Meet

POET Jeff Horbachuk.

POET OF THE MONTH for Feburary 2017..

“Hello Jeff, it is so nice to meet you, and I love reading your poetry. Please tell us about yourself..”

 

“Hi Debbie, thank you for having me and I would love to tell you about me. I live in Vancouver, Canada I am 48, a Special Education background / I spent 12 years in Eugene Oregon where I was married and had my son Adam and my step son Michael who is challenged with autism. It was to help him that put me into the Special Education  field. I had to return to Vancouver in 2003 due to PTSD from a school shooting at Thurston High School in May 1998, then a divorce in 2002. Since then I have been working here in Canada on and off in grade 1 -7 elementary catholic school. It has been and does remain a struggle. I have with the help of many friends on Facebook started a group called Mind matters . IT’S been a little like for want of a nail the battle was lost . Without the trauma there would be no struggle without the struggle there would be no group, with no group there would be no writing , and therefore, I wouldn’t be answering this interview . So here I am.”

 

“Wow Jeff, that is fascinating, I am so proud to know you. Your writing style how did you acquire it and is it fun??”

 

 

“Debbie fun, yes it is fun and has become a desire , a need really. It didn’t start like that but has become a need that is also fun , I like nothing more then to write something that feels like u hit the sweet spot . Like the golf ball that sound off the club. I do know that my friend Alexis sent me a quote from Charles Bukowski sp? Paraphrased if you write for the girls for fame for money etc , don’t do it . So it comes from a need whether it’s in a book in a notebook, shopping list and doodles on the side.”

 

 

“Jeff what a great answer, where did you get your inspiration?”

“Well Debbie,  thru the poetry sites I belong to, I have been a novice at the writing game ,but also other writers , I was told to write and write some more , also to read other people and I have done so, and found it true and realize that writers need readers so , it’s important to support others and inspire people as well as be open to receive revelation from other poets . Another major one is music is big for me to write .its something I’ll do to stir the creative process .i often write my lines in a rhythm in my head a song so it hits on a cadence level wrapped in the imagery.”

Here is Poet Jeff Petry group on Facebook..

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1558386137814857/

 

“Jeff, who are your favorite Authors and writers?”

“Debbie, I would like to name drop and quote James Joyce like I knew. But I like Charles Bukowski I also like him as a person , the paradox of being human the flaws. I have a different group of writers,  I love John Frusciante who is a music artist,  guitar player for the RHCP formerly, he also has an amazing solo career, something that is almost spiritual for me. Music and words that speak in simple language. Another one is Kurt COBAIN who unfortunately passed away and had been in the band Nirvana . I really love the artistry of his word play and depth of the simplicity. I also seek inspiration from people like Andy Warhol who painted and did art in a way that the everyday was art.  Another one was Jean Michel Basquait sp who was an Andy Warhol protégé he was a graffiti artist which went to an art form that resembled doodling, the point was the idea of making art and expression accessible to more people. I have had some ideas about and wrote a poem based on random Facebook comments and tried to loop them together. So that’s how that kinda everyday thing is used to make something called art .finally, I have an idea about doing like a shopping list and then working it into poem.”

 

 

” Wow thanks Jeff, have you published any books?”

“No Debbie,  I am working on a poetry book with Susan Joyner Stumpf . So I am excited I think I am testing the patience of her as I am new to publishing process. I would like to write as personal story regarding the Thurston High School story from a different perspective, about the story of forgiveness and its power . As I have written a letter to the shooter and have talked with the prison regarding the opportunity to heal some old wounds.”

 

 

“My goodness Jeff I cant wait to read a book like that..  Tell us  about your writing style.”

“Well Debbie,  it’s like I speak its word play I try to put a line in my head in a way that encompasses the depth of what I am trying to say.  So as an example it’s also a bit stream of consciousness The line about vomiting up Mt ST Helens Ash on my Wednesday Song forehead . So it’s about my words vomiting up like Mt St Helens ash then I thought of ASH Wednesday and the priest putting it on forehead and then the song part of the line is reference to John Frusciante song called WEDNESDAY SONG. So I combine things in images and group them together . I try to be raw authentic in it feels right like that sweet spot. I am honest almost need to be vulnerable like a confessional at times . Not on purpose anything it comes out like we would talk about it over the table but it’s tweeted with my own version of the world . Sometimes I like the sound of the words playing off one another the line mine not really make sense so much but there is always a connection I try not to make it to random but more universal , cause this is an opportunity to say something . I don’t wanna waste it”

 

 

“Jeff, do you have any  advice to other writers?”

“Yes I do Debbie, be real honest speak it write like you see it. Always be your true voice.”

 

 

“Jeff, tell me something personal.”

 

“Debbie, I survived a school shooting and a pretty severe addiction to prescription pills,  Opiates, anti anxiety anti depressants. I like being an open book . See I believe when you admit and own your flaws no one has anything on you and go toward living in harmony with God or whatever you may believe.”

 

 

“Jeff, what is your favorite music..?”

 

” Debbie, John Frusciante is the man, he has like maybe 20 album solo .its something religious, I have joined a few JF group sites and it s how I met Jo and it’s how I came to start writing . Also appreciating Kurt Cobain and NIRVANA , the music the lyrics are mind boggling and so simple , I love that being hit with something and then almost not knowing you have been hit . It’s like doing heroine and feeling the drop its an amazing feeling to have music do what heavy drugs did . So I am not alone in the JF homage department.”

 

 

 

“Jeff, what is your favorite thing to do?”

“Debbie, it is to work with my little ones at school or in any place . I really feel humbly speaking that working with first grade children is my gift .so that is my fav thing to do and to hear the laughing . When in doubt make the students laugh then u can work anything.”

 

“Jeff, what is your favorite place to visit?”

“Debbie, I like Vancouver it’s a cool city not LA SIZE but more like Seattle Portland . I live in a suburb called Surey. I also went to Europe at 16 I wished I could have been older as I would have appreciated to more . I was with a bunch of catholic school boys and with a all girls school . Hhhmm wonder if that will cause some drama , lol.”

 

 

 

“Jeff, tell us what is your favorite book?”

 

“Well Debbie,  no name drop if I haven’t read it . So I am gonna read a book called Perfume inspiration for the Nirvana Scentless Apprentice it’s about a perfume maker who has a weird sense of smell, it’s like a gift that is like just specific for his perfume secrets. Also The Lord of the Flies by William Golding I re read it and love the theme of things left unto themselves will go from order to disorder quick.”

 

 

“Jeff, when  you go to the book store what part do you go to first?”

“Debbie, the book store I go to is the history section, I love history and autobiography.”

 

“I Want to thank you Jeff for a wonderful interview, many blessings on your poetry..”

 

Enjoy Jeff’s Poetry

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Poems

 

HEROIN

I’d give you my children

And you go by so many cute names

I’d give you my life

Smack, Upside down, Coballo

Just to name a few

I use U out fear

I use u out of weakness

I use U, I USE, Y U USE ME

I can’t stop, easy to see

Way too old for the Club #27

M y only instruments

Bent spoon, silver foil

Orange Bic lighter

When did it happen

Where was the line

Too late for analysis

And word games now

Dumb Ass

 

Am I dead

Wishing full thinking

Chasing the dragon

Now it sits

Waiting to devour me

I can’t put it back

Into it’s Pandora’s box

The High Horse has left the Corral

And now you wanna close the door?

Kurt used you for a bad stomach flu

John used you because he couldn’t deal

Holy Cow this just got way too real

And with that I take my bow,

And I start this shit up all over again

 

 

THE Crush

Listening to ‘’Hot Stuff “on FM

Thoughts of Stardust days

And Donna Summer Nights

Snow coned rainbows

Cut teeth on smelled blue ice

While Roller Rink Boys and Girls

Tilt a whirl round n round

Mary goes round

Music is slowed

By your soft breeze glide

Primed cut diamonds sparkle up your hair

Inquiring wearing French cut genes

Spliced with bubble gum and pink candy floss

That’s this boys perfume

Wanna double skate

My front toe stop applied

I am remanded to ‘Ooooh Child “ Crush

Coz sorry I can’t skate backwards

 

 

My Words

My words are not yours

Don’t you dare tell me what they mean

You don’t have the stomach for it

My words have to be consumed, pondered and fully digested

Kamakazeed to the bottom of my grey, battle weary oblivion

Vomited up like Mt St Helens Ash

Leaving burnt crosses on my WEDNESDAY SONG forehead

Replated, proper

With Knife and fork

Always remember your manners

And please do chew your words carefully

 

A Drug dealer and Me one Tuesday copyright January 20 2017 no rendition or version of this work can be replaced or copied without written expressed consent of me the author Jeff Horbachuk. Tagging a few people Eden Hundsdoerfer Barbara Suen Robin Janette Pauley Kimberly Haggard Dee Meyers Yina Rojas Everland Echo NovaSkye Brigitte Giunta Roberta Morin malish a Mahak Malik Kari Hansen Tyler Buck
Nalini Starr
A Drug dealer and ME one Tuesday
So it was a Tuesday
For real and for sure
It was 1 15 by my cuckoo clock
Decided to call my dealer
I mean My Guy.
But to my whorried gasping surprise

He goes No dude. Not today
I am expecting here and about to burst
I was a mother to be and no where to give birth
The worst thing you can do to someone expecting

Is to not give them the “Expectant “
So Kurt had his run on my playlist
Now JF will only do
It’s moody, grungy and claws its groove into my chest
No breathing below the throat for you

All in the neck
Throttling , thinking about Johns ‘Les Paul’ sunburst
Colliding with shadows of Kurt Cobain’s
Shredding electric semen to anyone who wants to be
REBORN.

Hitting you full circuit without breaker
From The Loop
The circle finally squared
It’s bad enough when your day depends
On the Yes or No of some dude
U don’t know from a couch
Joint laid La Bouche on his bottom lip
Silent but solid slouch into the dealers side
Wow gifts do come in unusual forms
House always wins, and ones on the die lose
Make sure you know
When looking into your guys rear view
Like the casino, man you don’t wanna owe those
Snake eyes anything