The Budapest Bardroom

Marisa Beahm Klein has been writing poetry since elementary school when she released her first book of ‘pomes.’ Since then, she’s improved her spelling and has continued to explore the medium, tackling themes such as religion and travel through imagist pieces. Marisa grew up in Colorado and attended the University of Colorado-Boulder where she hosted weekly open-mics and competed for her school’s slam poetry team. After she earned a degree in journalism and cut her teeth as a daily news reporter, she moved to Budapest with her husband and continues to work as a journalist. Marisa will be reading selected poems her recently-published poetry collection, Opened Aperture.

1. What was your first (poem / piece of writing), and how bad was it?

“It was a poem written for an elementary school exercise, and it was pretty atrocious. Of course it contained the most rudimentary rhymes -  ‘there was a dog named bog that got lost in the fog …’ -  that only a Dr. Suess or Shel Silverstein could pull off with any grace. But, given that I composed it at the age of eight, I give myself some credit.”

2. What’s the last thing you read that made your hair stand up on end?

“‘What Big Girls Are Made Of’ by Marge Piercy. This whole poetry collection evokes modern feminism in a startlingly brave, sharp way. She can tackle any subject – from sexual harassment and religion to a simple butterfly – in an accessible way that’s both poignant and wry. I am totally smitten with her.”

3. What’s the last piece of literature that made you cry?

“Technically, it wasn’t literature since it’s a spoken-word poem, but it was Andrea Gibson’s ‘Say Yes.’ This Colorado poet is one of the most talented performers I’ve ever seen live, and this is a hugely passionate poem – it provokes the inspired-with-goose bumps kind of tears.”

4. What’s the worst thing about writing a book?
“Knowing when it’s finished. I could edit my writing forever, so I have to call a moratorium on tweaking and finally call it a day.”

5. Does poetry matter anymore?

“Since I am not a nihilist, I have to say yes. Does any writer say no to this?”

Aubrey Ramage-Lay is a graduate of the Eugene Lang College of the New School University. He has also attended many other excellent universities such as University of Massachusetts Amherst and the Massachusetts College of Art. Currently he is making fine art as well as writing and exploring life around the globe. He currently resides in Budapest, Hungary.

Aubrey’s first book, Walking as Saints, was published in 2009. The book is about the chains of perfection; how free will is impossible if you cannot make the wrong choices. It is about Lucifer’s struggle to break free of the perfection of God, from the inevitability of the Plan. The book also ask the question which came first, the Planner or the Plan.

1. Are you currently working on anything, and why’s it taking so long?

“I am currently writing a novel about a pair of foreigners who come to Budapest and have their identities broken down and rebuilt. It is about how travel changes you. It is taking so long because I am so lazy.”

2. Do you actually have moments of inspiration or is writing just a process of slogging day in and day out?

“I am occasionally inspired to write but mostly it is just a question of slogging, again, I am very lazy.”

3. What’s the last thing you read that made your hair stand up on end?

“No question, it was Haunting by Chuck Palahunik. Hair raising for any writer I would think.  It’s a ghost story about the creative process!”

4. What would you have been if you hadn’t become a writer?

“I am also an artist so I guess that’s what I would be doing, I have also done just about every job anyone has ever thought of. I never want to work in an office again that’s for sure though.”

5. What’s the worst thing about writing a book?

“All the typing.”

Rachel Hammond is an England born South African; previously an advertising assistant; currently a kindergarten teacher and always a singer.

After studying singing and song-writing through the National School of Arts in 2001, Rae taught herself guitar (with the help of an old primary school teacher). Shortly afterwards she embarked upon her travels where she discovered the London music scene and fronted a flurry of bands of varying genres from rap rock to Ryan Adams fanatic melancholies. An avid practicer of capoeira, she was lead her to love and lives here in Budapest – and this is where she lays her hat.

1. What was your first (poem / piece of writing), and how bad was it?

“My first piece was a poem-turned-song called ‘Don’t Leave’. My singing teacher helped me turn the chorus into something catchy (something I hadn’t yet mastered) and I performed it at the end of year concert. Surprisingly, I found out I was the only student that year who performed their own work instead of a cover and that resulted in a fellow student, also a debuting South African artist, approaching me to get rights to record ‘Don’t Leave’ as her first release single. I was (am) pretty chuffed, but have yet to see a copy of that CD.”

2. Are you currently working on anything, and why’s it taking so long?

“2009 unfortunately has been less than fruitful lyrically and I’ve been stuck in a cliched writer’s block.  I decided to go back to my roots, listening to every single different genre of music I can, and learn new songs.  I make them my own and cover them in a contrasting genre. Sounds complicated and it is. But it never fails. Before I know it I’ve learnt (or made up) four or five new chords, used my vocals on a new level, and practiced how to not sound like someone else. So yes, I’m working on how to be me.”

3. Do you actually have moments of inspiration or is writing just a process of slogging day in and day out?

“Moments. It’s all about the moment. Sometimes I write three entire songs one after the other in the space of an hour. Sometimes seven months can go by without even the motivation to pick up my guitar. I’ve just come through the latter and spent an hour last night writing two poems, that’ll become songs by Monday. It’s a great feeling of relief.”

4. Name a writer/poet who you’d be most psyched to see show up at your Bardroom gig and how would you return the compliment if he/she liked your set?

“KT Tunstall. I’ve no idea how I’d ever return her compliment. I’d ask to have a coffee with her to get to know her a bit better.  I’d ask her who she wrote about in her song ‘Heal Over’.”

5. Does poetry matter anymore?

“To me, yes. As I mentioned above, going back to the roots is as good as a holiday. Whether it be reading Shakespear or Dr Seuss, listening to some country or rap, or counting the syllables in a new song that just ‘doesn’t go’.  I don’t and have never used mind expanding drugs and writing a poem or lyrics is my only release and means of expression. Poems can be novels, they tell a structured story whether they’re a jingle, a middle eight or an entire album. And sometimes rhyming’s fun. Rappers, country singers and even thrash metal’s impenetrable growling rhymes.”