Dylan Hayes
Dylan, what are you up to lately?
This question is really hard for me. I feel I try and escape this question, It's a thick one. Here is the short and honest truth: I am happy, in love and working a lot.
What is moving you at this moment?
Learning is what moves me. Learning about myself, or learning about things I didn’t know I wanted to learn about. Learning about learning.
What is your relationship to poetry?
Abusive. I never know if I’m writing to myself, or for someone else. Its hard for me to even call it poetry, I’d rather say "these are my feelings in metaphor form, on a piece of paper. I hope you can relate."
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You are an actor/DIRECTOR, how does poetry play into that?
Acting and directing to me is being able to see the world through anyones eyes, without judgement. Poetry is kind of the same.
Where do your poems come from?
I wish I knew the answer to this. Then maybe, writing would get easier for me, haha. It always stems from a feeling or observation. I write selfishly really, putting words on paper so I don’t think about them anymore.
How does poetry connect us as human beings?
We read poems because we want to connect, right? Thats why I read them. We are always trying to connect as humans. All we want is to feel loved and understood. Those two words are massive umbrellas, but I feel it is the base of what we are always searching for. I remember first reading Charles Bukowski when I was quite a bit younger than I am now. I can’t really stand him now, but at the time I remember reading him and thinking… “Fuck, this guy's life is sad and brutal. I don’t want that at all. My life is amazing. I am really lucky, I better not fuck this up.” It wasn’t anything like mine, but I wanted to keep reading. Because for some reason I was relating to him. And it wasn’t until I read his poem “Bluebird”, that then I understood why I connected with him at that time in my life. Poems can make seemingly opposite people realize, what they feel may not be so different. We aren’t as alone as we feel at times.
What is the path of love?
The path of love is endless. But to me love is standing in front of a crowd of people, and you’re completely naked. Then you decided to turn around and spread your butt cheeks to them. Regardless of the crowds reaction, your love comes and gets naked, turning around and spreading their butt cheeks. Right there next to you.
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How do you stay tender?
Don’t try to be an individual. Don’t stand on top of yourself. None of us are the same. Be yourself, and then you will be different. You are enough. This is something I remind myself often. I try to keep my heart open. Even when it hurts.
