Interview with Belle DiMonté

Welcome to an Interview with…Belle DiMonté  

Author of Res Primae: A Collection of First Poems, and author-to-be of Perigee Moon: Poems from a Pagan Summer.

 

A brief synopsis. 

The first collection is just what its title suggests; it is a collection of first poetry, mostly inspirational or Nature poetry, that I wrote during my first two years of high school. (I’m 16 now — wasn’t long ago!) The second is a collection of poems chronicalling spiritual growths over one summer in a very mystical, image-oriented, transient way. The poems are mostly oriented around the Roman moon goddess Diana, the Pleiades, and other heavenly beings.

 

What made you decide to write this book? 

I’ll talk about the second collection, Perigee Moon, here…I wanted to share my spiritual experiences and journeys with others, hoping they could relate to what I was experiencing and transcribing into verse. Also I wanted to put forth this collection as a “tip of the hat” to Diana, who is very important to me both inspirationally and practically.

 

Where did the title come from? 

The title just popped into my head and flowed together…it sounded good. A perigee moon is a moon that is as close to earth as it can possibly be, as close to the gravity-bound mortals as it can be, and the summer I was writing this poetry was very much a perigee summer for me — the moon and I were very close that summer. It was a summer of moonlight and dancing, so the title tries to capture that spirit.

Do you always write in this genre? 

Spiritual poetry? No. No, for me it was a bit odd at first. I wasn’t sure how to write meaningful spiritual stuff without sounding stiff or haughty or in-your-face…or just plain false. So it was an adventure…I think the poetry ended up being more image-oriented rather than spiritual, actually, but that turned out well in the end.  

 

 

What was your inspiration to write and when did you start? 

Perigee Moon was actually inspired by reading the spiritual/devotional poetry of other poets…namely some from Eternal Haunted Summer, an ezine that I write book reviews for. These other poets had written some beautiful books in devotion to deities of their choice, and I also wanted to partake in the honouring of Those That Watch Over Us. And so I started writing right away…summer of 2011.

What was your destination to publishing? ie are you self published.  

I am not self-published in a traditional sense; I do have a publisher, The Moon Publishing and Printing, which is a small, independent press. Small presses are often overlooked in favour of larger ones, and since small presses often arrange the publication of poetry books via personal relationships with the authors it’s sort of like being self-published, in a way. You really have to fight for yourself.

 

 

Do you have a website to share?

 Indeed; www.belleofmountains.wordpress.com

 

Any links to the book/books

 

My poetry collection Res Primae is available from my publisher’s online store, which you can navigate to via www.moonpublishprint.com. You can also order the book via phone, email, and regular mail. The ordering info is all on my publisher’s site as well as mine.  Perigee Moon will hopefully be available in a few months.

Please feel free to share an exerpt. I’d love to, thanks. This comes from my collection Res Primae.

Nocturnal Tea

Twilight seeps the world as

White sugar-petals plummet

Into the tea I brewed

With tincture of evening stars.

I sit now, let the cobalt trickle down my

throat

As crickets serenade the crescent Moon.

She unfurls her tulle over peasant fields

Sweeping Earth with velvet breath.

A toast to you, Sky.

 The very best of luck with your book Belle.