When the apocalypse is on your block and your world is ending again, who will you be calling to come hang out? Author Paula Macena answers this question and begs the reader to consider it, as well, with her narrative poetry chapbook release, “When The World Ends This Time.”

Macena will be bringing this local apocalypse to Rutherford on November 26th with a signing, reading, and Q&A event at Soldato Books & Records. Keep reading to find out more about how she self-published this chapbook, the inspirations behind it, the importance of community for artists, and how Macena says we can come-of-age again and again and again. 

Mia Guzzo: Could you please introduce yourself?

Paula Macena: I'm Paula, I'm a writer and an author and a community organizer, so I host a lot of poetry and music events under Pluto’s, where we also do publications. I currently live in LA but I'm Brazilian and I primarily grew up in New Jersey.  I graduated university with a degree in writing and film. I've been doing freelance work on and off for the past few years since living in LAI currently work in the educational system. I have another book [“Penance of the Byronic Hero”] that came out in 2023 and I founded Pluto's also in 2023. 

MG: While we're talking about self-publishing, what was this publication process like for you on your second [book] release and what was it like getting “When the World Ends This Time” out into the world?

PM: It was a bit time consuming, but not the worst, honestly. I did everything primarily myself as far as the formatting goes [but] I had some wonderful poet friends who reviewed and gave feedback on the poetry. I got the cover designed by two of my beautiful friends who are wonderful artists-- the [front] cover was by friend Soleil and the back was by Stephanie. I'm very lucky to have really cool artist friends who helped me out a lot along the way-- it was a pretty collaborative process with a lot of my homies, so it was awesome. I feel like self-publishing seems so intimidating for so many people, but I think if you have a good community backing you and helping you out with it, it's not that bad.

MG: So how would you describe “When the World Ends This Time?”

PM: I've been describing it as a kind of apocalyptic [piece], but it doesn't really have the traditional piece of apocalypse. That's why I call it your friendly neighborhood apocalypse and all of that, because it's not necessarily [about] a meteor hitting the earth. It's more like, “Everything's going to shit, let me go hang out with my friends.”

MG: I love the tagline, by the way, “your friendly neighborhood apocalypse.” I read that and I thought, “Oh, this is gonna be fantastic.” And it was. 

PM: I appreciate that. I like to have a theme for any poetry book I write, so this happened to be the theme for this one. I think it worked out really well-- a local apocalypse. 

MG: So what was the process of creating this narrative? Did you already have all the poems or did you sort of write it with that theme that you mentioned?

PM: Well, the poems were already written. Some of them were like, bits and pieces were written, but I had to polish it up, put it together, and then I just put them in the order. The way a chap book is different to me is that a lot of poetry collections just have the poems in there--  nothing against that. I also love poetry books, but I like it when there's a throughline in mind where, if you read it from beginning to end, it tells a story. So I'm really intentional about the order I put the poems in. I listen to a lot of music and my favorite albums are always the ones that are stories that you need to listen to in order to get the full story. I do that a lot for my poetry too. That's why I call it a narrative chat book because it's in that order for a reason and if you're reading it in that order, then it tells a story altogether. 

MG: Who are some poets or like you just mentioned, musical artists that inspired you while writing this collection, or just inspire you in general?

PM: I would say Richard Sicken is my top favorite poet-- love him down. Ocean Vuong, as well, and Rudy Francisco. I think they were all very formative to my writing. There's this one really small musician that I found when I was like 14-- flatsound. I loved flatsound so much when I was younger, and he also has some songs and he has some poetry with music in the back, and that was a big inspiration for me, like my whole life. I actually made a poetry EP for this, too. Kevin Abstract as well. His album American Boyfriend has always been so influential to me in my writing, especially because that one's like a perfect example of a narrative album, like beginning to end. It tells a story.  I do need to also mention [that] the epigraph in the book was from a song that I really love called Cool Street by Dogs on Shady Lane. It's in the beginning and it just says, “I'll give you everything that I can,” over and over and over again. That song was a massive inspiration when I was putting the books together and the band was kind enough, let me use those lines in an epigraph. I had to reach out to them and ask, and it was very sweet of them to say yes. 

MG: Happy that that worked out, putting it in the epigraph. It was a great lead in..

PM: Yes, and I was initially gonna put just the one line of, “I'll give you everything,” but I was like, I love how much this repeats itself. It's kind of like a little bit desperate. And I was like, yeah, I need that. That sets the tone, I feel like. Yeah. We need that desperation. 

MG: We need a little yearning. 

PM: Yeah, we need a little yearning. 

MG: So while we're talking about inspirations, one of my favorite lines was in Hometown Prophet: “I'm constantly convinced I'm the most unlikeable person ever, but I'll blame it on being from New Jersey.” Relatable. This is a bit of a homecoming event for you as you're based in California, but this book goes into the many different places and people who made you who you are. How, if at all, did all of these different influences make their way into your writing?

PM: I feel like it goes into everything I do, honestly, because I didn't have a traditional upbringing. I moved around so much, I stopped living with my parents when I was 14 because I went to boarding school. I never fully moved back in, but New Jersey was the most formative to me because that's where I spent my younger years-- it's where I lived in one place the longest amount of time. That [line] was pretty funny to me because I just thought of it and I didn't even think of it for a poem. I thought of it about myself and then I was like, well, I need to write this down. That's kind of good.  I feel like the primary thing that I think it influences is that because I grew up moving all over the place, I didn't have a traditional  coming-of-age-- like becoming a teenager and an adult and everything. Like it was very weird and all over the place for me and, because of that, I am obsessed with writing about coming-of-age and writing about hometowns. So I feel like that really influenced my writing because I became obsessed with this thing that I can't get. Let’s make it happen now.

MG: Do you see this book as a coming-of-age narrative?

PM: I think it's a bit of a coming-of-age narrative because I think we can come-of-age many times in our life. Coming-of-age is just going through some sort of transformative event and I do think the world ending is obviously gonna be a transformative event, you know, where you're a different person by the end of it.

MG: I like that perspective of it, saying that there are a lot of ways that we have a sort of coming of age because I think in a lot of fiction it's about how coming of age is one thing that happens once.

PM: I think it happens over and over and over again. When you're a teenager, there's this kind of traditional coming of age where it's like, oh, you're becoming an adult. That's the main thing. But then there's so many times in your adulthood. You're like, oh, now I'm a different adult. So I feel like it happens multiple times because we become so many different people throughout our lives. So yeah, I think we can have many. I personally have had many, but again, I didn't have a traditional upbringing. I think it just depends on your experiences. Some people might just have one, butI think that's a little bit boring. I think people should have as many as they can. 

MG: You end this book by saying “When the world ends, I know where I’ll run to. I hope you do too.” You don't have to share where that is for you if you don't want to, but why was this sentiment important  for you to leave with readers and what do you imagine that process of running to be? 

PM: I want to make sure people understand that's the point of the book; It's not the catastrophe of the world ending, that's just a backdrop, the point of the book is that you know who to turn to, that you know where your community is and where your friends are. It has this apocalyptic setting, but that's not the point. The point is: who do you go to when that happens? Who do you want around you when that happens? Who do you want around right now? Community is such a big thing for me--I really value it. It's so, so, so important for me and I think it seeps into everything I do, soI feel like that's kind of the core of the book as well. I almost took that out of my acknowledgement because it's very much like, it's the friends we make along the way, but it really is.  I don't see it as a process of running. I see it a little bit as like a surrender. Just like, “Oh, everything sucks. Let's hang out.” 

MG: Sometimes the world is ending for you and you just have to hang out with your friends. Go see a movie. 

PM: Exactly. It's like, “everything's going to shit, can you come over?” You know? That's the vibe. 

MG: So while we're talking about community, you're also the founder of Pluto's, which is a community for writers. Could you elaborate on how community plays a part in your work and within this book?

PM: It's kind of in everything I do. I'm Brazilian, I'm an immigrant, I grew up in the US and the only family I have here  is my mom, dad, and sister. All the rest of my family's in Brazil. So because of that, found family has always been a very important value to me, and I think to my biological family who lives here, as well, because that's a value I've had from a young age. That your family doesn't have to be blood related. Since I grew up moving around so much, I've had big little families everywhere I go. I love the family I have right now in California and they've really helped carry me through a lot this year. I think the same goes for Pluto’s.  So many people say that writing is like a solitary practice and I thought, that sucks and you're wrong. So I was like, okay, let's do something about it and I made Pluto’s so people can have more writer friends and have more writing community. 

MG: What do you think makes writing better when it's done together as opposed to by oneself? 

PM: Well, for one, feedback. I never trust shows that don't have a writer's room-- they just have one writer. You're writing something really bad and no one's gonna tell you. I also started attending open mics here in California pretty early on once I moved here and I made some of my closest friends through that because I met other poets who are also good at what they do and who also want feedback. I think it's so helpful to your work because if I didn't have these writer friends, I wouldn't have anyone to have given me feedback on this book. It's also really helpful in terms of accountability; I think writers will be more productive if we lean on each other, we'll have more inspiration, we'll have more accountability.

MG: You're having a signing of “When The World Ends This Time” at Soldato on November 26th from 4-7pm. Why is it important for you to connect with local venues, and we've talked about this, but be a part of an artistic community?

PM: I always love connecting with other writers [and with] readers-- just anyone who's interested in the same things that I am and I can have good conversations with. I love working with and supporting local venues. I love working with small venues, I love talking to the people that run them and learning how they started and how they maintain it. I think it's so crucial to support these venues and to connect with the artistic community because we need to keep this thing going. We need to support each other to keep the art going. I think it's always so important to support each other, and not just out of obligation, but also just for the joy of it; it's so fun to be at these events and to do them with new people or old friends, it's always such a good time. Poets and artists need to support venues; venues need to support artists. It's a give and take.

MG: Why should people read “When The World Ends This Time?” 

PM: I think it should be read by people who need it. Most people need it right now, but I wrote it particularly from the perspective of being queer, being an immigrant, being a woman, being this person in a world that primarily hates me or hates people like me.So I'm like, “Hey, if you feel like a world hates you a little bit right now too, this is for you.” I feel like a lot of people feel like that right now. I think that's the core of this book, and it's not necessarily to make people feel like they belong here with this book, I think it's just to make people think about, “Where do I belong? Where do I feel most comfortable? Where do I feel most like myself? Where do I turn to?” Kind of urging them onto that path to find where they do belong and where people do understand and love them.

MG: Is there anything I didn't ask about that you'd like to share? 

PM: I have a poetry EP that is out-- it's also called “What the World Ends This Time--” it has three poems from the book with backing music to it. And the music is so beautiful, I worked with my friend on it and we were so specific with what we wanted and it came out perfect. It's on all streaming platforms in the world at this time. I also have merch, I have hoodies and postcards and stuff like that, so that's really cool and fun.