you first discover your voice as a poet, and what drives you to explore such profound themes?

   Honestly, I wouldn’t be so bold as to call myself a poet. But I did discover a poetic voice in my late teens and early 20s when I attended the now defunct National Book Foundation Summer writing camp in the late 90s and early 2000s. I was taught by the renowned poets Cornelius Eady and Kimko Hahn, as well as numerous guests that were affiliated with the National Book Foundation and Meg Kearney, the director of the program at the time and also an established poet. The summer camps lasted for three weeks in beautiful Silver Bay, New York, and it consisted of teens and adults in their early 20s. There is a passion that exists in that age group that fuels words, and the foundation for my poetic voice was established there.

   I am driven to explore profound themes from personal experiences. At the camp, the writing philosophy was to create from muses you find within arm reach. At the time I wrote EQUATOR, I was working a customer service job with people from around the world, but mainly from India. I became quite fond of one of the Indian girls who worked there, and this poem is mainly an ode to my efforts to create a relationship with her over the two years we worked together. Being in my early 20s, this was a time when such situations inspired a lot of angst, and I found my efforts to bridge the more modern culture of America with the more traditional culture of India to be a Herculean task that ultimately came to nothing.

2. What influences—whether literary, cultural, or personal—shape your writing style?

   My poetic style is more shaped by personal and cultural influences than literary influences. Almost all of my subject matter comes from direct experiences, for as I mentioned, it is the way in which I was originally taught to write at the National Book Foundation. As a result of this, cultural aspects are bound to come into play when I come into contact with peoples from around the world. When I wrote EQUATOR, I was interacting with many individuals from India. However, now I have lived in Asia for 16 years, and soaking up the culture here has impacted all of my writing, including my poetry.

3. The idea of “laws written seconds before I’m forced to decide if I should break them” is fascinating. Does this reflect modern struggles with identity, freedom, or morality?

   Even in my youth, I found there was something to envy about the more rigid confines of tradition upon the daily lives of people. There is a great burden to be unmoored in life. Where I currently live in South Korea, there are definite banks of tradition that direct the flow of a person’s life. It takes away some decision-making, which makes life simpler. This isn’t a question of better or worse, just a difference between easier or more complicated.

   In my late teens and 20s, my life was quite chaotic, and chaos can lead to many mistakes. Having to figure things out on the fly is a constant challenge. As I’ve gotten older, I will not claim which life, freedom of modernity or strict adherence to tradition, is better or worse. Like all things, it’s probably a balance of the two which brings an individual to the highest levels of personal success. 

4. Do you believe this loneliness is necessary for being a creator or visionary? How do you personally cope with it?

   I do not know if loneliness is necessary for being a creator or visionary, but I do think extended periods of aloneness are important, and these periods can lead one to feeling lonely. Reflection, upon self, upon others, upon society, upon civilization, upon death and life, is probably necessary for being a creator or visionary. Accomplishing these things when you are constantly being assaulted by distractions is probably not ideal in carving reality from dreams. 

   One gets used to just about anything, including loneliness that stems from aloneness. It’s not so much dealing with it, it’s just facing the fact that there are a series of options that you must choose from. Either you engage in groups often, which can create distractions in thought and entanglements with others which invariably slows down the pursuit of goals; or you don’t engage with others often as you hold steady to the path you’ve envisioned bringing you closer to a far future goal. 

5. In an age of globalization and cultural exchange, do you think the tension between ‘New’ and ‘Old’ is growing stronger or fading away?

   I think the tension is growing stronger even as technology forces us to continue interacting with the other. I have read that a lot of recent political upheavals have been populations rejecting globalization and retreating back to their separate communities and borders. Perhaps people are pining for more simplicity in life, which usually means more traditional viewpoints. Again, I cannot fault any group of people for doing this, as having rules and established norms that one feels pressured to follow is simply easier in a human’s daily life. Not happier or sadder, just easier.

6. What role do you think tradition plays in shaping creativity?

   There is a common cliche that one must know the rules before they can be broken. This is something that often makes younger people roll their eyes, but truthfully, tradition exists for a reason. Ideas that survived the grueling competitive nature of life over a period of time did so because they offered some type of positive benefit to people. This is the same for the culture of people as it is for the culture, or traditions, of writing. 

   Knowing the tradition of writing helps one avoid mistakes that were worked out in narrative craft over the generations. There is a type of story that, for whatever reason, is most appealing to humans. There is a way of telling this story, of putting it down as words on the page, which have been shown to draw more readers in across generations. From this solid foundation, you are able to generate creativity far more efficiently than one could probably from a chaotic foundation, or worse yet a vacuum.

   Creativity is more than a sudden spark. It must be shaped, formed, and sustained over time, and this is where tradition can play a major role in making an idea into reality. 

7. How do you deal with the moments when, like the narrator, you feel “defeat and humility”? Does writing help you process those emotions?

   In the end, I do subscribe to the philosophy that either one keeps going, or one gives up. Defeat happens often throughout life, from small incidents to major setbacks. I don’t think it’s so much dealing with them, but more the choices you’re left with: giving up or pushing on. I don’t think writing helps me process moments of defeat, but I do think these negative experiences tend to be fuel for some of my strongest writing. Defeat comes from challenges, and the more challenges you undertake, the more opportunities there are to not gain what you’re seeking. But from challenges, from the struggle of trying to reach some new or higher level, inspiration lies. 

8. What’s next for you? Are you working on a collection or exploring other mediums to expand your creative expression?

   I am not currently working on a collection of poetry, though I would like to one day compile the poetry I’ve written over my lifetime into a chapbook. I have recently finished a draft of a novel, which I hope comes out in the next 24 months. I will soon begin a new novel, and I have several ideas of what that will be about. Despite the books I’ve had released in the last six years, I have yet to go on a proper in-person promotional tour, and that’s been playing on my mind and could be on the horizon.

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