Poetry is Protest / la la Timbre : An OS [re:con]versation with J. Pascutazz

[J. Pascutazz is author of Lichen Land, an OS 2020 Digital Chapbook selection. Read more about this series, with the theme “Bloom, Mutation, Entropy, Catalyst, Brine.” You can find the entire series at the OS Open Access Library, here.]

Greetings comrade! Thank you for talking to us about your process today!

Thank you for all the hard work you do to make The Operating System run.

Aw, thank YOU! We do what we can. :)
Can you introduce yourself, in a way that you would choose?

Hi. I’m J. I wrote a book called Lichen Land.

Why are you a “poet”/ “writer”/ “artist”?

A lot of reasons. No other work has ever given me anywhere near the satisfaction and sheer joy of creating something. It may simply be that I am a narcissist. My Asperger’s prevents me from participating in society more directly. I’m obsessed with words. I write because it’s relatively cheap and I can do it alone.

When did you decide to use the language you use for yourself (and/or: do you feel comfortable calling yourself a poet/writer/artist, what other titles or affiliations do you prefer/feel are more accurate)?

I was always sort of invisible even to myself. When I was thirteen I had a kind of awakening. Out of nowhere I started meditating, drawing, writing, reading insatiably, doing yoga. In high school I took my…