Interviewed by Dennis Ray

Gavin Geoffrey Dillard is an iconic and internationally celebrated poet in both the gay community and the world of music and theatricals.

On Thursday, October 30, Mr. Dillard will read from his own works, and baritone Roberto Flores will sing songs by the poet accompanied by David Troy Francis on piano. This promises to be a spectacular and rare evening with Mr. Dillard presenting his unique, thoughtful and provocative perspective on life, love and existence, at the White Horse Black Mountain.

Gavin Dillard,a native of Asheville, has published eight collections of verse, two anthologies, and his infamous Hollywood tell-all, In the Flesh: Undressing for Success. Branded by the Los Angeles Times “The Naked Poet” for his standing-room-only, in-the-buff poetry readings, his poems have been recorded by James Earl Jones and published in anthologies and periodicals worldwide and his songs performed at Lincoln Center. He has written comedy with and for Dolly Parton, Joan Rivers, Lily Tomlin, and is the co-author of Bark! The Musical, which has played throughout North and South America.

Rapid River Magazine: Reading your memoir, it seems like you met and hobnobbed with just about everybody. Who have been your biggest influences?

Gavin Dillard: I have encountered and dated many a famous person. Tom Hulce was a classmate in high school (NC School of the Arts), Pee Wee Herman (Paul Rubenfeld) was my suite mate at California Institute for the Arts. My first apartment in Hollywood was just under Bette Davis’s balcony—wheelchair-bound, she would daily watch me gardening.

I spent much time with some of my literary heroes—Christopher Isherwood, Ian Young, Deena Metzger, Ginsberg, even Dolly and Lily Tomlin, both of whom I ended up writing comedy for (I also wrote quips for the late Joan Rivers).

My biggest influences have been the mystical poets: Rumi, Hafiz, Ono no Komachi, Francis, Claire, and a number of the “Catholic” saints (I spent some time at the Holy Cross Abbey in Virginia and read everything). I’m also a big fan of Dickinson and Whitman. Oh … and early Van Morrison!

RRM: You have, we understand, returned to Asheville, land of your birth.

GD: I have lived in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Yosemite, and most recently 12 years on Maui. Maui was awesome, but it was never home. I looked around, and there is no finer place happening on this continent than Asheville. It has everything I want and need. Actually, I bought a small farm in Black Mountain, where I am raising tea, chestnuts, and a plethora of rescued kitties, bunnies and chickens. It is as close to heaven as one can get in this world-on-the-brink.

If You Go: Nocturnal Omissions, an evening of poetry and song featuring Gavin Geoffrey Dillard, Thursday, October 30, 2014 at 7:30 p.m. $15 in advance/$20 at the door. White Horse Black Mountain, 105c Montreat Road, Black Mountain. (828) 669-0816, or visit www.whitehorseblackmountain.com