Arlene Ang has a new poem up at Thieves Jargon. She is from Italy.

EDY: Hello

Arlene Ang: Hi Mark!

EDY What are you doing?
AA: Scrounging for sci-fi names for my, erm, Sims. I'm modding the default name choices so I don't end up with people like Goopy Gilscarbo or Amin Sims and start having passersby (for eventual mating games) called Velindre Uralesse and Rumex Fellaemion. Only 500+ more names/surnames to go -- this is my summer vacation.

What's your favorite game at play first?

Pastry Passion. Just looking at all those pastries awakens the furry pastry monsters in my stomach after an hour of gameplay.
I've heard rumors that you are really jimmy chen, is this true?

Absolutely not. My glasses are purple, not black, for one. For another, I have, erm, more hair. Even my armpit (left) is hairier than his head. That's the sad fact. Otherwise, I'd mistake him for my brother. Well, I mistake a lot of people for my brother. I live in terror of looking exactly like my brother one day.
I mostly read fiction, so I am curious what is a poem?

A poem is something of a quickie in the middle of the day. You go in some cubicle, you take the poem in your hands and get done with it in less than 2 minutes. Afterwards, you never wash your hands and start shaking everyone else's hands. It's one of the reasons decent people avoid poetry and those rumored to read or write it. It's like herpes.
Does this seem like a good start? If so let's continue, if not what should I change?
Oh yes, goodie! No one's ever asked me what's my favorite PlayFirst game. Next you'll be asking me if I'm drunk.

Well, I guess I have to now ask if you're drunk?

Not yet. It's still early. Things can change drastically during this interview though. Are you the kind of person who steals the barf bags in planes?
Also, you mentioned something about shaking hands without washing them first, when's the last time you did this after going to the bathroom?

Uh. Something like five minutes ago. I hope you're not going to report me to the Health Department. Anyway, I'm not the one with the (ewwwwww) dead rat on his website.
What is your fascination with emoticons?

They're virtual Prozac for me. When you squint, they look like multicolored happy pills. Try it. Well? What do you see?
Do you ever reject people with just a sad face and accept people with a happy face?

I never reject anyone based on their face. Actions are what count. If a cheerful-looking burglar broke in my house, I think I'd asked him to please get out or I will sic my poetry books at him. Poetry books, being usually thin, are terrific weapons. Their sharp angles can penetrate enemy eyes better than Dumas's Three Musketeers.

What's with you and interviews, anyway? Is it a kind of priesthood in the making?

This interview looks like its going to be extra short.

Like worm-in-the-tequila short? I guess I'll have to go back to my day job then.

Why would you steal barf bags?  Maybe I'd draw on them, but I don't think I'd steal them.

For a while, in my girlhood, I collected them. They used very good quality paper back then -- not the kind they've got now that's just waiting to spill your puke on your own lap. I still have the one from Singapore Airlines. I keep all the pictures of my dogs in it.

What else do you do with poetry books?

I take them around with me like familiars. Sometimes I go to the doctor's office with one or two for company. At night, I like to pile them up until they fall. A kind of Tower of Babel. This makes me feel very powerful. Like a real librarian.

Do you sometimes accidentally eat your poetry and submit your dinner to online publications?

Only when I'm wearing a milk moustache. I don't know what it is about milk that triggers this.

Tell me about the zoo?

The gorilla in Cage #3 is a man wearing a gorilla suit. No one seems to notice though.

Tell me weird personal things?

Well, after getting my driver's license, I stopped driving. I'm a dog-paw smellaholic. At the strike of 3 a.m., I start itching all over due to phantom bugs. I've acquired a taste for burnt popcorn. I also read dictionaries for fun, accidentally start fires in the kitchen, and can't get through the day without using the em dash (-) at least once.

Tell me why you don't like America?

I don't? I've never been there, so I have no idea what not to like. All I know is I like REM, Burger King, the Sims, size-XXXXX clothes, Bushisms, and the Tasmanian Devil-not necessarily in that order though.