“Guns taste bad, but people still eat them, in the pursuit for happiness and more often freedom…”
GUNS TASTE BAD by Landon Chapman strikes a resonating chord in the current state of the Pandemic World. His poetry explores gun control, suicide, workplaces closing, mental illness, fake news and the longing of the heart. One might ask during a period of post masculine times, how does a male find a foothold in a society that says the future is female?
GUNS TASTE BAD examines these questions in his large volume of work, which begs the reader to take that inward journey.
Chapman dares us to look at the deeper, expose the root, the dark, the deep and reveals the scattered fragments of the human heart. His poetry pierces the truth, disarming the reader by demanding us to pay attention, like in Soviet Moonshine poem, sending shivers down our spine.
Now is the time for GUNS TASTE BAD, reminding us that it’s okay to feel deeply, to love, to lose and to care about the sacredness of the human soul.
Here is an up close and personal Q. & A. with the Author of GUNS TASTE BAD, Landon Chapman:
Where did you grow up and where do you live now? Would you say your childhood hometown has impacted your writing?
I grew up in Spirit Lake, Iowa, but now I live around South Carolina. I’d say my hometown definitely impacted my writing. I might have never written at all if I’d lived any place else.
You have traveled around the world to many different places? Where did you travel and how has that impacted your writing?
I’ve traveled a good bit. I visited my family several times when they lived in China and Singapore. A few trips to Canada and a mission trip to Mexico when I was younger.
The main thing I’ve understood from traveling is that people are mostly the same all over, for better or worse.
Have you always written poetry?
In the fourth grade I had a fantastic teacher, Mrs. Johnson. She’d noticed my issues with spelling and she encouraged me to write.
We’d had a small poetry assignment and after I’d turned in my work, she told my mother and me how much she liked it. I’ve written poetry sporadically ever since then.
What challenges do you face the most as a writer and how do you overcome them?
I don’t like most of my work and I’m dyslexic. There’s a lot reworking, restarting, and spellchecking.
If you could give advice to another poet to inspire them to keep writing, what would it be?
Whenever you have an inkling of an idea or feeling, write it down. It’s a skill like anything else, improvement is incremental. It often feels like there is no space left in the world for poetry, and there isn’t until you write it.
What authors and writers have inspired you the most? Do you have a favorite?
I’m a big fan of J.R.R. Tolkien, Alan Moore, Stephen King, and Douglas Adams, but Kurt Vonnegut is my favorite.
Any Books you recommend reading to your readers?
Player Piano or Hocus Pocus, both by Kurt Vonnegut, if you like a good satire.
Any exciting plans for new writings in the future?
I’ve been working on a novel for a while, but we’ll see about that.
Persuade someone why they should read GUNS TASTE BAD.
Sometimes we read for adventure and fancy, sometimes we read because we feel the burden of life bearing down on us.
In a world where there seems to be little to no room left for poetry; filled with misinformation, political polarization and environmental strife, we read poetry because it offers up a becalmed place in the heart, filled with sad accordion music and understanding. We read poetry because it helps to share that burden.
For a sneak peek at Landon Chapman’s GUNS TASTE BAD, here is an excerpt:
‘You’re gunna carry that weight
In your shoulders
On your back
Mostly void
Partially light
The plasma twists
Her pearls clack
The smoke signals
Done stepped out
For a drink
The nightmen done arrived
know who you are
How you think
Oh yes
You’re gunna carry that weight
In your eyes
On your neck
Points of white
unfurled black
The flame dances
His ace leaves the deck
Later
Cowboy
Collect’
GUNS TASTE BAD will be available this summer of 2021, first on Amazon in E-Book and Paperback edition. For in inquiries for interviews or to buy books directly from Mango Jane Publishing, contact us by clicking here or visiting the contact page.