Tell us a little about yourself.
I am Bob McNeil, a spoken word artist, creator, editor, and writer. From my public school years, I became a linguaphile. Now all these gray follicles later, my love for writing has not waned in the least. If anything, age increased it. Dissimilar to singing or sports, growing old in the field of writing is a plus. Take it from an opsimath. Cumulative knowledge enriches the way one uses language to convey all those feelings in cerebral storage rooms.
Why do you write?
I’m just a simple ink slinger who feels creative writing is cheaper than paying for a psychologist. The blank page, as opposed to a therapy session, awaits confessions from me. This poem from my chapbook Verses of Realness expresses that sentiment:
Sword of Words
We create
We shape
We mold
A cosmos of star-lustered concepts with words
God-hallowed words
Sage-made words
Adam-ancient words
Sermon-mounting words
We write
We inspect
We dissect
Exposing our love-housing hearts
Exposing our world-impaired spirits
We infuse each page with words
Passion-inclined words
Birth-painful words
War-morbid words
Rainbow-garnished words
The serum, language
Flows from our veins
Words are forces
Possessing an artery
To assault or soothe
We’re poets
Throughout our souls
Throughout our limbs
We feel our poems
What genre do you write and why did you pick this genre?
By nature, I am a mercurial person. Rivaling the number of grains on a beach, I have myriad interests. So whatever my Muse tells me to write, I write. It is that simple. Over the years, I wrote numerous poems dealing with either the microcosm or macrocosm. My recent stories explore sci-fi and horror. If time and my health allow, I will present my prose about urban alienation. In comparison to some previous literary endeavors, those tales have all the realism of an open wound.
Tell us about your book.
My chapbook, Verses of Realness, explores the myriad problems of the modern world and the historical seeds that created them. It is composed of poetical compositions and illustrations about racism, unity, gun control, poverty, alienation, feminism, environmentalism, police brutality, anti-terrorism, the pandemic, gay rights, and cultural icons. Upon each page, readers will find my soul and its need to share positivity. I am grateful that venerated literary figures see merit in my well-meaning collection. Ramya Ramana, former Youth Poet Laureate, wrote this about my work: “Your poetry is beautiful. It has the spirit of revolution and renaissance carried in the world.”
How much time do you dedicate to your author career?
All my thoughts from the time I leave the Sanctum of Somulous to my return many hours later stay focused on creative endeavors. My dedication is zealot-like. Supplicating at my laptop altar, I ask imaginary Muses to inspire more compositions out of me.
What is the most difficult part of being an author?
Creative writing has a lot in common with wild animals. The blank page is a jungle. Sans cohesion, the first draft of any essay, poem, story, or play roams wherever it wants. Wild with errors, the early incarnation runs up trees and swings from vine to vine. The literary creature goes from one tangent to another. That creation is free, but it roars, snarls and bites without purpose.
The actual challenge is editing the work. Realize snaring words for a page is simple. Training them in the ways of logic demands effort. That struggle has all the daring drive of a lion tamer, a snake charmer, and a horse whisperer. Not in need of a whip, cage, gun, or mesmerism, the writer, as an editor, comes with a different arsenal. Grammar and punctuation are the weapons.
What is the best piece of advice you have for other authors?
Regardless of whether your being’s balloon is touching the troposphere or deflating on the salt flats, continue to write. If you are as dour as a mourner, write about it. If your days possess the jubilation that a lottery winner knows, write about it. Chronicle who and what you are before you are no more. Furthermore, in the rental home known as life, remember the pending end of your lease. So before relocating to a necropolis, create at the rate rabbits procreate. Calendars do not determine your days. The number of poems, stories, essays, drawings, and performances define your time as an artist. From my point of view, all artists should use that approach as time encroaches.
What is your favorite book?
This question, without a doubt, is the most difficult. Any answer I can provide is contingent on a genre. Unquestionably my love of Richard Wright’s Invisible Man is not the same as my affection for H.G. Wells’ sci-fi book with the same title. I must admit that your query possessing all the force of a heavyweight boxer’s punch knocked me on the canvas. Thus defeated by a complete inability to share a single response, I am relieved by the sight of the thrown towel. But while telling this challenging topic goodbye, I want you and your readers to know about a particular book that moved me. Les Miserable, out of all the novels I read over the years, made me cry. Victor Hugo, a brilliant author, influenced the Symbolist Movement and touched me. Also, due to Jean Valjean, I will never look at a loaf of bread the same way again.
In conclusion, is there anything else you would like to share with the reading audience?
Dissimilar to individuals muted by alienation, writers express everyone’s emotions. Essentially writers are empaths with lexicons for minds. And this particular author feels deep respect for you and your audience.
Hal Sirowitz, former Queens Poet Laureate, called Bob McNeil’s book “a fantastic trip through the mind of a poet who doesn’t flinch at the truth.” To order his chapbook for a mere $10, contact him at the following PayPal address: mcneil_bob@yahoo.com or P. O. Box 144, Hollis, NY 11423. Out of appreciation, he will send a bonus gift.
Follow Bob:
https://www.facebook.com/bob.mcneil.16
17 Comments
Add Yours →Reading Bob McNeil’s responses to these interview questions is informative and inspiring. Thanks for sharing your thoughts about literature, writing and your published work.
Bob McNeil is even a poet when he talks, as in this interview! Les Miserables is one of my favorites, too!
Greart interview Bob. Nice to know more about you. Your poetry voice is awesome and your verse is poignant and to the point. Poetry is a good vehicle to be heard. You stand up for what you believe in. We could all benifit from your poetry. Keep on keeping on!
Verses of Realness is a wealth of riches. Like an Escher print, each time I open it I find something new. I’ve read many interviews with Bob McNeil, and this is by far my favorite.
Yay, Bob! 😀 the world is better with you around.
I thoroughly enjoyed this interview, Bob! I especially loved your response to the question about the most difficult part of being an author. My sentiments exactly.
We, as writers, need to understand that we are the voice that sets a global tone. Therefore, we need to respect that and be responsible and not abuse the power we’ve been given.
Thank you, Bob, for being respectful and responsible of this fact.
I took a moment, before sharing my review. Why? Because this book, poetry, author, friend, and mentor, deserved no less. I needed time, to gather, confront, and express my reflective thoughts and feelings, derived from the REALITY of Mr. McNeil’s words and raw emotions in prose.
If you are squeamish, ignorant, or afraid of the bare truths and personal views, of one that has seen and felt the harshness of life’s experiences, then My Dears, this book is surely not for you, until you have braced yourself accordingly. If you are clueless to the brutality of a systematic oppression…then Bob McNeil’s “Verses Of Realness,” will open your eyes, and shatter your illusions. If you are well aware of the hoodwinked, bamboozlery, that a people go through, “then & now,” this book will touch triggers, of the realities, you already know; yet cheering that this phenomenal wordsmith, brought it out to light, with this catapulted composition…
This chapbook, packs a punch so deep, that the ricochet effect, is felt in each line.
“Verses Of Realness – Poems by Bob McNeil,” is true to its title. Poet Bob McNeil? As we say in New York, ” He kept it real/100.”
It is beyond being a “must have.” It is a poetic and historical stamp in time, and a roadmap, to what needs to be addressed and dealt with, and a view to the tenacity of a people. It rides on the skirttails of Humanity’s conscience, as the emotions & experiences are wrapped tightly, in ink…
It is a POWERFUL stick of dynamite!
?(((BOOM!!!)))?
~Maxwanette A. Poetess
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Great job, Bob! I pray you continue to do great work and inspired many more with your words and talent. God bless!
Great Q & A Bob. I loved both your answers to the preceding questions, your great body of works, Verses of Realness, and our working relationship over the years, both in the editing/bolstering of my works and in the sharing your wisdom/insight. Your works, be it this collection and beyond, doesn’t sugarcoat life. Far from it. Instead, it captures a reader’s attention, makes them think, and ultimately gifts us with a rare commodity, that being the truth.
Thank you Gordon, we appreciate your support of Bob and The Authors Porch. Bob was an amazing guest on our Blog interview and we hope to have him on the Livecast one day.
I’ve known Bob McNeil for many years and worked with him as percussionist and co-reader. I must say the interviewer’s questions and Bob’s responses were great. After reading the interview that hit so many spots, I told him, great interview, Bob. It was so YOU! Thank you, Bob and The Authors Porch. Fred Simpson, Writer and Musician.
Thank you Fred. We appreciate your support of Bob and The Authors Porch.
Great Q&A from a great writer! Great job Bob!
Great interview, Bob. Even your responses are poetic lol.
Fantastic interview, Bob! I loved reading all of your answers. I also love the poem you included.
Congratulations dear poet, brother Bob for your endeavours… great to read your interview… wish you all the best from Republic of Nepal.
The world is a better place because of you