April 2013 ~ Mirrors

Feeling: "Mirrors"

"We Held Hurricane Season," part of my longer poem "Somewhere in the Darkness, We Broke Even", appears in Issue 5 of Barzakh.

Issue 2 of Camera Obscura  is now available online, and includes my story "A Way Out of the Colonia," which won The Editor's Prize. It was first available in print, 2010. 

My play Quimera on the Storm will run for 12 performances as part of a AEA showcase at UP Theater from June 4 to June 15. Details to follow. 

The Conversant interviews my HER KIND co-editor Arisa White and me on our editorial philosophy, being out of body and mercurial tricksterness. 

My essay "The Wild of Kept Things" appears on The Better Bombshell. 

And a pleasant surprise: my BookWoman reading was a Best Bet featured in the Austin American-Statesman.  

March 2013 ~ Out of Line

Feeling: "Out of Line"

Had a great time at AWP, my first time ever. We killed it at the VIDA Prom. 

 

Tony Diaz for Nuestra Palabra: Latino Writers Having Their Say interviews me on their KPFT-FM, Houston, radio show. Thanks to hosts Tony Diaz, Liana Lopez, and Bryan Parras for having me, and to John Pluecker for his fantastic support:

Poet Amy King interviews me in the East Village newspaper BOOG City.

My newest 7 Train story "Take All This Dead in Me and Make It Sing" appears in Sundog Lit. 

And It's official - I'm a 2013 CantoMundo Fellow. Still in joyful tears. 

The Next Big Thing

The Next Big Thing is a blog-tag of writers answering a series of questions about their next book/writing project. The fantastic Adriana Paramo, who introduced me to this blog-tag, recently wrote Looking for Esperanza, which won the 2011 Social Justice and Equity Award in Creative Nonfiction. Last year, I solicited her to write for HER KIND (check out her witty "Magic Mike’s Pelvis Made Me Think of Literary Events"). Gracias, dear Adriana, for asking me to continue the tagging with own forthcoming book of poem, SOLECISM, due out March 2013.

What is the title of your book? SOLECISM--  which is, to say, a meditation in and concerning nonstandard or ungrammatical usage; many a breach of good manners or etiquette; errors, improprieties or inconsistencies.  

What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book? An exodus, cross-pollination and exorcism of borders I have crossed, ranging trom that between Mexico and the U.S. to East and West Jerusalem.

What genre does your book fall under? Poetry.

Where did the idea come from for the book? I am guilty of all the meanings of the word solecism, so I decided to explore that, rather correct it. The why and how and when I  error, fumble, miscommunicate. Each has its own world, opens new realms, challenges what people assume to be fixed and static-- traditions, borders, spacial identities, even histories. Ruins on the border of Mexico and Guatemala, for instance, are quite fertile.

How long did it take you to write the first draft of the manuscript? I've been working on the manuscript itself for about 2 years, though some poems were drafted as far back as my freshman year of college. 

Who or what inspired you to write this book? My family. The stories they've carried down with them, the ones we've lived/are living together. The Torah. The intelligence and behavior of birds, especially crows and sparrows, their tenacity to survive. The sense of humor and curiosity of parrots. Corridos, narcorridos, Posada's broadsides with the calveras. The melancholy of Jerusalem. Migrations. 

Who will publish your book? Virtual Artists' Collective 

What other works would you compare this book to within your genre? The poet Marian Haddad, whose work I treasure, said the manuscript reminded her of Harryette Mullen. I'm not quite sure to whom to compare, but I can name the poets I've read throughout its completion: Guillaume Apollinaire, Arisa White, Nazim Hikmet, Metta Sama, Mahmoud Darwish, Yehuda Amichai, Tara Betts, Lee Herrick, the Israeli poet Rahel, Lorca, Coral Bracho, Amy King. All these poets have influenced my writing. The sprawling prose of Orhan Pamuk and Yaakov Shabtai too. 

What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie rendition? Since it's poetry, I'd love it if Salma Hayek or Javier Bardem read them aloud. They both have such great voices.

What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest? The cover is a painting by my uncle Rogelio Cisneros. It’s a tribute to a wolf he found and raised himself; he never truly defeated the wildness in her, and that's something I've always admired, the ability to not tame but adapt to the various shades of her wildness. My uncle is married to my mother's sister Olivia, and they live in San Diego; one can see from their house the flickering lights of Tijuana. The neighbors were always on the verge of figuring out she was a wolf. After years of working on border patrol, my uncle retired and had decided to dedicate his time to painting. Then, my Aunt Olivia-- the life of the party, so to say-- became very ill and my uncle has had to take care of her full time. I am in awe of that love.   

Thanks again to Adriana for putting me on the tag line.  And here are my tags for next Wednesday:

Ren Powell, author of Mercy Island: New and Selected Poems

Jade Sylvan, author of Kissing Oscar Wilde

Arisa White, author of A Penny Saved

Lee Herrick, author of Gardening Secrets of the Dead

Stephen Delbos, author of Chetty's Lullaby

Ching-In Chen, author of The Heart's Traffic

January 2013 ~ Throw Down

Feeling: "Throw Down"

Went to Hong Kong with my love for the first time ~ just my speed... 

My play Don't Call it Returning  appears in Knock Magazine online; it will be reprinted in Print Issue #16 in June 2013.

"To The Night Shark"  appears as TheThePoetry's Poem of the Week. 

"Un-Returning as Talisman: On Letting Go," my new essay on 7 Train Love for Sundog Lit Blog, is live now.  

My poem "Off the Q" appears in The Fox Chase Review. 

September 2012 ~ Some Girls Love Horses

Feeling: "Why Some Girls Love Horses"

My poem "For the Mixed Child with Pale Skin" appears in The Bakery. Thanks to editor Albert Abonado for including me.

My poems "Coming-of-Age in Sal Si Puedes," "Creation Story of Sal Si Puedes" and "The Reply of Sal Si Puedes" appear in Tidal Basin Review's Cultural Pride Issue. So honored to be a part of this.

And just added to the event, I will be reading from SOLECISM at "Escritores por Ciudad Juárez: un manifiesto y un recital" at 4 PM at McNally Jackson. Thanks to Madeline Millan and Pillar Blanco Ruiz for inviting me. 

 

 

DRAWN FROM WATER. Rehearsal 9.12.2012

Rehearsal for upcoming production of DRAWN FROM WATER. By Rosebud Ben-Oni. Featuring Ximena Mieles and Mauricio Pita. Directed by Bob Teague. All Photo Credits: Holly Burdorff.

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August 2012 ~ Fear (To the Night Shark)

Feeling: "Fear"  *Been writing poems about the Night Shark*

My poems "Gangster as Narwhal" and "Pauraque" appear in the new issue of Poecology. Check out the whole issue here.

My poem "Returning to Sal Si Puedes" appears here in B O D Y. Thanks to editors Stephan Delbos and Christopher Crawford. 

I'll be reading in The Bakery's Deep Fried Reading Series in November in Rochester. Also, the very cool Albert Abonado is seeking submissions-- especially from women-- for The Bakery.   

June/July 2012: Under the Bridge

Feeling: "Under the Bridge" <been traveling across the U.S.-Mexican border>

 HARRIET, the blog of The Poetry Foundation, interviews my co-editor Arisa White, VIDA Founder Cate Marvin and me about HER KIND. Read all about here.

 

Speaking of VIDA, Riverhead Books is throwing a shindig/fundraiser at the Brooklyn Brewery. Come out to grab a drink, dance and mingle with us.  

 

An excerpt of my play "The Amaranthine Thread" appears 

here 

in 

Tribe Magazine.

 

My story "As the Twig is Bent" appears here in Ragazine. Special thanks to editor Metta Sama. 

Summer Reading: Tim Horvath's Understories, Arisa White's Hurrah's Nest, Hmong Writers' Circle's How Do I Begin, Joanna Sit's My Last Century and Cheryl Strayed's Wild.

 

 

May 2012 ~ On Living

Feeling: "On Living"

I'm THRILLED  to announce my debut book of poems SOLECISM will be published by Virtual Artists Collective in early 2013. 

Equally thrilled to present HER KIND, which is part of VIDA: Women in Literary Arts, which Arisa White and I serve as editors.

A friend sent me Mexican novelist Carlos Fuentes' last message on Twitter: "There must be something beyond slaughter and barbarism to support the existence of mankind and we must all help search for it."

"Ants Eating a Bone," the first of my Fuzhou in Flushing stories, appears here in Escape into Life. 

My  poem "Over the River from Sal Si Puedes" originally appeared in CURA's Issue 4  online, and now is in the 2nd print issue alongside some fantastic work. All proceeds  go to Covenant House.

My cousin Michael K. Gomez won the SA Music Award for Best Drummer. Catch him this summer playing with the mad talented Carlton Zeus. 

April 2012 ~ Greetings & Salutations

I have a lyrical essay on Gender & Cultural Inheritance in Intercultural Alliance of Artists & Scholar's Special Issue of phati-tude's "WHAT’S IN A NOMBRE? Writing Latin@ Identity in America." Honored to be in the same issue as Junot Diaz, Esmeralda Santiago, Oscar Hijuelos, and Gary Soto.

FIT is sponsoring a production of my play Drawn from Water as part of Hispanic Heritage month in late September/ early October; there'll also be a talk back with the cast and myself. Stayed tuned for details. 

Midnight in Matamoros has now gone into development under the dramaturgy of Bob Teague, Artistic Director of Truant Arts. We've brought abroad Carlton Zeus, a Brownsville native and fresh new voice, to write original music for the play.

The play was conceived first in a poem I recently wrote, "At Ten I had the Look of Locust," which was recently published.