1. When did you first start writing poetry, and what drew you to it?

I wrote my first piece of poetry as a class exercise on formal theme writing in fifth grade. I was fascinated by the works of Edgar Allan Poe when we first read about poetry. My poems were already dark back then. I was inspired by the petty quarrels of my friends that I penned a poem about how to kill each of them mercifully so that their issues will be finally laid to rest. It was my way of expressing my true feelings about things that were happening around me.

2. Was there a particular poem or poet that first made you fall in love with poetry?

As for a poem, the one that influenced me most is Edgar Allan Poe’s The Raven. The atmosphere and the imagery stayed with me all throughout these years. Needless to say, Edgar Allan Poe is most influential to me as a writer. Another writer is Charles Bukowski. His raw emotion and straight-to-the-point style is reflected in the style I use, even before I even knew him. His poem The Trash Men resonates with me to the core.

3. How do you decide when a poem feels “finished”?

When there is nothing more left to say. Sometimes my poems seem to end on a cliffhanger, but it just is. There is nothing more. It is a mystery even to me.

4. How personal is your poetry — do you see it as a form of self-expression or storytelling?

It is as personal as it can get. My poems are my phylacteries, and I am a lich (sorry, random D&D reference). My poetry is my escape, and my own exorcism; my wish and my curse. If you want to know me, read between the letters, or no. But it’s all there.

5. Which poets or artists have influenced your voice or style the most?

As I said, they are Edgar Allan Poe and Charles Bukowski. But there is one more influence that I’ve yet to mention. That is my late, dear friend, Rem Tanauan. He was an I Ching master and a poet, and he taught me the art of going with the flow. He taught me to let the poem write itself. It is a living being, not just words on paper or pixels on a screen. They breathe. They live. They are.

6. How would you describe your poetic voice to someone who’s never read your work?

My poetic voice is personal, and for the most part, it’s dark. It is also deep, and at times convoluted and obfuscated. It is not contrived to be so, but it just happens. I’ve been told that my poems either hurt, or are hard to understand for their depths. I’m at a loss.

7. What do you hope readers will experience or take away from your poems?

Well, I can’t presume what to take out of it. All I can say is that they’ll have a sensation of one of the myriad facets of who I am. From the pure to the horny, the benevolent to the maleficent, the innocent to the sinner. What you see is what you get, and then some. Just read on, read between the lines, the letters, and the thoughts.