Hello everyone! Welcome back to Mad Moments, swallow::tale’s semi-regular feature on short-form Mad creativity. This week, we get the pleasure of reading three poems by Lucas Scheelk, a longtime writer-comrade of mine and all around Mad mensch. Scheelk expertly fuses a myriad of (pop-)cultural interests, thick spiritual identity, and a fresh irreverence toward “recovery” doctrine to write truly inventive poems. Lucas is also a deeply generous literary citizen, and their own newsletter and social media presence consistently uplift fellow creatives. I’m thrilled to present three of Lucas’s poems and an incredibly informative interview with you all today.
Normally, the interview portion of Mad Moments is available only to paying members, whose contributions help keep Mad Moments a paid opportunity. However, given Scheelk’s generous shoutouts of mutual aid, harm reduction, and COVID-aware resources, I’ve decided to open this full newsletter to all subscribers. If you want to read Mad Moments #1 with Jay Besemer, and to get access to future issues. Thank you for your support!
Lastly: If you’re a Mad creator and want to be considered for publication in Mad Moments, email your submission to cavar@swallowtale.icu. To get an idea of what we like, check out our bookstore.
Now, onto Lucas’s work! Due to the limitations of Substack’s formatting, I’ve included images rather than plain text, with alt text available for each. Trigger warnings include: COVID-19 pandemic, alcoholism, classism, antisemitism.
Lucas Scheelk (they/them) is an autistic queer white Jew; they’re a Pushcart Prize nominated poet, a degree-less college-dropout, and the author of A PRAYER FOR A NON-RELIGIOUS AUTISTIC (Mason Jar Press, 2022). Their interests include: the poetry of Marilyn Monroe, creating Acrostic-Spine poems, Jewish folklore, tattoos, cannabis, etc. You can find Scheelk's writing at: Taco Bell Quarterly, Stone of Madness Press, Mollyhouse, queerlings, QDA: A Queer Disability Anthology, and Autonomous Press, among others.
A Conversation With Lucas Scheelk:
Cavar: From the very first line of “Yossel,” your poems revel in the derivative, intertextual, and otherwise hilariously/profoundly referential to culture “high” and “low." These, it seems, inform the structure, grammar, and other world making efforts of your work. What, to you, is the significance of explicit reference/citation in poetry?
Lucas: Quite vulnerably… as per the last line of “Yossel”:
EMET just trying to survive.
Less vulnerably… poets are historians, librarians, playwrights, and sculptors rolled into one.
Cavar: Something I find compelling and challenging about your work is the way that it contends with subcultures that appear at odds –– namely, transMad Jewish pride and the institution of AA/the treatment industrial complex. Ironically, the best word I can find to describe what you’re doing with this array of factors is “intervention,” the very same noun that signifies, for many substance users, a denial of autonomy. I’d love to hear any and all of your insights (another heavy word!) into navigating these cultural and historical layers, especially (though not exclusively) through the medium of poetry.
Lucas: There’s a lot of important conversations right now in the recovery and harm reduction community (I’m in recovery from alcohol, and I’m openly a stoner) about how AA and our perception of substance use can be and is used as a tool for denial of autonomy.
If you’re on TikTok, I’ve gained a lot of knowledge re: harm reduction from:
end.overdose
court0o0
live.laugh.naloxone
beauty.in.harmreduction
cosmos_juno
drugpolicyalliance
gefilteb1tch
I’ve seen less conversations, however, about AA being foundationally xtian-based.
The language in the original 12-steps sheet (“surrendering your will to him,” as an example) is inescapably xtian, which was something I struggled with when I created my own Jewish AA 12-Step resource (available to read here).
As Jews, we’re in a partnership with Hashem; I’m not surrendering my will to Hashem so then I don’t drink myself to death. That’s not Pikuach Nefesh.
Pikuach Nefesh is Hashem reminding me of the time, eons ago, I drank so much that I shit my bed (imagine a flower pot amount), and when I woke up the next morning, I rushed to hide the evidence from my then-roommates. We’ll have a laugh about it.
Pikuach Nefesh is Hashem reminding me of Craig Ferguson’s sobriety monologue from 2007.
Pikuach Nefesh is Hashem telling me, again and again, that bridges aren’t where I’m meant to soar. We’ll have a very long cry about it.
As for the piece, “It Can Drive One To Relapse,” my focus is the visual of the alcohol bottle, along with the open ending of “and” (signifying to be read repeatedly); I have a love of open-endings.
The narrator of the piece, much like myself, became an Essential Worker in Summer 2020. Unfortunately the only resource available to the narrator (like it was for myself at the time) is/was AA. They work overnight shifts when there’s no meetings, and the cycle of what if’s (i.e. what if I get sick from people who refuse to wear a mask?) tempt to drown them inside their former lover (alcohol).
The reference to Lip Gallagher at the end comes from the show Shameless, which is something I marathoned during that time. Came for Ian Gallagher’s bipolar storyline after my own diagnosis. Stayed for Lip Gallagher’s alcoholism journey. Almost left 10,000 times after every use of the r-slur in that show.
Cavar: Track Seven of “Now That’s What I Call Temp Work” reads "Not all molding flowers are Hitler.” I’m wondering: says who? For whose benefit; for whose necessity?
Lucas: This line was based on a true occurrence at one of my former temp jobs (which happened to be at a floral warehouse) - overhearing a temp worker compare a local politician to Hitler for providing necessary COVID safety measures.
Okay, now for the broad questions:
Cavar: What are you working on now, and what do you hope to work on in the future? What are some thematic threads, topics, and conversations that you’d like to think with moving forward?
I’m currently working on my fourth poetry manuscript, named “Yossel the Working Class Peacock.” At this point I’m about 75% finished, aiming to be done by Summer 2023.
In-between manuscript edits, I post on various socials [TikTok] [Twitter] about book-spine poetry, acrostic-spine poetry, Marilyn Monroe’s poetry, and other various special interests.
I have a DIY poetry syllabus called In My Poetic Opinion. [Free to share; please credit me!]
I recently began attempting an acrostic-spine poem using my book, “A Prayer For A Non-Religious Autistic” as the title. It’s going to take a while… I tend to pick very long titles!
[Note: Bouncing off of Nina Katchadourian’s book-spine poetry, acrostic-spine poetry is an acrostic poem using book-spines.]
Cavar: Is there anything else you want us to know, about you, your work, and otherwise? Are there any particular shoutouts or hat-tips you want to give?
My 3rd poetry book, “A Prayer For A Non-Religious Autistic” is available at Mason Jar Press.
Sending love to my spouse Rose; our 1-year wedding anniversary is March 17th (we had it during Purim)!
Disability Rights Activist Judy Heumann recently passed; may her memory be for a blessing.
Donations are never required, but are always appreciated:
Venmo: Lucas-Scheelk
CashApp: $LucasScheelk
Everyone should carry Naloxone!
Please continue wearing masks indoors AND outdoors! COVID is not over!
SIGNAL BOOSTING!
Michael LaBorn's DYB (Decolonize Your Bookshelf) Publishing fundraiser [GoFundMe]
Cyree Jarelle Johnson’s Black Disability Justice Syllabus [Sins Invalid]
AWN’s Autistic People of Color Fund [Autistic Women & Nonbinary Network]
Thanks again for reading! If you enjoyed this interview, please feel free to share this newsletter with a friend and consider ordering a swallow::tale book. See you soon for the next installment of Mad Moments!
Thank you so much again for including me in Mad Moments! It's an honor! I aim to live up to the Mad Mensch moniker!