Meet Matthew Bala - dipity Community Spotlight Q&A Interview no. 21
learn more about writer Matthew Bala's work through dipity's global interview monthly spotlight feature
Introduction
Matthew Bala is a Romanian writer based in Southwestern America. He loves everything about the Old West: the good, the bad, and the ugly. If he’s not rewatching some Spaghetti Westerns, he’ll be playing some classical piano for his dog. His work is featured or upcoming in Corporeal, Fictional Café, Bardics Anonymous, Die Leere Mitte, Black Stone / White Stone, and JMWW. He is currently in the process of getting his Western manuscript published.
Woven Skin
The vegetable-tanned makes for nice patina—only problem is that extra month it takes to get a real film. Full-grain leather has it beat on time and tincture; the more exposed full-grain garners this carob shade that the eco-friendly stuff never reaches.
The white fluorescents of my granddad’s atelier command no dyed pieces or light pigments so that the texture and looks are preserved best. Ear muffs clasp about my cauliflower ears and polyethylene sleeves brace my arms from whatever rotary cuts or snagging material. Airflow in here has been cut for a good while since this bulk order—the HVAC shut-out during overtime may slick my lungs grease-black and oil-green.
Bookbinder I goes on with the ruled markings as the leather tracks into the board to clamp into place. The skiving knife is to tell of the thickness and sluggard jumps and glides of shorn soon-to-be-tooling-wrap bow away from the sheet and here I call myself some artisan to pad and feel and stroke for layers even and matched. Have the tanners rush the process and after dehairing it could all tear now but they did a mighty fine job so that my work may go un-ridged and un-bumped.
Sweat builds my brow anew and the swipes of gristled hands let fly what shavings and debris on my flat canvas and hunger pains swell from my stomach into throat and there to taper and burnish the skin lies. Piece stuck in the clamp the bevel is to stretch and hit a half-right and pump slow along where my dragging swoop of material ebbs and shrinks into the air; lift and rotate to the other sides as I cannot chair myself and with pressured technique of years gone by the piece is near ready for dyeing.
The thin wrap sits stretched and again I graze the gravel-smooth flesh with the outs of my fingers and I know that as with everything that leaves this place the beholder can never know the real beauty.
Within only this month are there to be hundreds of journals—to understand that the signatures and threads and bands can fall into hands other than mine own hardly satisfies me. I disrobe the arm-guards and knock off the earmuffs back onto the table and stamp to the switches to cut off the lights. Another cough forces out some percussive wheezes and thoughts of liquidating the company come back to mind. There to the fire escape I reach and look down on Las Cruces which has nurtured me for so long—a life of bookbinding is one my heritage has claimed for me, and with all my joys and sorrows I cherish it for turning me novice into master of a practice so ancient.
All the peace I could ever want—a never-ending release that could temper my mind into flat skin and my tongue stiff with the oils and dyes of passing creations. Let me turn a martyr for a lineage of work unbroken and untampered. Allow the throes of disease and death to take me, all so that the abilities of my son can develop this company fresh with the generation. To sacrifice not for myself, but for the work of centuries that no lifetime of mine could ever match; let the fruit die, so even more can come of the future.
Hero Fisher - Binder ft. Carol Batton
Q: What is the backstory of this short story?
“Woven Skin” is a story of a seasoned bookbinder who is surrendering his life to a failing body but growing business—I have always found the life of bookbinders fascinating as an almost ancient craft. To empathize with the endless complexities of overlapping family and personal lives, I wanted to investigate the developing human psyche of a man who must choose between his own health or posterity. Appreciating the actual process of bookbinding from the ground-up to the finished product gave me great insight into the fact that every process of creation is the same—the love you have for your own work could never be matched in those who observe it. My older works have focused on hands-on creation processes like pottery and wagon-repair, and now I thought it would be right to delve into a lesser appreciated art that is bookbinding. Having a man revel in his love for the work of his generations and the promises of his future is a satisfaction I can only hope to experience for myself one day; I tried to capture that very feeling in this piece. “Woven Skin” is set to be originally published with Bardics Anonymous, but it has also appeared in Die Leere Mitte and soon in Black Stone / White Stone.
Q: What was your most recent publication?
I was recently published in Die Leere Mitte, JMWW, Fictional Café, and Corporeal, as of most recent.
Q: Where can others find more of your work?
“Mother Earth” in Corporeal Lit Mag
“Dusty Plains” in JMWW
Within Die Leere Mitte’s Issue no. 23
“As I Make You” in The Fictional Café
Q: What else do you do outside of the writing community? or What else are you working on or excited about in the future? Any fun hobbies?
I am currently an undergraduate student, so research and volunteering take up a good amount of my time. Outside of schooling, I plan to enter some competitive bodybuilding shows in the coming year. I am also working on getting my Western fiction manuscript published.
Q: When did you begin writing? OR What or who sparked and inspired your writing journey?
As for my general journey, I have often worked in care homes and clinical settings where I have heard countless stories of elderly patients—I was inspired to hear the gravity and wonder of stories of these people next to me. I knew I had to take this inspiration to a level where I could try to invoke similar feelings of astoundment and admiration in others, and it was then I took on my role as a fiction writer. Being able to share that novel revelation that everybody is creating a world so uniquely their own is a timeless joy that I will always run back to. Propagating these feelings of unity and love are sensations so fulfilling, so true—I often choose stories of creation or manufacturing as those are our greatest examples as humans where we culminate in our skills and passions. If we can all learn to universally praise our own crafts from poetry to coding, we may discover a common ground about our own souls previously unseen.
Q: What advice would you give aspiring poets, authors, or fellow writers in the community?
Do not write what is expected of you—do not feel forced to signal virtues or sing praises of topics that do not truly resonate with you. Once you start writing for the sake of your soul, you’ll find the topics you truly need to write on.
Q: What are you currently reading?
I am currently reading The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky—I definitely recommend the tome if you’re looking to sink a lot of deep thought into the same text for a while.
Q: What was the last movie or TV show you watched or recommend others see in the community?
The last TV show I watched was Cyberpunk: Edgerunners (2022)—an emotional roller coaster, for sure!
Q: Which poets, artists, or writers inspire you?
Cormac McCarthy and William Faulkner have been my greatest literary inspirations since the beginning of my writing journey, but I have started to embrace more pop-media influences in my lyricism like Scott Mescudi and Frank Ocean.
Q: If you were stuck on the moon with anyone or could pick your space flight partner who would it be?
If I were stuck on the moon and could pick my space flight partner, I would definitely opt for a pantomime. I would love to see how long it’d take the guy to stay dedicated to his act when death is coming.
Q: What's one of your favorite poems in existence?
While I’m sure this is a common answer, I love “Do not go gentle into that good night” by Dylan Thomas. It always motivates me to push forward even when the odds are clearly not in my favor—always end in a flourish.
Faking The Books - Lali Puna
To Check Out More of Matthew Bala’s Work
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https://showmanwrites.substack.com
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[Interview Processed By VFORROW]
Thank you so much, Matthew Bala, for sharing and submitting to Dipity Lit Mag! ~ Jazz Marie Kaur (Vevna Forrow).
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