At the moment it is "L'homme en Verre Teinté" (The man stained in glass). It's a prose I had written anonymously (well, not anymore) because I found it overpoweringly blasphemous. It's about the sacrilegious scorns of a man who, after a fruitless search for god, razed all his beliefs. Everyday he found himself praying, calling out to god, only to realize he himself was the only one listening. Then he just assumed he was god.   


Do you relate to "L'homme en verre teinte" and have you ever lost your faith?
Similarly, I find my religion very demanding but no, I've never lost my faith, per se. I just grow consistently impatient waiting for someone I am required to believe in. We all have those days - when obstacles arise, we say "HEY, maybe this Rosary is out of order" or "What was I thinking, of course 100 Hail Maries weren't enough!" but we never, never question his existence or his will.       

Do you look up to any other poets?


There are countless! But most essentially Edgar Allan Poe, Oscar Wilde, Arthur Rimbaud and Pablo Neruda. I grew up reading Shel Silverstein's works and they served as a push to my interest in poetry.  



Perhaps, Shakespeare in the purest sense that our works are often misinterpreted and praised due to these misconceptions. If Shakespeare were alive today, I bet he'd be an avid contributor at Cracked.com; he hid dirty jokes in his poetry and these were assumed to be romantic. I'd describe the features of a dull, empty refrigerator and again they'd consider it romantic.  



Where do you find writing ideas?


Everywhere! They just come, and when they do I just stop what I'm doing, put my headphones on, ignore the world, and write away. This is why my Filipino class teacher hates me.     



Poetry, just like everything else I do, started with interest and curiosity. I'd gone through a dark period of my life and writing helped me survive. Scratch that, I'm not sure if I'm completely on the other side yet. It's a dark winding tour of the world's ass which I call Jaf's Renaissance. 



There's music, sketching, and I pride myself for eating quite artfully! I indulge in numerous activities which are nowhere in the same ZIP code as "creative". I'm also one for the languages and I like learning something different every now and then.



What is one thing that surely continues to inspire you as a poet?


One thing? The thing about my inspiration is it's impossibly inconsistent. Dynamic! One moment it's my love interest, the next, it's a bottle of apple juice staring at me. I don't know, really. I'm not even sure I'm a poet! Right now, all I am sure of is....English.  





Jaf Liethers is truly an inspiring and witty individual. We hope that Jaf continues to amaze us with poems.


Read more of this interview in our Literary Magazine, Poets' Refuge Issue No. 43.

My mom says I’ve been writing since I could hold a pencil, and I think that’s true. My desire to write was always present and God given, since the time I was a kid.

Everywhere! I’m one of those people who is always scribbling in a notebook, in addition to pounding away at the keyboard.

Actively writing every day and reading.

I get inspired by so many people.

His word, his actions… they have deep meaning for me. I enjoy reading about people, how they overcome the trials in their life, how they work toward their goals, and how they find happiness.

Writing, painting, reading, cooking… anything creative. I enjoy solving problems and reaching goals. I’m very passionate about sharing my life experiences in a way that can help others. If I had one overall passion it would be to improve the lives of women who have dealt with abuse at the hands of people that should have loved them unconditionally. I want every woman to know her worth.

Write daily, not just when you feel like it. Blog like it’s your job, and your natural voice will come through.

During the week, I try and spend half my day writing, and the other half doing things like promotion, website maintenance, client “stuff” (like meeting new people, billing, etc.). I write every day although some days are lighter than others. Weekdays are all about my client and blogging work, and weekends are for poetry and fiction projects.