Bleah Patterson
ORP: What inspired you to begin writing or creating? Has that source of inspiration changed throughout your life?
Bleah Patterson: I've always written, and for a long time I pursued journalism because I thought that was the only real outlet. Then, by my mid-twenties, I'd been through so much that creative writing, specifically poetry, felt like the only true way to express myself. That's driven me ever since.
ORP: Do you write or create with an audience in mind? If so, how do you consider the relationship between that audience and your work throughout your creative process?
BP: I think I write to a younger version of myself, or to my friends, or to women in general. I think a lot about the feminine sensibilities (girlhood, being feminine, queer girlhood, etc.) that have been silenced because they don't appeal to the male gaze (think, I dress for girls not men memes). I also write a lot about how women communicate through pop culture and music.
ORP: Who do you consider to be your creative ancestors and contemporaries for your art and/or writing? How does your creative work converse with theirs?
BP: Olivia Gatwood for sure, Sylvia Plath to go back further. Sappho really speaks to me if we're talking the origins of female poetry.
ORP: What does vulnerability mean to you as an artist and/or writer?
BP: I think it means being willing to subvert or undermine yourself, or, how you're expected to present on the page. I think I try to be transgressive, write about my inner thoughts even if they're not pretty or put together. All of this feels deeply vulnerable.
