She lurks behind bushes, or the dark halls of Splash, even under your cafe table. Today,
SplashHall Paparazzo,
Champagne Shoes, nabs an interview with SplashHall Poet and Artist John Lindus, aka Shropshire Lad.
c_s: Hello, John. What can you tell us about Shropshire?
JL: About Shropshire, absolutely nothing. Shropshire Lad, on the other hand , is a title of a collection of poems by the Edwardian poet Houseman. They concern themselves with country life in Shropshire, England.
c_s: When was the last time you visited "home" ?
JL: Last year first time in ten years .My mother was dying. We were very close at a long distance . She was a beautiful,caring woman who could never remember my name in an entire lifetime.
c_s: What brought you to SplashHall ?
JL: I was searching the web for a poetry magazine and I chanced on Splash Halls. I sort of got lost on the boards but ended up reading a poem by Witt t o Cy Street. I read his reply. Witt's poem was short enough so it stuck in my mind. A few days later I joined splashHall.
c_s: Which is your favourite forum here?
JL: The Ax. Kay is one of my favorites in the critique department, along with you. Both put a lot of love and kindness into your critiques.Poets -- well ,Cy Street and Diana Trees for different reasons . Cy has one of the best measured voices of any poet around ; Diana Trees, because she works an image in a small space a nd extracts a lot of power. In her poems, there is a contrast of colour that's not visible. Perhaps it's what in the hidden-- a mysterious substance inside the metaphors. But Sampo and Bittersweet are also standouts. In fact, many authors who post there are. Silty is another who pops into mind.
On the other boards where I hang out in the corner chewing gum , I have my favourites : Dodjii, Bittersweet , Soft Words, Turtle Songs, Nightsongs and SeaSpirit, to name just a handful.
c_s: Would you describe yourself as a political poet?
JL: Fuck no, I would not even describe myself as a poet, but I would say that the state of the union address is too important t o let the president keep on doing it. I mean, Bill Gates, William Strauss or R.D Kaplan, three eminent American thinkers, would create a far more enlightening address. I also belive there is a spiritual renewing to modern American Thought, a new generation of thinkers, but it is obscured at the moment by current situations.
c_s: I see that you work the boards with charisma.
JL: Charisma.... is an interesting word; the Greek take is the one I swing with Charisma.... Enters the person. We don't create it ourselves, so we don't own it. I am mindful of this in my dealings with people although I don't expect people would believe that, to be charismatic may become a hollow state if exploited for ones own ends
c_s: Have you ever been involved in politics?
JL: No, I dislike politics apart from observing history in the making. I can enjoy the intellect the craft of politician, but they are different species to artists. I've know a few.
In fact, my last exhibition in America was down to one politician buying my works . So everybody thought wow the great man is buying Lindus' works.And it follows that I and the great man are friends. So paintings can be purchased on account of someone buying my works and their assumptions. So they bought my paintings to say: "Look me and the great man both buy Lindus' paintings." Not much to do with me and my work or if its any good. Bullshit goes a long way in the art world
c_s: You are first and foremost a visual artist, isn't that true?
JL: Yes I believe so.
c_s: Can you give us a link so that we might taste a sample of your art?
JL: ermmm.... I do, yes. Bread and butter work is cute & digestible. It was a change in direction but I found myself with a family to feed halfway through my life so I thought,fuck it ; you want a portrait of your donkey, yur got it. Now I have done that-- painted around two thousand paintings in ten years, I'm whacked out. So I have taken a year off; hence, splashboards which has reinvigorated me as an artist. I will start painting again in March with a series of abstraction which has been overlapping the figurative work these last years. Land art I just haven't had time for.
c_s: Other than creating in your studio, and flirting at Splash Hall . . .
JL: Well darling, I flirt with you bec....
c_s: ...tell us something about your relationship with time.
JL: Time for me is nomadic/ like the desert /empty. It seems to exist in material/ Objects I haven't found it existing outside of that, but I ain't a scientist, yet intruiged I am in dark matter, perhaps it's hiding in that. Remove the objects, artificial structures, substance and perhaps there is no time, just space. I have lived as a recluse for the best part of twenty years. So time slips into obscurity. The Greeks refer to me as the man no one has met, but I do leave the land to exhibit or lecture at times or travel . I say land because I work with vines and olives and fruit trees, building stone terrace walls. So my life is much as a peasant as it is an artist; they feed into each other. W ork on the land moves with light and dark in accordance to seasons. The identity of time and days disappear. It is either light or dark or hot and cold ; this regulates activity and it becomes a cycle which forms a circle. The sensation of following this circle is nomadic . There is no real meaning in a day being Tuesday.
c_s: You seem to be a worldly man. Which countries in Europe have you explored?
JL: All -- after all, North Africa is only a few hours by plane. Europe is not my great love. The Islamic world, by that I mean culture, is my love. There a man can speak as an oral poet and be accepted for that. Persian literature has always been an influence. The Quoran is very poetical which I read along with the Old Testament/ Song of Solomon and the psalms. Many of the metaphors contained are derived from observing nature. Sheba's description in the Song of Solomon is made up of fruits flowers and animals. It's very accurate and you can create her portrait from this. These images are still in evidence. Outside of the Middle East then America and India I am indebted to for giving shape to my life.
c_s: Who were your childhood heroes?
JL: I didn't have any. I was to busy surviving the indignity of childhood . But strangely enough it was Native Americans. I used to have old prints of Native Americans on my bedroom wall . The only prize I ever one was an essay on the Plains Indians when I was eleven. Although drawn to the Sioux, it was the beauty of the crow I envied, but later it was a real mixed bag . Black American music was a big thing in England. The Beatles and The Stones took all their influences. The modern world has gained from the cultural dynamism of Black Americans; it's so alive and innovative in the arts . My other influences really come when I start to open my eyes. It would have been Shakespeare if he had written like Jack Kerouac or sung like Dylan or was Blaise Cendersa or Yvevgeny Yevtushenko, who wrote one of my favourite poems called "Encounter."
c_s: What is your totem?
JL: Suggestion, darling ; suggestion is my totem ; it's how an artist works.
c_s: Thank you for this roller coaster ride of an interview, John. I lost my hat, but it was well-worth it. The following link will give Splashers some samples of Lindus' extraordinary artistic landscape:
Click to view John's Art at AbsoluteArts.
Come on by
SplashHall Poetry Forums and visit with SplashHall Poet Shrophire Lad. Be careful though, Paparazzo
Champagne Shoes will be flashing for you.
For the first time ever.... CafeRg Founder Of The SplashHall Media Community agrees to an exclusive interview, with SplashReporter Champagne Shoes. The SplashHall Media Community includes 
