Q & A with Patrick Moore, writer

Patrick Moore is a prose style, working class contemporary writer born in Elgin, Illinois. Author of the full length poetry collection, Slightly Torn Pages From the Loose Hands of a Madman (Iron Lung Press) and five chapbooks; O'Holy Mother! My Most Sacred Thing! Release Me From the Timeclocks of Hell, so I can Unleash Inebriated Laughter on Everything most Innocent and Pure, Thrown These Poems in the Trash, Two States of the Same Drunk (Iron Lung Press), Beers Never Get Drunk in a Sober and Blasphemous World and Poorly Written Poems, Gently Read By The Onslaught of a Shoe Shine Boy (Analog Submission Press). Connect with him on IG: @rick_the_shoe_shine_boy.

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GB: Pat, thank you for taking time to talk. Usually, my first question is: can you share a little bit about yourself? Any background info worthy of noting for the readers?

PM: Just Rick for short, please! I was born in Elgin, Illinois. I currently reside in Crystal Lake, Illinois with my wife, two kids and my four pets. I like collecting vinyl records, playing both guitar and bass, reading books and watching old horror films.

GB: Your new book, Wandering and Wondering Somewhere Between the Sidewalks and the Blue, drops this summer. If you could use one word or phrase to describe its message, what would it be and why?

PM: To describe my book in one word would be destitution. I write for the poor and humble, the working class, people living paycheck to paycheck because I know how shitty it feels to be struggling when trying to make in honest living on a low-salary paying job.

GB: What other types of art do you like to experiment with? Why?

PM: I didn't start writing until I was 33 years old. Before that, I'd always had an interest in music whether it was playing it or listening to it. Love playing my musical instruments, it's a very calming experience.

GB: What's your creative process like? Any obstacles you've had overcome recently?

PM: I never force it out. I let it come to me when it's ready. Usually I'm able to bang out a good line or two when I'm hungover or my hands are being preoccupied, like at work or loading my groceries up on the conveyor belt. The important thing is to write it down right away. Then when I come home from my serving my time in hell. I take a shower and there's a little shower window I look out of. I can see the trees, the birds flying by, the houses that look like faces, the mowers of lawns, the dog walkers, the shingles on my garage roof, the clouds, the sky and the weather and something formulates in my head and starts building off that good line I thought of earlier. Finally, I'll come down to my desk and get in front of the machine gun (my typewriter) and I'll fire that thing so hard the words look like bullet holes on paper and this will go on for hours until I'm all done and there's a feeling of complete liberation.

GB: Which authors/artists have had the most profound influences on your work?

PM: Francois Villion, Catallus, Edgar Allen Poe, Li Po, Carson McCullers, Charles Bukowski, Dylan Thomas, Arthur Rimbaud, James Thurber, Cesar Vellejo, John Dos Passos, Shel Silverstien, Allen Ginsburg, Jack Kerouac, Hunter S. Thompson, William Burroughs, Mozart, Beethoven, Vivaldi, Van Gogh, Salvador Dali, Picasso, Francis Bacon and many of my friends on the Instagram writing community.

GB: Who and what is on your MUST-READ list?

PM: 1. Charles Bukowski- The Roominghouse Madrigals
     2. William Burroughs- Naked Lunch
     3. Jack Kerouac- On The Road
     4. Lenny Bruce- How To Talk Dirty and Influence People
     5. Matt Stokoe- Cows
     6. Iain Banks- The Wasp Factory
     7. James Burns- Let's Go To Hell
     8. Carson McCullers- The Heart is a Lonely Hunter
     9. Hunter S. Thompson- Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
    10. Chuck Palahniuk- Haunted

GB: What does "success" mean to you?

PM: I believe that everyone is successful already. Just getting through life and living day by day is a huge feat in itself. People are always searching for their own interpretation of it. Whether its fame or achievement or whatever. And what we do with our time here on Earth no matter how minor or major is all for own personal gratification.

GB: What's next for Patrick Moore? Got any forthcoming projects we can keep an eye out for?

PM: Well besides the new book, I have another chapbook coming out on Analog Submission Press called Piss and Vinegar; also, I have another full length book in works called Love Like Heroin: Junkies, Aren't We all and of course I'll probably put something out on Iron Lung Press as well.