Poetic Reflections-Week 1

Welcome to Poetic Reflections. I am Blaga and I will be introducing you to poets of our community every Sunday! Today we will meet CC Champagne. Enjoy the interview and for more- visit her HERE.

Tell us about yourself...

I am CC Champagne, an extroverted hermit, clueless know-it-all and shy seductress, all rolled into one magnum sized bottle of sparkling attitude, served icy cold with a steaming side-dish of self-doubt and depression. Technically I'm old enough to know what I have but still young enough to use it (which I sometimes do very, very well). Like everyone I have my off days (and have had both off weeks, months and years in the past), but with the help of poetry, patient friends and family and sometimes excruciating psycho-analysis I am slowly finding my feet.

Currently based just outside Stockholm, Sweden I am a Swedish woman with an English mind (that never seems to shut up) and a heart that beats for all things Swiss, words and handsome men with silver tongues. I don't know if there is much more to say? *smile* (http://ccchampagne.wordpress.com/2011/06/22/interview-with-myself/)

Tell me about your blog and the name, what does it mean to you?

Originally A Glass of Bubbly (http://ccchampagne.wordpress.com/), along with the name CC Champagne, came to me while taking burlesque classes at Burleskakademien, Stockholm (http://burleskakademien.se/), in 2009. Seeing myself as more fully grown woman than some of the other girls (both in age and size) I wanted something that would give off sparkles for my first, and as I thought at the time only, performance on stage. My first suggestion was Alotta Champagne, but one of my fellow students immediately associated this with Alotta Vagina from The Gold Member/The Spy Who Shagged Me films, and you don't need more erotic misunderstandings when you are a burlesque performer! For a few months I performed as a part of a burlesque troupe, but when I started doing intense psycho-analysis I just couldn't keep up. One day I may return to it, but for now that part of my persona is dormant. Finding the name CC Champagne made the choice of a name for my blog A Glass of Bubbly natural.

Until June of this year I had never posted anything on A Glass of Bubbly though, so in a way I am just re-using something new in a different way. Both the burlesque experience and my blogging are things that are helping me feel better about myself, making me realize I am entitled to my place and the space I take up and that sometimes me being me can actually help others become who they ought to be.

When did you start blogging?

In April, at Random Misanthrope (http://randommisanthrope.com/). I was absolutely petrified the first time I posted something. From June I set out on my own with A Glass of Bubbly.

Do you remember the first poem you wrote?

Oh, dear... *blushing* The first poem I remember writing was for my mother on Mother's Day one year... I was probably between ten-twelve and I couldn't afford to buy her a present so I drew her a card and scribbled a poem. It was in Swedish, but the sentiments were that since I couldn't afford flowers I hope she could make do with the daisies I had drawn and the knowledge that my love for her was priceless. I probably wrote poems even earlier, but I only remember short stories before then...

What inspires you the most to write?

I find my inspiration absolutely everywhere, but that doesn't mean what comes out of it is any good, though! Anything from the shape of a cloud over-head (http://ccchampagne.wordpress.com/2011/06/25/cumulu/) to a discarded cigarette-butt on the ground (http://ccchampagne.wordpress.com/2011/07/14/what-we-leave-behind/) can make words pop into my head... At least lately.

Miss Kitten (http://www.misskitten.org/), a poet I truly admire, re-acquainted me with the word prolific a while back... Over the past few months I have embodied that word and it is just so wonderful to have the words in my head spill out rather than stay bottled up.  

Of course emotions of all kinds inspire more than anything else...

When did you start writing poetry? Do you write fiction as well?

Before April I hadn't written anything in a very long time. As a teenager riddled with angst and self-doubt I spouted what feels like millions of poems (mostly bad) in both Swedish and English, but the earliest I can remember is the mother's day poem previously mentioned.

I have a dream to some day try my hand at fiction as well, yes. I did that too as a teenager, but after once comparing my fiction scribbles with the, in my opinion much superior ones of a very dear friend around the age of 15 I have never got back into it. I am my own harshest critic and find it difficult to start since I am convinced I will fail.

Favorite author? Poet?

Tough question, very tough question! I don't have a favorite poet since what I like very much depends on my mood or where I am in life, but I have a favorite poem, one I hope will one day be put in my obituary, and that is Song, by Christina Rossetti (http://www.poetry-archive.com/r/song.html).

Again, favorite author also depends on my mood... I had a teenage obsession with Stephen King, but that has passed (thankfully).

Favorite quote?

"Here is my final point. About drugs, about alcohol, about pornography and smoking and everything else. What business is it of yours what I do, read, buy, see, say, think, who I fuck, what I take into my body - as long as I do not harm another human being on this planet?" - Bill Hicks, American Comedian

Plans about writing in the future?

To paraphrase Rhett Butler in Gone With The Wind: Frankly, my dear... I have absolutely no idea! *smile*

At some point I suppose I have to grow up and start thinking about all the time I'm spending writing and what I'm doing with it, but for now... I'm perfectly happy just writing.

Any advice to poets who wish to start their own poetry community or to create just a blog?

I don't believe I am the person to ask, since I am making this blogging thing up myself as I go, trying to make heads or tails of the blogosphere. The one advice I would give anyone who wants to be creative in any way, on or off-line is to not be scared. Fear is the kryptonite of creativity. Fear and priorities.

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Happy Sunday to everyone!