Brianna VanGeisen is a Mercyhurst senior and a fellow LUMEN editor. She is an English education major with a minor in juvenile justice. When she isn't attending classes and writing, Brianna is a foodie, which includes baking and cooking. She is also a music connoisseur, as she has a tasteful CD and vinyl collection. Her top three favorite bands, Florence and the Machine, Led Zeppelin, and Fleetwood Mac. To top off her love of music, she works at the campus radio station, WMCE. I choose to interview Brianna because I can relate to the types of influences she has had on her poetry. We both are fans of the same bands and have used their gifts to better ourselves as writers.
MM: "What are your origins as a writer?"
BV: “I started with poetry and lyrics. I have accordion files full of old poems at my house. I never felt like I could write short stories of fiction, I always attempted it, but I couldn’t get it anywhere. So I read other peoples stories. That is one of my new challenges, which is to start writing short stories and branch out into fiction. When I was in high school, I was on the journalism staff called the Trojan Times and I did profiles on local bands. We had press passes and everything we were pretty legit (laughs)”.
MM: "Has music had an influence on your writing?"
BV: "Yes! That’s what got me started writing poetry. There are two Fleetwood Mac songs in particular that I would listen to inspired you to write your own. They're called “Storms” and "Beautiful Child" which are both off of the band's album, Tusk."
MM: "Would you recommend LUMEN to fellow students?"
BV: “Yes, Because the supervisors and editors are all very nice, LUMEN is a good way to begin as a writer and to get your work out into the public. The editing process can help you as a writer as well, because they work with you.”
MM: "Who would you like to write for?"
BV: “Maybe, a fashion or a cooking magazine or even music magazine. The Rolling Stone (laughs)! That would be pretty rad, though.”
MM: “Are there any poets or musicians that you recommend my readers to listen to?"
BV: “ Well, my favorite poet is Emily Dickinson and my favorite lyricist is Neil Peart from Rush. He reads a lot, he is incredibly smart and creates killer lyrics. One of my favorite poems is "Funeral Blues" by W.H. Auden.”
MM: "What would you like to see submitted to LUMEN?"
BV: “I would like see more people submit in general. We had a wide collection of different types of poetry and short stories.”
MM: "Are you going to published into Lumen this year?"
BV "I will have a peom inspired by a short story called A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner in the Lumen due out this spring. I called my poem "The Grey Miss Grierson". It's basically a synopsis of the short story, which I read it for literally theory and criticism class at Mercyhurst. It coincided with the free verse format. I haven’t had anything in the Lumen before this. However, I have been published before. I attended McDowell and I had two poems published for the school’s literary magazine called VOX, which were in two seprate editions."
MM: "Stunning!"
BV: (laughs at our inside joke)
Brianna has graciously offered a playlist of songs that include her favorite lyrics. I urge you to listen to the wonderful playlist and see where it takes you with ideas and inspiration. Also, if you have a certain song that inspire you, or that others readers should listen to, comment below.
Enjoy Brianna’s playlist on YouTube below.
