My Purest Artistic Impulse: A Guest Post by Avan Jogia
You may know him from his acting and directing, but have you read his poems? Avan Jogia (Mixed Feelings) returns with honest and incisive poetry that casts the spotlight on the birth of the digital age, from the internet to social media. With startling, heartfelt honesty and personal reflections, this is the type of poetry that anyone can connect with. Read on for an exclusive essay from Avan on writing Autopsy (of an Ex-Teen Heartthrob).
Hardcover
$24.99
$27.99
Autopsy (of an Ex-Teen Heartthrob): (poems of rage, love, sex, and sadness)
Autopsy (of an Ex-Teen Heartthrob): (poems of rage, love, sex, and sadness)
By Avan Jogia
In Stock Online
Hardcover
$24.99
$27.99
Writer, director, and actor Avan Jogia delivers a bright and acidic poetry collection on fame, rage, love, and sadness. A biting postmortem of the modern age, for fans of Lana Del Rey and Atticus.
Writer, director, and actor Avan Jogia delivers a bright and acidic poetry collection on fame, rage, love, and sadness. A biting postmortem of the modern age, for fans of Lana Del Rey and Atticus.
Autopsy (of an ex-teen heartthrob) is my second poetry book and my most personal. Poetry is how I interpret my world. It is my way of better understanding the melting hellscape that is the external world while also uncovering the frankly annoying mystery that is my inner one. Poetry is the most immediate art form I practice. Films take too long. Paint is quite messy. Writing can happen anywhere, at any time. It is my purest artistic impulse and, therefore, the most intimate to me.
But poetry, to me, is for everything but healing. I think there is a well-intentioned movement toward poetry as a form of healing trauma, and while that works for some authors, I don’t find that in my work. I heal outside of office hours. My poetry is for self-inspection and, in the case of Autopsy, self-dissection. Cutting myself open rather than healing myself closed.
I’ve been asked to give examples of poets I like, and I’ve chosen to write about fellow Canadian Leonard Cohen. He was the first poet I truly connected with. Let Us Compare Mythologies and The Book of Longing were the first two books I picked up. The sadness, lust, confusion, and romance, all in equal measures, are strewn across the page. Mesmerizing and ancient, like the tired hymns of an old sinner. Dusty words filled with longing. His work and life as an artist always felt like something to aspire to. He worked in the dark mostly. On things that mattered to him.
Poetry books are a sort of friend you can pick up and have a conversation with. Not a story to follow, but almost a person to talk to. I have always enjoyed my conversations with other artists in this way, and if you have Autopsy (of an ex-teen heartthrob) on your coffee table, I hope you will enjoy our chats.
Yours,
Avan.
