a long time ago Jesse Reyes Her voice was admired and her poetry was the Toronto-raised musician’s “first love.”
The Grammy-nominated and Juno Award-winning song often feels like colloquial poetry, backed by a mix of R&B, hip-hop, and Latin beats. When the commercial demands of music or the industry fail to satisfy her creative desires, Reyes turns to writing, often asking her millions of followers on Instagram for poetry prompts.
She compiled some of her poems, which were previously only available on Instagram’s 24-hour Stories timeline, into a book, “Purge of the People: Words of the Goat Princess, Volume 2,” which was released on Tuesday.
The exercise, which Reyes now does weekly, allows her to create and publish almost instantly, and feels like scratching “an itch in the middle of my brain that I can’t reach,” she told The Associated Press.
“Even if you’re lucky enough to have a creative job and get paid for your art, you might end up with this inferior version of what you’re making. Some of your purity is at risk,” Reyes said. “You really have to become a guard for your art.”
Reyez writes about “Breadcrumbs” and “Air.” Other prompts are more specific, such as one titled “I was having a fun day when I stub my toe on the table.” Reyes said the prompts are endless. “It’s like taking a snapshot of the emotional state of the world.”
This year has been a busy one for Reyez, representing her non-stop creative flow. She has been touring in support of her latest album since early June. “Paid with memories.” She begins her book tour in the United States this month and will return to the international leg of her music tour in November.
She recently spoke about her upcoming book, the freedom poetry provides, and how she protects her creative flow.
Comments have been edited for clarity and brevity.
AP: How is writing poetry different from writing songs?
REYEZ: Writing has always been my first love. I loved poetry more than music. I like the idea of a release. I love the idea of freedom. Freedom feels like home to me. I love creating as a musician, but when I’m writing songs, there’s a musical line between lyrics and melody. There are more rules that must be followed. But I feel most free when I’m writing songs, and I’m not bound by the chords and melodies of the songs I’m participating in.
AP: Why did you decide to compile your poems into a book?
REYEZ: I love the ephemerality of creating something. But it’s such a community thing that some people started thinking, “I wish I was here and could keep it going.” It became clearer that this was a team issue. I wanted to make sure people could keep what they created with me.
AP: How did you choose the poems to include?
REYEZ: I’ve become very good at criticizing myself objectively. With music, it’s a little more difficult. Because music can sometimes act like makeup. When you read a great song, it has to be so powerful that it sounds like a beautiful poem without the music. I like playing with words like that. It becomes clearer what worked and what makes it to the cutting room floor.
AP: One of the poems is entirely in Spanish, and your Colombian heritage shines throughout the book. Did it happen naturally?
REYEZ: It’s something that comes naturally to me, so I don’t really need to be conscious about it. It’s in my blood, it’s in my heart, it’s in my soul, it’s in the way I love. But while Spanish is my first language, the language in which I learned to be human, and the language in which I learned to love, Spanish is not the language I studied. The library of words that can be extracted is much larger in English, so it defaults to more output in English.
AP: Some prompts are very specific, while others are vague. How did that influence your writing process?
REYEZ: I don’t have a favorite one. I love the whole process, which is challenging in both senses of the word, literally. If it’s specific, it’s difficult because you have to dig a little deeper to find it. I think everyone has that ability. You just need to learn how to open the box and dig in. Then you will find so much in common and so many things that you and I have experienced. It feels like a different shade of blue, but it’s still blue.
AP: I really enjoyed the way you flipped some of the prompts in their heads. For example, one prompt asked for a poem about “big butts” and you wrote about “butts” such as hesitation in love. Was that intentional?
Reyes: You’re doing well. That’s how you find out how it relates to you, you know what I mean? “Big Butts” is a great song. I’m glad you remembered that as an example. I love the idea of play. I love the idea of a challenge. Sometimes I receive a photo that makes me think, “In what world would someone make something with a prompt like that?”
AP: I do this exercise about once a week. I’m sure he wrote many other poems as well. Is it possible that this book will be further revised in the future?
Reyes: Yes, maybe so. It’s so funny, I practiced that again the day I submitted it. The week after the deadline, I did the exercise again. I really had to show some self-control. Strictly adhere to deadlines. Deadlines are a gift of creative genius. Because without a deadline, this book would be a never-ending book. Let’s take a look. If that’s what it’s meant to be, sure.
