INFRARREALISTA: Hi Amber! You look fab today. Could you tell us what you’re wearing?
AMBER: I’m wearing a No Regulations Crop Tank from Poster Girl/Dolls Kill, and Orchard Lane Gingham Bloomers (which are Peppermint themed, obvi), and a Calvin Klien jockstrap. I like wearing breezy clothes before bed.
INFRARREALISTA: Let me start with the most pressing question. Could you please tell me more about your relationship to Serial Experiments Lain?
AMBER: I’m obsessed with early-internet stories, especially if they’re ethereal. Lain matches vibes with my favorite horror film, Pulse–these characters are so isolated that they disappear, which basically describes my childhood dissociations. The early message boards and JPEG collection sites were great for assimilation, which I wrote about at length in my upcoming nonfiction book about the subreddit, r/WatchPeopleDie.
There’s also something very trans about crowding your body out of the room with wires and tech until you and those things merge. Sometimes your body doesn’t come equipped with what you need, so you make it happen. It was the only way to T4T back then, too, but even then finding others like you was difficult, so that isolation never fully went away for me, which is a big theme in my poems.
And the title song is just…perfect. Also, I love to stare at people with big eyes whenever they ask me questions like Lain does.
INFRARREALISTA: What are the Peppermint girls wearing this fall?
AMBER: Probably Disturbia goth shit. I have a ready wardrobe of flowy olive dresses, mesh shirts, and vine pattern lingerie. There’s some red in there, too.
INFRARREALISTA: If Peppermint had a perfume, what would it smell like?
AMBER: Peppermint, Lavender, & Leather. My partner, Em, put together a batch of roll-ons, which I plan to have at all of my public appearances. So if you want one, come by.
INFRARREALISTA: What does your notes app look like?
AMBER: Honestly, it has a few dreams logged on there, but not much else. I take all my notes in a more intimate way: by texting myself. Almost all of my poems come from conversations I have with myself.
INFRARREALISTA: What’s your pre-poetry performance routine?
AMBER: I show up at events way too early, so the routine is often me wandering around after I run out of small talk with the organizers, disassociating, but then getting into the mode once I find someone to flirt with. I love attention because it fuels me. I’m basically going through puberty, so I’m needy! If you see me floating around, I encourage you to approach me, even if I’m like intimidating due to my trans weirdness and/or resting bitch face.
INFRARREALISTA: Best response to the haters?
AMBER: To quote Arrietty, “I’m just a baby.” Half the time I don’t know what I’m doing. I’m never the smartest girl in the room and I say stupid shit because I have odd timing and an extremely wry sense of humor. But I love crying in public (especially since I started sticking needles into my thighs), and I crave intimate, deep conversations. And making mistakes is a gateway to all of that.
INFRARREALISTA: Your book is dedicated to Michael Stipe, so I have to ask what’s your favorite R.E.M. album?
AMBER: It’s always difficult to choose a fave, but I gravitate towards their later work, even if the early albums are arguably “better.” I love sincerity, and it doesn’t get more sincere than 1998’s Up. I came of age in the Nineties, where we were legally required to shoot irony into our veins every morning, so I kind of detest irony. Songs like “At My Most Beautiful” and “Falls to Climb” are just straight up lovely.
INFRARREALISTA: Vinyl, tapes, or CDS?
AMBER: Here’s the thing. The angular design of cassettes are always better, but tapes themselves suck. If you’ve ever had a boombox eat a prized album, you know. But CDs are even worse about durability–they’re probably bad for the environment, too. Vinyl has its issues (being a space hog, for one), but here’s why the format is queen: it forces you to spend time with each side, each song. You have to physically turn that shit over, so unlike easy click media, you get an authentic appreciation in the moment.
INFRARREALISTA: Who’s your favorite ECW wrestler?
AMBER: Speaking of authenticity. Extreme Championship Wrestling was what this girl needed in her adolescence, something that felt real because it was ugly, disgusting, and violent. People tore their biceps off with barbed wire! Obvi I look back and feel bad for the people involved–most of them died young–but this was my self-destruction fantasy. Just watch the Sandman vs Sabu (RIP) Stairway to Hell match on YT and you’ll see some dire poetry.
INFRARREALISTA: Dream collab, dead or alive?
AMBER: Oh goddess, so many. Too many! Gregg Araki, obvi. Lynch, Bowie. Tyler the Creator. Casey Plett. I’m obsessed with authors Crystal Odelle and Carta Monir (though I think Carta would probably ruin me in more ways than one). I’d love to do a joint thing with a kink performance artist. So more alive than dead, which is how I’ve always been with writers tbh–we ignore the Now too often, imo.
INFRARREALISTA: What’s next for Amber Isaac?
AMBER: Sex, psychedelics, more poems. I want to organize a trans femme-centric event of some kind for either artistic expression, debauchery, or both. I never see any spaces (drag doesn’t count) specifically for the t-femmes–it always feels like I’m outnumbered at “dyke night” or whatever! There’s always been a “no femmes” sentiment in queer spaces, so I’d like to confront that because I know there are lots of us out there who want to feel safe and desired, which the world doesn’t want for us right now. You have to manifest this kind of thing because no one’s going to outright give a doll anything.
