Polyamorous Love Letters Volume 1 - 4 published 2020
This is your first series of published written work. What made you write such material?
I was in need of connecting with romantic love again in my life, and also wanted to explore polyamorous connections. It was a nine-month project where I simply fell in love, with a faceless man and faceless woman, and wrote about the loves. In publishing this writing, it has been similar to coming out as non-heterosexual, but in this case, as non-monogamous. And that feels right for me right now.
The work is very ethereal in spots. Is it all a fictional story of loves?
Most of the writing is a fictional love story. There are obviously parts in volume three in particular, where I had to draw on personal physical experiences to provide content. But for the majority of the letters, they are imagined in a divine and privileged place. It is such a nice thing to do for yourself, to imagine love and fall in to it.
How could you write about something that you had not yet experienced in your own life?
Well imagination and desire are powerful tools when synchronised. I needed to be in love again. And I have had many great loves and heartbreaks that have shown me what that feels like since falling in love in year seven at primary school, and through the years. That provided lots of emotion to draw upon. However not many of the letters draw directly upon real memories. It was very much a series of letters written about what I needed from my two lovers, and what was created between us. However, I think I have often captured the commonality of love – the universality of it, and basically sketched that onto paper. Line by line.
What helped you focus on this project?
I was often playing the same music in the background – Courtney-Marie Andrews latest album called Old Flowers (2020). There was a sense in that music that took me straight to reminiscing about the latest engagement with my imaginary lovers. Also, the creation of the preface’s I found helpful to communicate a focus to the reader – to steer them in a direction that they could best consume the latest volume. Violet Franke did an amazing job in communicating and summing up the prefaces.
How did you shift from publishing music to writing?
I am still working on music and art when I feel like it. Certainly, I have found publishing writing much easier and straight forward, and cheaper! The old technology I have been using to create my music, takes time, skill and patience. In fact, I have also recently released an EP called Not While Driving – Drum and Bass Meditations this Christmas (2020), on Beatport.com
Will you be writing anymore works?
I am continuing to write, on a project of letters and reflections to relatives and friends that have passed. Including my parents. Most of my family has passed and I am keen to try to capture a sense of what their relationships have meant to me, even if I never met them. It is a mixture of historical memory and fiction. But still essentially, communicating the love of family and friendship this time. Rather than that of the love of lovers.
Many thanks for your time and interest in the work of Samantha Cauliflower.
Samantha Cauliflower 2021