Brooke Finegold Wants You Emo and Listening to Paramore
Dyke of all trades as writer of Gaydar, comedian, founder of Poetry is Gay, and creator behind Lesbian Hands, Brooke Finegold is creating a path to show up and express your truest self.
Images Courtesy of Brooke Finegold.
Your birthday is coming up! What are you doing for the rest of Pisces season and what do you think other people should be doing to take full advantage of it?
Well in true pisces fashion I am enjoying the delusion of false spring. I went to Washington Square Park to do some typewriter poetry for strangers (all the gay people I could find). It was amazing being in the sun and seeing everyone be so excited for the first time in forever. Then it snowed today… no problem.
I also will be trying to swim/find a body of water and maybe even venturing to the cold Rockaway beaches to get some quality time with mother O.
You host your own salons with PIG. Tell us a little bit about Poetry is Gay.
I host bi-weekly writing salons in Bushwick for gay people curious about poetry and poets curious about gay. We write a collaborative live poem together on my typewriter as a little warm up/ice breaker then I give some prompts and time for us to write separately then share. It’s been happening for 2+ years now and we have had many different homes but it’s always felt like its own little family. I always feel so much better after going to PIG and I am so grateful for the little community who has gathered around it.
“wrote a bunch of angsty poems about the rumors kids would say about me at school, my parents dysfunctional marriage and my chaotic family, and collaged little pages and put it all in the CD case. I’ve never felt so proud of anything in my life.”
What is your favorite part about Poetry is Gay?
I think how brave people are. There is someone probably every week who is writing their first ever poem, sharing something they wrote out loud for the first time, or sharing something really intimate and scary. I feel honored that people feel safe to share and take risks and be vulnerable and they are also so beautiful and talented! Not a dud in the group, I always say.
How did you get into writing poetry?
The first time I remember writing poetry was in 5th grade, I wrote a book in class called “The Clumsy Life of Brooke and Her Poems” because I was a really clumsy kid (3 concussions before age 6, probably why I’m gay). The next time I remember writing poetry was my senior year of high school when we had a poetry CD project and I got really into it, wrote a bunch of angsty poems about the rumors kids would say about me at school, my parents dysfunctional marriage and my chaotic family, and collaged little pages and put it all in the CD case. I’ve never felt so proud of anything in my life.
During COVID, I felt like I was going through stand up withdrawals. I missed performing so much and I felt insane not being able to go on stage and tell jokes and hang out with my friends. I am so inspired by Cat Cohen, and she has a Substack where she writes little essays and poems, so I thought I could do that too. I found I could use my poems to tell jokes and so I started using that as a stage. I got really good feedback on my poems, even the ones that weren’t trying to be funny, and I just sort of never stopped.
As a triple threat (poet, comedian, and blue-haired lesbian), how do you find all of those work together?
I definitely think they all go really hand in hand. I have always done seemingly different activities that all randomly went hand in hand (youth group and musical theater, Spanish and comedy), and what I’ve learned is they all inform another. I say the best way to write a joke is to write a poem, and the best way to write a poem is to write a joke. I think it’s all about tricking yourself. Of course being a blue-haired lesbian is underlining all of my work! I talk a lot about the color blue and hair and being gay in general in all my work. It’s part of my persona and part of the themes of my writing. It’s also funny because the first ever comedy writing job (Gaydar) I got from PIG, my poetry group. Lesbian Hands has gotten me booked on stand up gigs, poetry gigs, and doing typewriter poetry has gotten me more access to lesbians to take photos of and hang out with. They all go (lesbian) hand(s) in hand.
“I really don’t care about people reading them on their own, I want to know their reaction in the moment. I think that’s the comedian in me.”
What inspired you to write live poetry for people in places like parks and bars and what is your favorite moment so far you’ve experienced from it?
I bought a typewriter in Martinez, California when I was home visiting my parents in an antique mall. My little sibling and I love thrifting and antiquing and I found this beautiful blue typewriter for $70 and thought what the hell, sure. I used to run a variety show called The Town Cryer and I thought it would be fun to try to do typewriter poems after the show. My friend Will said I should write one live on stage, and it went really well so I kept doing it. I met these girls online, Zoe and Hannah, who are park poets and they sort of brought me into the tradition. Zoe took me out on my first day, told me what table and chair to get, gave me a practice poem, and I was off to the races. It’s the most fun a girl can have without taking her clothes off.
The first day I ever wrote poems I remember it was a beautiful sunny day in Central Park near Bethesda Fountain and this topless trans guy came over and asked for a poem. He told me it was his first day ever not wearing a shirt in public and he was literally glowing from the inside out. He was smiling so big and kept stretching his arms like hot guys in teen movies. I wrote a poem for him and we both cried and I felt so lucky to experience this moment with him.
I have had countless amazing experiences like this with complete strangers I will most likely never see again, in a moment only we have experienced. It’s so rare to have these moments of connections with strangers, especially when it isn’t “for” something, or being filmed. It feels so pure and connected.
What’s your creative process like for writing poetry?
I used to say “get high on the train and write in my notes app”, but I don’t really smoke weed anymore and I don’t really process my feelings like I used to. I think sometimes it comes out in my morning pages, sometimes when I’m feeling inspired on the train, or when I sit down to write my Substack. I’m a really last minute person so if I get booked for something (this show for example), I’ll cram right before to write out some stuff and print it or read from my phone right after. I like writing something fresh and having it feel new, I hate reading old material. I like to really feel what I’m reading as I’m doing it. PIG helps give me structure to write though, I like writing from the prompts the piglets as I call them, and I come up with.
How does it feel to share your poetry? Is there a different feeling between sharing it for people to read on their own versus reading it out loud to people?
It feels really cathartic, vulnerable for sure. I think it can feel so weird to go from telling jokes on stage to reading these really scary thoughts I don’t want to admit to myself, let alone total strangers. I can feel guilty for saying these dark things, but people are always grateful and kind. I really don’t care about people reading them on their own, I want to know their reaction in the moment. I think that’s the comedian in me. People have been asking when I have a book of poems coming out, and I’m like, just come to a show!! It’s so much better to be LIVE! That being said, I am working on it. I'm just an ADHDiva and really love live performance so much more than reading written poetry.
“I remember sitting in my parents’ office computer watching a lyric video so I could learn all the words. I’ve always felt like I was being watched very closely as a kid, making sure I didn’t mess up, and this song is all about the fears and pains of being in the limelight and secretly suffering.”
What are your top three creative dreams for the year?
I am working on a new magazine project which I am really excited to launch! I am also making a documentary about my late gay cousin who died of AIDS a few months before I was born which was so fucking cool and powerful to make. I cried the whole shoot. I’d love to get it into some festivals but honestly I just want gay people to see it, and their relatives.
I also would love to start producing a show again, it’s so much work but a lot of fun. Maybe I’ll bring back The Town Cryer, I love a variety show and getting an excuse to bring all my talented friends into one room.
But more than anything, I want to meet Hayley Williams and be one of the new faces of Good Dye Young #iykyk
Each musical artist in the world is only able to have three of their songs available to listen to at once. Which three Paramore songs are you choosing?
Omg speak of the devil. I’m going to definitely pick Misguided Ghosts, Conspiracy, and Fences. Brand New Eyes is my favorite album of all time, I still have the original vinyl I pre-ordered when the album came out in 2009. I put Misguided Ghosts on basically every playlist I’ve ever made for someone. I’ve always really connected to it. Conspiracy, I can’t believe it’s the first song they ever wrote. It’s just insane. I connect so much to this young and intense feeling of confusion and fear that other people were controlling you somehow, or keeping things from you and wanting to know. It’s so powerful and so clear that even when Hayley was so young, she knew she needed to stand up for herself from this shitty record deal that jeopardized her friendships, and it being the first song on her record deal is so bad ass to me. Fences, I’ve never heard live, and to me it’s just so fucking fun. I grew up in a small town and everybody talked, and being young and closeted, I always was trying to hide and was so afraid of being found out. Even though this was about fame, and not being gay in a small town, I always felt like Paramore got me when no one else did.
I know that was rambling but I wanted to give an explanation cause I know you’re such a big Paramore stan.
Thanks for having me :) this was really fun!
Interview: Karlye Whitt
Editor-in-Chief: Karlye Whitt
