penpainter November 2004

[iblieve]

November2004

Penpainter



The interview for November was conducted by me and it was my pleasure to interview Thomas Beal, but most of you will know him as penpainter. Thomas is the owner, editor and publisher of Poetry Palace http://www.poetrypalacegiftshop.biz and is dedicated to finding and publishing new poets. He is a very special man to Dandy and myself, we met because of our association with him and Poetry Palace. He has published twenty author’s for his Poetry Palace series, Dandy was the very first poet and I was number five. Recently he published Joanna Targett, moonshine, one of our own D.A.R.C. Poets. I would encourage our members to send this man your lighter, happier poetry and maybe you will be the next Palace Poet. You will find penpainter to be accessible and interested in helping you further your career. Okay enough of my rambling, lets introduce you to this brilliant man.



iblieve: When did the desire or should I say the passion to write poetry and to publish it surface in you?

Penpainter: I began writing with “The Endless Trip To Pluto” in the fifth grade. By the sixth grade I was writing action stories. I think it was the tenth grade when I really got interested in the opposite sex that poetry came onto the scene. Self-publishing was the option available to me; publication seemed the only direction to take.

iblieve: Where did you get the idea for the concept of Poetry Palace, and especially the Palace Poets series?

Penpainter: Poetry Palace is the place I thought should be built for young poets, so they would actually have a place to go be a poet. This was the dream of a teenager. It turned into an idea for a retail store for cards, plaques and other gifts, created with verse from my Diary of a Poet series. The website was another attempt, after failing with a real-time storefront, back in '95 (under financed). Palace Poets evolved exclusively from Heidi Greenhaw's (dandylion) poem, “The Day My Shadow Left.” I thought the poem was awesome, and the desire to publish it simply overwhelmed me. I have been thinking for some time that there needs to be someone, or group of someones, teaching today's youth that poetry is not just a bunch of huffy type peoples, condoning verse that is too ancient or critically fluffed to enjoy.

iblieve: When you’re reading new poets what do you look for? What tells you they are the next palace poet?

Penpainter: I really don't know how it works. It just happens, or it don't...Because I am looking for a diverse collection, I cannot let my likes, or dislikes even, interfere...

iblieve: Tell us about the work that goes into poetry palace and the sacrifices you’ve made for this amazing project?

Penpainter: Time! Lots of time. Have had to learn a lot of html in this process. I have two websites, I like the look of the .biz site, but use the .com for PayPal, as it is affordable. I took a sales pitch this past winter on another site that is costing me $100.00 a month, and am looking into taking legal action at this point, because they have just been ignoring me. Emotionally it is tough, when poets let you spend that time and money and decide at the last minute not to take part. Fortunately that does not happen too often. I have sort of gone over my head with all of this. At this point I am going to publish Palace Poets volume XXI and then suspend the monthly publications in order to spend more efforts on the retail end of the project, and the school solicitations. """

iblieve: I know you have dreams, I’ve glimpsed them in our many conversations and in your poetry. I know out side of family life most of them are centered around the Poetry Palace Projects. How do you want history to record the effects The Palace has on poetry if all of these dreams come true?

Penpainter: It would be great to leave this level of living knowing that poets of the future would have an actual place to go and work for as little as room and board, if they wished, to dedicate a portion of their lives to being poets. Perfection would be an actual Poetry Palace, sitting on a hill above verse village. The whole concept would include some sort of resort where the public could vacation and support the Palace at the same time. The Palace should support all the arts, yet keep poetry as its priority. """

iblieve: What one moment in your writing career stands out in your mind? It can be that one poem that you wrote that made you step back and go “damn ,I wrote that,” or your first published book?

Penpainter: I have grown to expect masterpieces, practicing as I did should pay off, so not much "thrills" me, as far as what I write. There is a certain feeling of peace when an especially well written piece flows. Receiving an IM, shortly after going online in 2000, thanking me for the book "Getting Real", because it had been a great help during the hard phase of an old co-worker's life was probably the most fulfilling point in my career! """

iblieve: Who is Thomas Beal, what makes you happy, sad, favorite pastimes, etc? We know you love your wife Linda but tell us about the other love in your life---your bike, lol.

Penpainter: I ride a 1986 Suzuki Cavalcade, 1400. A day with Little Lind Mae, and miles and miles of New Hampshire back roads is quite a joy. A good ten hour karaoke show, when I get to sing myself hoarse is another favorite past time. The wife's vacation habit has become something I look forward to, the cruises are really relaxing, they usually have at least two karaoke shows and I get to read poetry in the talent show. Helping my daughter furnish her first apartment has become a joyous hobby! This morning I went to my brother's house in Nashua, 18 miles away, for my heavy singles workout. I work out once a week, with a three workout cycle. Today was singles; squats, with 225#, all the way down (If your butt wouldn't touch a beer can, you aint down far enough! LOL), dead lifts, with 340#, bench, with 235# and curls, with 105#. These Sunday mornings at my brother are definitely a highlight in the week. He even joined in this morning, only doing ten sets, so it was even more of a thrill, as I stopped for five years and he did not. I did twelve sets, one of each lift! This probably wouldn’t mean much to most, but I entered the tenth grade at five foot eleven inches and one hundred and twelve pounds. From February 1996 to January 1998 I went from 175# to 225#, from power lifting. Some things got in the way, and I quit, beginning again this past April. I hit my goal of weighing 250# about a month ago."""

iblieve: What is the biggest change you would like to see in the way society views poetry and the written word. What contributions do you hope to make to change this.

Penpainter: I think the video world is awesome, but that it should not exclude reading in one's life. The reason for aiming the project at high schoolers is to show them how much reward reading poetry can give a person. The diversity of the collection is an attempt to try to reach all tastes. We all know how much harder it becomes to effect a change in our lives once we pass high school and enter into the adult portions of our lives. Many, many people have told me that I should be a teacher. As I have not tried to master anything but poetry, this also seems to be the only way to move. Giving seminars to high schools would be a lot more like play than work..

iblieve: How do you perceive The D.A.R.C. Poets Society and our views on poetry?

Penpainter: Because of being so busy since you opened I cannot make much comment on your Society or views, but I can say that there should be as many outlets for poets as possible. It would be a sad world if the "G" rated, positive aspects of the Palace Poets series were the only outlet for poets. You may have saved me from ever having to open Dungeon Dirges, and I thank you for that, the Palace has me at wits end already...

iblieve: I am going to end this interview by asking you a question that an amazing young man named Adam asked me in my interview that blew me away. This question isn’t related to anything else asked in this interview. Why?

Penpainter: The only really correct answer I know of for the question why, as pertained to living, anyway, is to fulfill yourself. The whole of my work with poetry, regardless of my particular misguidance along the way, is fulfilling myself as a poet. If I try to write something in particular, I am lucky to end up with a halfway decent poem. If I try to write for the sake of writing, it is often that something sort of amazing comes out. Other than that I can only rely on the answer a wise woman gave me, many times, when I was much younger, "Because!"

iblieve: Pen I want to thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedule to do this interview with me. It will give everyone a change to get to know you better and in this way we hope to bring our poets closer together.

Penpainter: Cool! You are welcome! And I hope to spend some time at your site once they let me go for the winter. My reading of verse has dipped into an unacceptable low!
_________________
If God is through shitting around with us I wish he would flush!

iblieve

[BambiPurrs]

Loved this interview with someone who us unknowns hope will notice us someday...if we're good enough.
_________________
Welcome To Judi's Joint



I'm Not The Average Bear

~Love may be a mistake, but it's worth making~

Love is a flower...and you, it's only seed

[iblieve]

Yes penpainter is a very special man and has helped a lot of poets realize their potential. Send him an e-mail and see if he likes your poems, it can't hurt. We love ya pen. "C"
_________________
If God is through shitting around with us I wish he would flush!

iblieve

[erin]

[lilywhite]

OOOOOOOOOooooooooooo WoW!! I'm glad I looked for this interview.......well kind of stumbled upon it really (IB mentioned something about it at the end of Dandy's interview so I went looking). Question......do you still have the bike?

Anyway informative interview......so when we gonna read some poems by you. You are very active here in D.A.R.C. and it would be nice to 'share' back what you have given a lot of the poets here.......your time. Hope that makes sense.......I seldom make sense to myself but anyways..........I'm shutting up now.


Deb.
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"Look into the mirror of your soul
Love and hate are one in all
Sacrifice turns to revenge and believe me
You'll see the face who'll say:
I love you... I'll kill you...
But I'll love you forever"

ENIGMA

[penpainter]

Four years to reply, well, three and a half, almost, is that a record?

Sorry...

But thank you for the comments, and Lily, i guess this past wintered answered your questions. I will try to pop in and out and get back here for another delightful winter!
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I am very old, and i am far too young. I will die late too early, with many songs unsung

[victorclaude]

thomas,

i enjoyed reading this interview. nice to get to know a bit better.
i look forward to reading more of you in the future.

victor
_________________
"The pioneers of a warless world are the youth that refuse military service."
Albert Einstein