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