Reader of the Week: Dusty Rose

She creates ‘zines, collages, poems, and songs. What will she bloom into next?

By Kirsten Kilponen
Published: January 19th, 2009 | 12:00am

Just like her name suggests, Dusty Rose has a knack for taking something beautiful in life and adding some dirt to it. From her lyrical prose and “punk-rawk” collages to her very own zine, this 26-year-old from Scottsdale, Arizona has no problem when it comes to simply sharing the cool stuff she finds, or pointing out the absurd obsessions of pop culture. In her downtime, she’ll also sing you a captivating song or two.

Your poems are really impressive. They read like lyrical slam poetry like in your piece Balloon Drifting Heads - “I see you in my dreams / Willows in you in your mouth / POPPYWILLOWS! POPPYCOCK! / Your love-rot fox-trot...” How would you describe the creative writing process?

I think I’ve come a long way since I started writing and have developed more of a unique voice, rather then being heavily influenced by whatever kind of music I’m listening to at the time. (Sadly, It used to be a lot of Black Hole.) I really don’t consider my poems to be conventional. I like taking words and piecing them together like a puzzle, or taking a simple moment, an observation, or a feeling, and morphing it into something imaginative and wily on paper. I have no message really, except that life is one big abstract playground. Enjoy it all. If moments are dull, make it pretty — write a poem.

Collage has re-emerged as a popular art form recently. The readily available materials create an eclectic result that both criticizes pop-culture, and sticks it to art medium elitism. It’s also easily interpretable, which has made it popular with social commentary artist. Do your "punk-rawk collages" embrace those aspects?

My collages are just humor and sass mixed with my own personal poetic lines. Lately I like cutting out supermodels, and turning them into alien she-devil fem-bots that take over the world one machine gun at a time. They’re funny, spontaneously created, and have some meaning too. I mostly do it for therapeutic relaxation and to poke fun at love and pop culture, often infusing rock-n-roll imagery with my work, which “punks it out."

You modestly downplay your music, describing it as "noise" that you make during spats of boredom. I was surprised to hear ear-pleasing, post-grunge sounding music, mixed with a strong feminine voice (like your songs "well wasted" and "sexercise"). Is this a project you would like to expand on?

My songs are messy arrangements made on a whim. I mostly just like finding a riff and turning it into something magically dusty sounding. I do have mad love for darker tones and admire booming voices, such as Grace Slick and Big Mamma Thornton, but I just don’t have that kind of voice, so I sing more low-key with the occasional random scream. I don’t take having a professional musical career too serious. I really just want to be on some underground comps and play killer shows. Maybe when I’m 40 I’ll write a one hit wonder and retire entirely off the royalty checks.

You have a talent for incorporating the current creative youth culture aesthetic into your poetry, art, and music. All these elements are also collectively embodied in your zine, Raw Indie Press. Can you tell us more about that project?

I’m going to be honest with you; I have no idea what my goal is with Raw Indie Press, except for wanting to interview talents who deserve to be in much more glossy and well-known publications. In the beginning I just kind of threw together anything and everything, but now I take my time finding things I love and things that catch my eye. I was quite proud with my latest issue because I arranged it all on MS Paint. It’s definitely not structured or polished, and I think people have taken a liking to that. It’s really the creative peeps featured in it that make this zine cool. Without them, it’s dust.

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