Liza’s unique depth of style is truly one of a kind. Recently discovering her poetic talents a few years ago, Liza goes right for the heart of the matter. Her words become an instant emotional connector to her readers. Her layers of originality are cleverly crafted into a beautiful sculpture of words.
Taking inspiration from every aspect of life, Liza’s phasing of words is brought dynamically to life, bringing new realizations of truth and expression. There is no boundary she is afraid to cross and that is what makes this poetic lioness ferocious in her own right.
Writing is what strengths this free spirit. A soul nurturer of class and perception, she loves the healthy escape writing gives, freeing her creative force into well balanced harmony. Liza is a true artist, turning emotional wisdom into the most dazzling form of art, the treasure of the written word.
Acoustic Ink is honored to feature this remarkable artist.
Liza’s interview with our team:
Name: Liza Vassallo
Location: Northern New Jersey
Q: How many hours a day do you write?
Writing is the only practice in my life I do not plan. I go about my routine for work and thoughts and emotions catch me without warning; I end up writing quickly for about 20 minutes a day.
Q: Do you have any writing superstitions, or quirks?
If I plan to write, I’m not inspired to do so.
Q: How do you deal with personal doubters?
Doubt fuels me to conquer my lowest self because in knowing I’ll never be perfect; I will not hesitate to progress.
Q: When you were growing up, what made you want to become a writer?
I am still growing up and I hesitate to say I have become a writer. Writing has become a practice for me to release the hidden or unexpressed parts of my professional and academic training.
Q: At what point did you decide to take writing seriously?
It is my nature to take everything seriously, writing is the only time I can feel relaxed about the things I am taking too seriously. Writing is my emotional scale to excite boredom or tame aggression.
Q: Describe a perfect setting where you can get writing done?
I dream of a day I can write on the beach for a living.
Q: Where do you look for inspiration?
Inspiration arrives with an element of surprise and being open to what surrounds me. I do not look for it because then my writing feels forced. Inspiration comes in the silliest and most unknown moments; the other day my car battery died and as my husband was handing me the charger cables he said: “Make sure you keep the positive and negative charges apart.” And I thought to myself; “that’s great life advice.”
Q: What kind of books did you read growing up, if any?
I didn’t like to read as a child. I didn’t know how to silence my own thoughts to focus on words on a page. Even when I did read; I would read the words without fully allowing myself to be fully involved. I started reading self help books after I graduated high school because I was a very introverted person and wanted to explore social dynamics and ideas on how to express myself verbally.
Q: What do you think the biggest problem writer’s face today?
I think the biggest problems writer’s face today are making a living off of writing without selling off their hearts just to buy into sensationalism.
Q: Are you a traditional type of writer (paper and pencil) or do you use your computer to write?
I prefer to write in my journal to make that mind, hand, soul connection but when an idea falls upon me and a paper and pencil is not the most practical I type quick notes into my cell phone or a voice memo or a send myself a quick e-mail or type up in a word document.
Q: What’s your favorite part about writing?
My favorite part about writing is feeling like I’m honoring the voice inside of me without outside influences telling me what they want, how they want it and why they want it.
Q: Who would you consider to be your top three favorite writers?
I don’t have any favorites, actually when it comes to people I tend to shy away from picking because I’m still in the exploration stages. The first book that inspired me to continue having a love for writing was Terry McMillan’s, “Waiting to Exhale.”
Q: Got any advice for young writers?
Writing is a calling, honor it. Creative expression is what makes us feel alive.
Q: When not writing, how do you charge your creative batteries?
I practice Yoga to get out of head and balance my energies.
Q: How do you get past the frustrations that come with trying to be a successful writer?
This is a difficult question because if success is a definition whereby others on a greater level dictate me being a success; I am at the mercy of the frustration and lose the joy in writing.
Q: What do you do when you have several book/piece ideas?
I haven’t had that problem yet, I still have to decide on one idea.
Q: Do you have an agent representing you/your work to publishers?
My writing practice started about four years ago at www.writerscafe.org and only today do I consider putting myself out there on a greater scale but I am taking baby steps by starting to explore poetry contests and submitting my credentials to online blogging sites.
Q: What genre(s) describes your work?
Confessional Poetry mused from dynamics of my relationships.
Q: What kind of music do you favor? Does it reflect in your writing?
I have a mix of music I listen to and it ranges from soft melodies to sensual to fast and upbeat. I haven’t thought about it too much in regards to my writing; my pieces are usually inspired by overwhelming emotions that need balancing.
Q: Do you write under a pseudonym? If so, what is the story behind it?
I should probably create one so I could build more courage in pursuing writing on a publishing level.
Q: What/who motivates to you to write?
I am motivated to write by wanting to escape the rat race of life. Writing is the only time I am creating something all my own. I am motivated to write to keep myself grounded and in tune with my own influence.
Q: Do you follow a writing system, a routine?
I’m afraid if writing became routine, I would lose my desire and motivation to write because it is the only thing left in my orderly life that allows me to break free from routine willingly.
Q: What is your LEAST favorite part of being a writer?
My least favorite part about exposing my words onto a public platform is either waiting for reviews and then not truly believing the rave reviews, publicly being ridiculed or knowing you’re being read and not reviewed.
Q: Do you have your work showcased on any website?
Yes, most of my work is on www.writerscafe.org/lilyv727
Q: What is your proudest moment as a writer?
My proudest moment as a writer is to connect to someone on a deeper level in which they confirm that they relate to what I went through or can feel a sense of relief knowing someone else experienced the very same feeling.
Q: How would you like to be remembered by those who read your work?
I would like to be remembered as someone who is genuine, courageous and sometimes inspirational.
Q: Share with us a fun fact about yourself:
I forget things, it is the reason I started writing. I used to feel sad about it but shifted my perception into feeling blessed because of it when I read about a woman that remembered everything. I learned to embrace this forgetful tendency as having the capability to tap into a “new” feeling each day since my mind is not so caught up on yesterday.
Q: What does the future hold for you as a writer?
I will be finishing up my Graduate degree at the end of this year. In December, I will inventory all of my unfinished pieces and gather some kind theme and write a book
*Below you can enjoy a few selected pieces by this poet*
~
SLIPPERY HANDLES OF TRUTH
Life’s playground offers a handle to grip
It is fear and freedom that cause us to glide
Slip off and reach the slippery handles of truth
Deception deludes every perception
Hold on to one bar too tight as your right
The line behind you will push you and fight
Imagination ignites with all our might
We hold onto a utopia and deny the lies
The promise of the sun’s light chases the moon away
While the shadow of our darkness shines
Simmering secrets sizzle in surrounding whispers
Screams bang your drums silencing individual
Trains of racing thought
Your life was tainted through translucent stains
Stains of escape into fantasy abandoning reality
Pleasurable tensions for precious release
Left a stamp invisible to consciousness
Running to a place where you can belong
Blend and mend the impressions gone wrong
Not all of us can grip the slippery handles of truth
~
EXITING
Our weaknesses delve into pain
Accepted, escaped from, denied or rejected
Declaring itself by shedding hidden spaces
The darkest places kept pain safe
From thirsty wolves
Simply want to know desire
Entertaining their heroic complex to save me
Entering a ploy as a player in an act
Secretly knowing deception but couldn’t grip the feeling
Feasting on my pain
You thrive and conquer
In my weakness
Your competitive nature drives me to the edge of myself and breaks the relation of our
Smooth sails from this parting friend ship
Tears release pressures of my heart
I win the exiting of weakness from sensing its intensity
Cycles are shattered
The release of karma
Begins
~
VISIBLE
The fires ignited within our hearts stem
In longings of love that carry through the wind
Land and conquer the fluidity of visions
We start this life seeing each other with naked eyes
Elements of life sip our existence
There is no shake quite
Like the calming waters taken for granted
When hoarding affection is held in a safe
Emotions drown when saved for a rainy day
No umbrella could protect me from storms of the soul
Each moment I wait is the moment I start to forget
Memories are trashed and transitioned into tension
Tearing down and clearing out like a hurricane
~
MISSING THE ME I WAS
I miss the me I was with you
The me you helped draw out
Coloring life effortlessly
Out of my own confinement
The willingly untamed lioness
With claws retracted
I miss the me I was with you
From endured pleasures
Witnessing the
Reflection of my relieved skin
That unleashed every moan
Taken as your duty
I miss the me I was with you
I don’t know if I will ever see that me again
With the same sincere intensity
~
STAYING HUNGRY
Realities bite devours meager pieces of spice left
Morsels of untouched kisses tighten intensity
Without thought the mind wanders
I belong with memories
Without love the heart longs
Moments delve into the penetration of adoring fixation
Lost and found within imagined reflections
Without divine inspiration the spirit dies
Keep my imagination focused to staying lost in love
I will stay hungry for you because satisfaction means death to wanting
Our souls meet when eyes close and magnetic hearts attract
~
THE IN BETWEEN
What is captured
Slips through handles
Witnesses entangled
Crumbles in between
Penetrates the surfaces
Of the longing kept
Looking, finding
Something to insert
Something of ours
To come alive
In between
Perceived in sound
Denied out loud
Distorted in cracks
Whispers wonder
For pursuit
Labeled a diversion
Converting in transition
Bringing to life
What is confined
Lies in the in between
The door creeks
Alluring its attention
Silently longing for mindful connection
Selective recreation plays
Motivation to stray
Settle and wait
Lying through words and inaction
The in between
Hardly eases or releases tension
What is proposed
Becomes assumed
Deciphered
The distance for the divine
To reside and come alive
Through transparent crystals
Poured between pores
In between warmth of sheets
In between boundaries colliding
Progressively aging the inept
In between the silence
Of all the misdialed calls
Lies a transition
Remaining unspoken of
~
Liza’s poetry page on Facebook: Perception Shapes Poetry
Liza’s profile on Writer’s Cafe
