BY THE HABITUAL WORDSMITH T.J. LOVE

The Habitual Wordsmith T.J. Love: Let's start with your origins. Where are you from originally?

D.A. Alston: I hail from sunny San Diego. But now I reside in Atlanta.

Word. How'd you end up on the other side of the country?

Well, my grandfather started a church in California. It grew and became very popular in the city, but then he told us that God told him to move to Georgia to start a church there. Mind you, we had zero family there. But we stepped out on faith and God blessed us. Five buildings later, we're doing well and now own a movie theater as well.

That's really dope. Getting y'all Wizard Kelly on. I've been there though—moving across the country on faith. It's definitely harrowing. How has that influenced your work?

Well, I rely on my family a lot and my faith is such a huge part of who I am, in general. I try to stay pretty balanced and center myself in the midst of the craziness. So, most of my work normally has that same underlying tone towards having faith.

I feel that. I feel like you don't see a lot of that in Black writing. How does your faith shape you as a person? Why has it been so important to you?

As a person, it has gotten me through some of the hardest points in my life. It has helped me smile when I wanted to cry. It pushed me forward when I wanted to give up. It covered me when I wanted to go wild. It's just always been a positive force in my life.

Image by Couleur from Pixabay

I feel that. So that being said, let me ask you something—a lot of pro-black, “woke” folk are claiming that Christianity is the religion of the oppressor. Where do you think this idea comes from and does this affect you as a Christian at all?

Honestly, I don't concern myself with ideologies and claims from other people. I know what God means to me and what He's personally done for me in my life. That's all I stand on. I'm not living for the approval of anyone else.

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“I don’t concern myself with ideologies and claims from other people... I’m not living for the approval of anyone else.”

— D.A. Alston

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I hear you. I love people with principles. So talk to me about The Unlikely Tale of the Royal Elite Squad. What was the inspiration for that?

Well, it didn't even start off as a book idea. I was sitting at IHOP with my mother. And, because I also draw, we've been talking about creating a coloring book for years. On this particular day, I was like “maybe I'll finally do that.” So, I'm talking the idea over with her, and I was like “what if I do superheroes that are all women? All with different nationalities?” Then, I was like “what if I put a storyline to it?” And it just snowballed into the creation that it is now.

That's really unique—almost sounds like your own personal superhero origin story. Representation is a beautiful thing, especially in a world where the main protagonists have always been beefed-up white dudes. So what's next for D.A. Alston?

Representation is major. For women and people of color. Currently, I'm working on the second installment of Royal Elite Squad. I just really started writing it and I'm really excited. I'm just trying to focus and knock this out. I also have a few speaking engagements coming soon. The ultimate goal is to get a table at DragonCon to present my book.

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“Representation is major.”

— D.A. Alston

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Things seem to be coming together for you—a theme for us at Vital Narrative. What's DragonCon?

That's why I love our team. DragonCon is the Atlanta version of Comic-Con. It's the epitome of a lituation.

‘Lituation' just made me feel mad old. So it's basically a gathering of my fellow geeks, cosplaying as their favorite superheroes? How dope would it be one day to see Royal Elite Squad cosplayers?

That's the goal, though! Seeing people dressing up as characters from my book. That's the dream.

Baby steps, right? First DragonCon, then the world. I'm rooting for you.

Thank you sir. I'm excited.

Of course. Keep making us proud and keep us updated.

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T.J.'s first book of poetry, Speaking In Tongues: Love In Five Languages, can be purchased here. You can purchase The Unlikely Tale of the Royal Elite Squad by D.A. Alston by clicking here.

BY TONY BOWERS

The Habitual Wordsmith T.J. Love knows how to create words that evoke real emotion. I consider this to be a superpower. This amazing ability is what the world has always needed, so I was excited to spend time chopping it up with my literary brother. I have been a fan of T.J’s even before his provocative poetry collection, Speaking in Tongues: Love in Five Languages. From his bombastic SoundCloud recordings to his impromptu Facebook musings, this brother knows how to move the needle.

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Tony Bowers: How long have you been writing and performing poetry?

The Habitual Wordsmith: I've been writing pretty much all my life, but started performing when I was 17.

So you got years in the game. I started writing back when I was 9. My first love was Langston Hughes. He inspired me to write. Who was your first love of poetry?

Word, Langston was there. Paul Laurence Dunbar, too. If I had to pick a first love though, man... as a kid, probably Maya Angelou. She was always so evocative and had such depth in simple lines. I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings was such an intimate read and gave so much insight into her life, it deepened my appreciation for her and her work. As I got older, I definitely dug Ainsley Burrows as my first spoken word love.

Photo credit: Stephen Parker/Alamy Stock Photo

We need that inspiration to guide us. Who are your current poetry/literary crushes?

I've really been digging on Lin-Manuel Miranda. He wrote Hamilton and the songs from Moana, but he's so damn lyrical and his wordplay is heads and shoulders beyond anything I've ever seen before. Like I'm obsessed with the Hamilton soundtrack, how effortlessly he spins these lyrical tales through hip-hop and musical theatre. It's so dope. Warsan Shire is another one. I'm trying to familiarize myself with her work more. She echoes of that simplistic beauty I found in Maya all those years ago.

That's interesting your connection to Miranda and musicals—are there any non-literary art forms that inspire you? Abstract art does it for me.

I love abstract art. I've always been a fan of art that doesn't have a set particular message, open-interpretation stuff. I usually try to say something in my work, yet I want my readers/listeners to extrapolate from it what they will and it always inspires me to have conversations of their reasoning and rationale. I also dig still life photography. Like I've walked the Brooklyn Bridge a million times, but the perfectly captured image of it will get me emotional because it reminds me of home.

Amen. Spoken like a true artist. What's your next challenge?

Right now, I'm in a rotation of hosts for an open mic session out here in Phoenix called Cultiv8n Culture and that's been really dope, something new and exciting. I was just on a radio show out here called 'Off The Cuff' on RadioSupa.com where I spoke about Speaking In Tongues and my upbringing in life and in poetry. I also was just featured on Indiana hip-hop artist Con Rome's mixtape. Individually, my next project is to finish my ninth spoken word album. I have the pieces written, I just have to record them. Outside of that, just visualizing my next book. But that won't be till next year, and with the Women’s Initiative coming up in 2019, I've got a little time.

Wow, you’ve got a full plate. That's what's up. Last question—which do you prefer spoken or written poetry and why?

Damn, that's a great question. I gotta take both honestly. I know I suck for that, but they are both equally important to me. Some people are audio-intensive. Some are visual. One without the other is deprivation. Spoken word has an attraction because delivery and cadence are fifty percent of the entertainment value, while written poetry has to have a certain visual aesthetic, whether in word choice or placement or structure, in order to be universally appealing. There are certain niches for both so they are both powerful in their own rights.

No, that's great. Both is a great answer. Great break down on the why. I appreciate your time. Great and thoughtful answers. Thanks Brother. Keep slanging them words.

No doubt man, thanks for the time. Will do, most def.

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You can purchase Tony Bowers’ first book, On The Nine, by clicking here. You can order Speaking in Tongues: Love in Five Languages by The Habitual Wordsmith T.J. Love by clicking here.