SplashHall Paparazzo Champagne Shoes Catches Sampo aka Andrew Pike Playing Tag At SplashHall Poetry

Splashers: This week the relentless SplashHall Paparazzo Champagne Shoes has worn Sampo out at Haiku Tag and cajoled him into a friendly interrogation. It is with pride and pleasure that Shoes introduces Andrew Pike, aka Sampo.


c_s: Sampo, What brought you to the Halls of Splash?
Sampo: A couple of false starts ( absolutely no feedback ) and then stumbling onto the AX.

c_s: What keeps you here?
Sampo: Well Dianatrees tearing my first post to pieces to start with ( justifiably so ) and the simple fact that everyone here takes their craft seriously.

c_s: Who have been the greatest influences on your poetic vision?
Sampo: Initally quoting the Raven, then the Odes of Keats, and eventually The Wasteland ( after my head stopped spinning. )

c_s: Describe your poetry-spinning creative experience. What's it like for you to weave a poem?
Sampo: Like a knot I try to unravel and then re-tie in a more appealing form.

c_s: Other than SplasHall, what are your passions and addictions?
Sampo: Movies, books. Books, movies. Any genre in the realm of fiction, combined with generous doses of nicotine.

c_s: Have your critique dispensing skills evolved since you joined SplashHall?
Sampo: Hope so. A gradual shift away from vague compliments-- I like it... Nice poem, and really attempting to decipher the intent behind every word and it's placement. (I'm fascinated by everybody's line breaks at the moment.)

c_s: Are you attached to your avatar?
Sampo: Hell no, he just kinda looks like me is all.

c_s: I know that you write prose as well. How is that process different for you than is poetry writing?
Sampo: Not sure really. More characters. More paper. I'd like to have the inspiration of Stephen King. His imagination has leveled rainforests.

c_s: Are you enjoying the political mosh pit?
Sampo: I'm studying philosophy. Nuff said.

c_s: What are your long-term goals in writing and publishing?
Sampo: Modest enough. One poem in a book somewhere circulating the globe.

c_s: Where do you live, work and play in the real world?
Sampo:I live in a dying tourist town, bypassed over five years ago by a freeway. But the fishing has improved since then. My work is providing customers with an elixir that allows them to do ' the Timewarp ' without any regard for just how ridiculous they look. ( Work in a pub. Am I being too comical ? )

c_s: No, Sampo. You're doing just fine. Trust me. Are you a university student?
Sampo: Part-time bachelor of arts, majoring in philosophy, where it has been said, I will become familiar with studying the nature of humanity amid unemployment lines.

c_s: Is there anything in particular you would like to say to Rg?
Sampo: Gracias kind sir, su casa es mi casa. Ha ! ( My spanish is pretty weak, Champagne - Your house is my house ? )

c_s: I think you mean 'Your hotel..." Okay, Sampo. Let's play the Top Three Game. What are your top three books, poems, movies and songs?

Sampo: Top three books
Lord of the Rings - Tolkien
A Movable feast - Hemmingway
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas - The Great Hunter.

Top three poems
The Wasteland - Eliot
Ode on a Grecian Urn - Keats
The Second Coming - Yeats

Top three movies
Metropolis
Donnie Darko
Dawn of the Dead.

Top three songs
Radiohead - Creep
White Rabbit - Jefferson Airplane
Bohemian Rhapsody - Queen

c_s: Splashers, I hope this interview gives you a little insight into our hard-working axer and very talented young poet, Andrew Pike. Sampo, I'll tag you later. Visit Sampo now at SplashHall Poetry Forums