Tell us a little bit about yourself and what you do.

I am a poet, I curate exhibitions and put together poetry readings. I have a monthly poetry radio show on Lower Grand Radio called Spit in the Ocean, and I have been a historical map archivist working for the David Rumsey Historical Map Collection for the last seven years.

How did your interest in art begin?

I grew up in a family of photographers, my mother, my godfather, and my brother’s father all were photographers. It was because of that I came up thinking a lot about images, portraiture especially has always been intense for me. Watching them work as I was a child was really important I reckon, I would be bored of course on set sometimes or angry especially if the camera was pointed toward me but I was fascinated by watching them work and getting to see them make the photographs. I loved looking through shoeboxes of photographs and photo books and all of their archives. So this gave me a start for being obsessed with other people and portraits and got me thinking a lot about time, particularly about what a second means or the capturing and reflecting of a  moment in time.

What kind of imagery are you drawn to?

The ocean, cartoons, trees, movies from the 1970’s, maps, downtown Los Angeles, Los Angeles in general, California, highways, tomatoes, red, my truck, surfers, skateboarders, driving at night down a canyon, my godmother making dinner, the names of boats, roadtrips, rugs, album covers, constellations, Jewish delis, sunburns, family photo albums, yellow paper, shadows, grunion runs, movies from the 1980’s, bird nests, Artemisia californica, mollusks, Jim Morrison, manzanita bark.

Is there a phrase or idea you can think of that feels especially relevant to your practice or that resonates?

If your grandmother had wheels then she would be a wagon.

What do words provide that the image cannot?

For me, everything. I think lots of people are good at conveying concepts or stories visually and I am pulled toward people with a visual inclination but I always have been more drawn to the combination of words and images or words themselves in my own work. I think words and specifically poetry relies on the collaboration of the reader and it asks them to do some  interpretation and to slow down a lot and to think and I am interested in that. It guides you toward something, often indirectly, but down that path is where you make the association within yourself is often the place where you are meant to inside the poem, it’s a real spiritual situation.

Do you begin a poem with a mental image, a plan, a mood, a notion, or a state of mind that you want to evoke?

I am writing a lot of the time and suddenly it becomes clear that there is a poem inside all the writing, or, every so often, very, very rarely will I sit down with an idea in my head about a poem that comes out complete. But because it’s sort of a constant stream of coming through things are being formulated on their own throughout time especially if there’s something I keep returning to and forgetting about like when you tell someone the same story again and again. It’s got to have meant something to you if you’re doing that. Usually it takes me a long time to write about a particular experience, almost like I have to look at things from a distance to be able to do so, so that’s part of it. Lately, I’ve been writing a lot about Los Angeles and the people that have lived here.

Tell us about your new curatorial project The Beach and what curating means to you?

The Beach is a space that’s interested in poetry and visual art, which are my most favorite things to think about besides food. It is a new space I opened in June with my friend and collaborator Hannah. The other night we turned the gallery into The Green Note Grill, which is the title of a painting in the current show, and made hotdogs and martinis and played poker, I lost a bunch of money to my friend Nick and now I have to buy him a fancy dinner. We will have a collaborative group exhibition where everyone is making one thing together opening on October 3rd, so if you are in Los Angeles you should come. In general, we are having poetry readings and exhibitions in the space, we are also concerned with intergenerational shows, archival shows, and togetherness. The sunset is really beautiful on our block so it’s worth it to come out just for that sometime.

What is it like living and working in Los Angeles?

Los Angeles is wonderful. Everyone in New York seems to disagree with me when I say that. It’s the place I was born so it really is home to me and I continue to love it more deeply with each passing day. My entire family is here, what’s left of it, which is quite a lot actually and it is always growing in fact. All my childhood friends are here and I feel very lucky to be here with all of them and with the mountains, and the sea, and the freeways, and the traffic, and the whales, and crows, and owls, and coyotes, and dry heat, and taco trucks that are open very late at night, and farmers markets, and movie theaters, and the bright yellow hot sun. There is always something for me to do here, there is always a friend I can go see and I think it is always beautiful.

What was the last thing you changed your mind about?

I have said we should all just name each other once and for all but of course I do love persona after all. But now I think everyone can have one thousand names, or maybe everyone should just have the same name, I think these are true simultaneously.

Could you share a current, or upcoming project you’re working on?

I am researching Bob Kaufman right now. I am looking for Bob Kaufman scholars if anyone knows one, please reach out to me.

What do you collect?

I collect lots of things, my spoon collection is my biggest achievement as a collection and it happened basically by mistake. I began collecting souvenir spoons from airports and gift shops when I was very young, maybe seven years old. I bought one when my family was traveling maybe to Mexico or something and I don’t remember talking to anyone about it but somehow everyone in my life caught wind of this and started bringing me souvenir spoons from their travels. It was miraculous, I don’t know how many I have actually bought myself but not very many considering I have more than 70. Once my friends mom forgot to buy me one when she went out of town and I didn’t even mind but she felt so much guilt that she bought me a beautiful spoon display made out of cherrywood and glass, I keep the bulk of my spoons in it still. The spoon collection has moved from just souvenir spoons to any spoon that is beautiful, or stolen spoons thanks to one of my friends who puts a spoon in my purse at every restaurant we eat at. I also collect these little ceramic Wade figurines from the Red Rose tea brand, I used to buy boxes of the tea to get ceramic animals and similarly to the spoons, I have had friends gift me different series of these figurines over the years. They have many different series they have released since 1967, I really want the seahorse form the Nautical Wonderland Series (2012) or the Golden Gate Bridge from the World Monument Series (2020). These are my two longest standing collections. I have also been told that I collect the elderly.

Interview by Paul Fitzpatrick