Books of Interest by Writers of Color: An Interview With Poet John Olivares Espinoza

This interview of John Olivares Espinoza took place in 2009. It is being published here for the first time.

I first met John Olivares Espinoza at Macondo after already arranging to bring him to Kansas City for a reading with Francisco Aragón and Brenda Cárdenas. We had several long conversations then about the writing life and again when he visited Kansas City. John is a thoughtful, soft-spoken man, who reflects deeply on what it means to give your life to this undertaking of writing the best you possibly can. It was truly a pleasure to interview him.

John Olivares Espinoza is the author of The Date Fruit Elegies (2008), the inaugural collection in Bilingual Press/Revista Bilingüe’s new poetry series, Canto Cosas. In 2009, The Date Fruit Elegies was a finalist for the Northern California Book Award in poetry. Espinoza was born and raised in Indio, California to Mexican parents. He holds degrees in creative writing from the University of California, Riverside (B.A.) and Arizona State University (M.F.A), where he spent time writing about his experience working as a gardener with his brothers and father in the nearby resorts. John and his wife live in San Jose, California, where he teaches at the National Hispanic University.

LR: Your first full-length poetry collection, The Date Fruit Elegies, was the first in the new Latino poetry series, Canto Cosas, from Bilingual Press/Revista Bilingue. How did that come about?

JOE: It was a mix of not giving up and friends not giving up on me. I had been submitting my first manuscript to contests for years before Bilingual Press picked it up. The manuscript placed as finalist or semi-finalist here and there, and after a while I even started sending out queries to presses I thought I might have a chance with, but they politely declined.

At some point during graduate school I met Francisco Aragón, a poet, and at that time he was starting up his small press, Momotombo. Early on he had supported my work and manuscript while I was still in graduate school, pointing me in the direction of contests of whose judges I might have a shot with. At the AWP writers’ conference, he had even set up a private meeting with Sandy Taylor of Curbstone Press just before Sandy passed away. Curbstone took a pass on the manuscript. It was a blow to my faith in getting the book published. I was set with stashing the manuscript in my drawer and move on. Before long, Francisco was granted editorial oversight of poetry for Bilingual. This new series was to be called Canto Cosas. I guess Francisco thought highly enough my work that he took it into his own hands to expose it to a wide audience and make it the debut of the new Canto Cosas.

LR: You have a striking and unique cover for your book. Can you tell us the story behind it?

JOE: The cover art is from a loteria series by Gene Flores, and they are just a few of the dozens he has produced. The person who pointed me in the direction of Flores was Sergio Troncoso, who used Flores’ artwork for the cover of The Last Tortilla and Other Stories. The story of how Gene Flores came to be my second choice is an odd one.

In April of 2007, Bilingual Press flew me in for a pair of readings in Tempe and unbeknownst to me, the trip was also to talk about a potential book cover. From what I had heard, it was rare for an author to have a say on the cover art. It’s well known that Gary Keller, the publisher of Bilingual Press, has collected an extensive array of Chicano art for what I guess to be the Hispanic Research Center. Much of it has been collected in the beautiful two-volume set called Contemporary Chicana and Chicano Art. I worked with Linda St. John, an associate editor, in choosing the cover in her office. She had pre-selected several pieces for me from CCCA and there was one that floored me. It was a painting of a skeleton in mariachi get-up strumming a guitar by George Yepes entitled “La serenata.” The truth was that the image itself had very little to do with the themes of my book, except for maybe the section of elegies, which does not wholly make the book. But it would have made for a striking cover, and one that my mom would have to set face down on her nightstand.

George Yepes is the unofficial artist for Latino Hollywood. One of my favorite filmmakers, Robert Rodriguez, collects his art. I was excited to find out that Rodriguez actually has a copy of “La serenata” hanging in his bedroom (which is kind of creepy). Perhaps with this Yepes connection Rodriguez would hire me as a studio poet. Bilingual then solicited Yepes’s permission to use the artwork, but Yepes asked to read my poems first. Yepes responded by declining the rights citing that there’s a possibility that Rodriguez might use the art in an album cover as he had with other Yepes pieces. But instead, Yepes suggested, that he create original art for my work. I was so excited. Unfortunately, Bilingual had a deadline to meet with the book, plus there were no funds to commission a cover. After another failed appeal to use “La serenta,” we moved on with my suggestion to use Gene Flores. The designer made an extraordinary cover that I am happy with, as well as so many other people,

The Date Fruit Elegies (Bilingual Review Press)


LR: Many of the poems in The Date Fruit Elegies arose out of your father’s work as a gardener and your own work with him when you were a child and adolescent. Reading the poems, it becomes clear that your relationship with your father in those years was complex but close. Was that difficult to write about?

JOE: At first it wasn’t difficult at all. At that time I was writing those poems in an undergraduate workshop and later in early graduate writing workshops. Back then I had a limited perception about audience. I really didn’t think that those poems would reach an audience outside of those 10, 15 people in the workshop. Now I have to second think how I represent members of my family in my poetry, as that is all an audience goes by. At a workshop in Macondo, Denise Chavez said about writing: “Do no harm.” It’s an adage I follow. Personally, I don’t have a problem writing poetry charged with emotion, but I have to be considerate to others.

LR: What theme or organizing principle, if any, did you use in putting the book together?

JOE: The habits we have now are one we picked up as kids. Working landscape with my dad was about near-perfection. For example, when we planted flowers in the soil during the fall, I wanted to plant the flowers any which way. My dad would not have any of that. If he saw that our flowers were being planted in a crooked line, he’d have us dig them out and plant them correctly. Even though it was a dirty job, he approached his work with nice, neat, and clean in mind. Although it may not have appeared it to anyone else, the work my dad did was deliberate.

The first draft of my manuscript had no sections. I think I may have ordered them by favorites first. Remember I was young writer with much to learn about putting a manuscript together. As I got better read and consulted friends and teachers, I began to shape my book by my work’s major themes. So the first section of the book is about growing up in California, the second are the elegies, the third are the prose poems, and lastly, a section about work. These were the themes that I wanted to represent in my first-book, which in turn represents me. With the habit I picked up as work as a kid, I wanted to achieve a “perfection” in the book, one that has every poem speak to the next and is deliberately placed. I had my flowers lined up, my weeds pulled out.

LR: In 2009, The Date Fruit Elegies was a finalist for the Northern California Book Award in poetry, a high achievement for a first book. What’s next for you as a writer and teacher?

JOE: I’m chipping away at the poems, one by one. Sometimes they’re good. Sometimes they’re not. The poems still star family and early memories. I’ve also been sketching out a memoir on language.

As far as my teaching, I don’t know. Right now there are a lot of hiring freezes, or where they’re hiring, it’s freezing. Hopefully something suitable will come up for me.

LR: What encouragement and advice do you have for students and emerging writers?

JOE: You have to be in this profession of writing for the long haul. I feel there’s too much pressure for fame and veneration put on budding writers. I notice that’s the kind of language coming out of Poets and Writers and especially blogs: “The Best Poets to Come Out of Preschool” or “The Ten Under Ten.” There doesn’t seem to be a sense that being a writer, a good one, takes a lifetime of craft. Surely some have talent right out of the gates, but I’ve seen mediocre poets mature into writing astonishing verse because of hard work. I wish we treated poetry more like martial arts. New writers should focus on the writing and less on publishing and winning contests.

Back to the usual format with next week's post in my series on writers of color. Tomorrow (if I can conquer the tech) I'll post my radio interview with Michael Medrano and David Campos on Pakatelas!

Books Status Report

This is a pseudo-post because I haven't time for a real one.

I am unexpectedly cutting the manuscript of Every Last Secret at my editor's request. I should have known I was getting off too easily with those small changes. The way the length is figured has thrown me for a loop, however. Characters with spaces. Of course, my word processing program will figure that for me, along with word count. I've done this so many times that I can cut pages or words to order and estimate how well I've done fairly accurately. Not so with characters.

I do most of my revising on hard copy and then enter it in the computer--at least in fiction. When I cut words that way, I have a good idea as I'm going along in the hard copy where I'm standing. With characters, I'm flying blind. I've gone through the entire manuscript, cutting wherever possible. Now, I'm entering the changes. But I'm not sure I'll have cut enough and won't know until I've finished the whole process and have characters calculated.

It's a new process to learn. I suppose, several books on, I'll come to the place where I can cut in the hard copy and know pretty well how many characters I've managed to reduce. And of course, I've always found that cutting improves pretty much everything.

It would help if the city hadn't torn up my whole street and wasn't constantly shutting off my water while they work on whatever they work on, so I have to leave my house to write at coffee shops and libraries--any place where I'll have access to water during the day. I know I shouldn't complain since a few of my neighbors can't get their cars anywhere near their houses. At least, I'm not there.

Wishing you all happy writing! I'm entering cuts in the computer so I can eventually get back to the first draft of the new book. Later this week--an interview with poet, John Olivares Espinoza.

Latino Writers Collective Brings Award-Winning Latino Writers to Kansas City Public Library

The Wind Shifts: New Latino Poetry (University of Arizona Press) is the 2008 winner of the International Latino Book Award in Poetry. Reviewers have loved it. In fact, Booklist referred to it in a review as “a ravishing collection of poems,” and the El Paso Times described the book as a “compelling and exhilarating addition to Latino letters.” The anthology of new Latino poets is so highly regarded nationally that the Ford Foundation, JP Morgan Chase, the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts and Southwest Airlines joined with the National Association of Latino Arts and Culture to send the editor and key contributors on a successful national reading tour. The Latino Writers Collective now brings The Wind Shifts tour to Kansas City with editor, Francisco Aragón, and two contributors, Brenda Cardenas and John Olivares Espinoza, who will read their work at the Central Library, 14 W. 10^th, on Wednesday, September 23, at 6:30 p.m. The evening will include a reception and booksigning. RSVP at http://www.kclibrary.org/event/cuarta-pagina.

Aragón is the author of Puerta del Sol (Bilingual Press, 2005) and the forthcoming Glow of Our Sweat (Scapegoat Press, 2010). His work has appeared in various anthologies, including, Inventions of Farewell: A Book of Elegies (W.W. Norton & Company), American Diaspora: Poetry of Displacement (University of Iowa Press), Evensong: Contemporary American Poets on Spirituality (Bottom Dog Press) and, Deep Travel: Contemporary American Poets Abroad (Ninebark Press). He directs Letras Latinas, the literary program of the Institute for Latino Studies (ILS) at the University of Notre Dame where he edits Latino Poetry Review. He also edits Canto Cosas, a book series out of Bilingual Press for Latino and Latina poets. He serves on the boards of the Guild Complex in Chicago, as well the Association of Writers & Writing Programs (AWP). Aragón holds degrees in Spanish from the University of California at Berkeley and New York University, and an MA in English and an MFA in creative writing from the University of California at Davis and the University of Notre Dame, respectively. He lives in Arlington, VA and works out of the ILS’ office in Washington, D.C.

Visit his website: http://franciscoaragon.net

Cardenas' first full-length book of poetry, Boomerang, will be published by Bilingual Press in the fall of 2009. She also has a chapbook of poems, From the Tongue of Brick and Stone (Momotombo Press, 2005). She is co-editor of Between the Heart and the Land: Latina Poets in the Midwest (MARCH/Abrazo Press) and has twice received Illinois Arts Council finalist awards in Poetry. Cardenas ' poems have appeared in U.S. Latino Literature Today, Poetic Voices Without Borders, Bum Rush the Page: A Def Poetry Jam, RATTLE: Poetry for the 21st Century, Prairie Schooner, and others. With Sonido Ink(quieto), a spoken word and music ensemble, she released the CD, Chicano, Illnoize: The Blue Island Sessions (DeSPICable Records, 2001).

Olivares Espinoza is the author of The Date Fruit Elegies (2008), the inaugural collection in Bilingual Press/Revista Bilingüe’s new poetry series, Canto Cosas. In 2009, The Date Fruit Elegies was a finalist for the Northern California Book Award in poetry. Espinoza was born and raised in Indio, California to Mexican parents. He holds degrees in creative writing from the University of California, Riverside (B.A.) and Arizona State University (M.F.A), where he spent time writing about his experience working as a gardener with his brothers and father in the nearby resorts. John and his wife live in San Jose, California, where he teaches at the National Hispanic University.

This event will be the first in another of the Latino Writers Collective’s successful annual reading series. Cuarta Página (Fourth Page) Reading Series is co-sponsored by BkMk Press, Kansas City Public Library, Kansas City Hispanic News, Letras Latinas, Mattie Rhodes Latino Cultural Arts Division, Park University, UMKC Women’s Center, The Writers Place and other community organizations. The series is made possible in part by funding from the Missouri Arts Council.

Catching Up--Book and Reunion--Amid Pre-Macondo Jitters

I'm resigned to being a lazy blogger. This summer has been so packed with activities and tasks, and I've been in and out of town so much that I have not kept this blog up the way I had hoped. I have nothing but the highest respect for those people who blog daily. I can't even seem to manage weekly, which is what I was hoping for originally.

Part of what has made this summer a madhouse has been all the attention my new book has been getting--a very good thing from my point of view. Interviews and readings take time, and when placed in an already crowded schedule, they will squeeze out things like updating a blog. But aside from being important to sales of the book, they are just plain great fun. Here's a link to a radio interview on KCUR, Kansas City' NPR station.

I also did something I've never done before. I went back to Manhattan, Kansas, for my high school reunion. I had been out of touch with my graduating class. They couldn't find me, and when I would leave my contact information with the high school (as I did several times), it never made its way to those organizing reunions. Finally, an old friend from high school found me on the internet and reconnected me with my high school class. (Thanks big time, Bill!)

Manhattan High School (Old that we attended on right)

Konza Prairie, the landscape surrounding Manhattan, KS
(c) Bill Curnutte

I don't know that I expected much out of the reunion. I wanted to see people again that I had known when we were very young, and that was about it. What was so surprising was the instant sense of connection with these folks I hadn't seen for decades. And my own teary sentimentality when Norman Byers, our class vice president, led us in the school anthem! We toured the old school, and when we walked into the auditorium where I had performed so often with many of these same classmates, it almost felt as if I ought to be walking up onto the stage to sing and whirl with Pops Choir or walk with exaggerated hip swings (that always embarrassed me), pig in arms, downstage singing Moonbeam McSwine's part in Li'l Abner. Very eerie sense of deja vu!

It was terrific fun, though, to reconnect with so many classmates, who have turned into very successful--but more importantly, truly nice--people. It's very odd but very satisfying to feel this sense of connection to these people who have not been a part of my life for so many years but who are nonetheless important to me, though I had not realized it. Now, we're planning the next reunion in five years and trying to stay in touch in the meantime. Go, MHS Class of 1964!

Part of why things have been so hectic lately is that I'm trying to take care of everything that needs doing before taking off to San Antonio and the Macondo Workshop next week. Very exciting! I've been fortunate enough to get into the Famosa workshop with Ruth Behar and Marjorie Agosín, Casa/Hearth/Diaspora. (My husband's incredibly jealous since he knows Behar's and Agosín's work from his own work in Jewish studies!) They've given us some interesting preparatory work, and the manuscripts from the other workshop members are widely varied in style and universally fascinating.

I'm looking forward to seeing the fabulous Sandra Cisneros (founder of Macondo) again and other friends, Francisco Aragón and Ellen Placey Wadey, as well as people I only know from email or from their work, such as John Olivares Espinoza, Margo Chavez-Charles, Rachel Jennings, Levi Romero, Vincent Toro, and Richard Blanco. I'm nervous, of course. I sent in drafts of poems I'm working on, as requested, not finished work. I hope that in the workshop I'll get a better handle on this book I'm writing. It seems as if I'm writing in two very different styles--and each is a departure from my usual style. I don't know at this point if I'm breaking important new ground for myself or wandering down dead-end roads stylistically.

So back to trying to get everything taken care of before I leave, especially getting all the content for Tercera Pagina to Tina Landis for the Latino Writers Collective blog. We're growing so--with new members all the time. It's wonderful to see an organization that used to just be five or six of us about to hit 50 members in number and grow beyond that.

I'll try to get an entry up soon after I return from Macondo about that experience. Until then, read and write and be happy!