Featured on The Writer's Almanac

Today Garrison Keillor will read Pat's poem "Teenagers" from Communion on The Writer's Almanac  produced by American Public Media. Tune into your favorite public radio station to listen, or listen and read on The Writer's Almanac  website.

Creativity Salon: an Interview With Poet Diana Garcia

Welcome to Bookjoy Creativity Salon, Diana! It was such a pleasure to meet and hear you at AWP (Association of Writers & Writing Programs) in Chicago last March. Your words about me at our panel were incredibly generous. I treasure them. Among other talents, you are a poet, a professor, and a committed advocate.

Diana, please tell us a bit about yourself.

“The biggest influences on me probably are being born to parents who worked in the fields and who were living in a labor camp when I was born. The camp and the people who lived and worked in the camp served as my earliest role models for what it is to live an honorable, hard-working life. At the end of your life, all you have is your reputation as a hard worker and the respect of those you worked with. Then, the San Joaquin Valley engraved its dry flatness on my consciousness. From an early age, I understood the importance of rain, the lack of rain when needed, the overabundance of rain at the wrong time. I reflect often on water and its many and various aspects. Finally, becoming a single mother when I was 20, struggling with the powerlessness of having to rely on welfare to make ends meet, filled me with a rage that's never completely left me. I discovered the tone deafness of those who have always known a privileged existence. It also makes me deeply grateful for all that I now have: a patient, generous husband and partner; parents, son and grandsons who make me proud to be part of the clan; and a university where I can teach what I've learned about writing and about living.”

Let me begin by asking about your work as a poet. You wrote the collection, When Living Was a Labor Camp, published in 2000. Such a moving title. Can you tell us about the impetus for that collection?

I wrote When Living Was a Labor Camp out of a deep commitment to the generations of farm workers whose sacrifices weren’t represented adequately in the poetry I read in the 1990s. In my own family, one uncle was poisoned and died after picking tomatoes in a field that had been sprayed with pesticides. Another uncle, a former bracero whose permit had expired, was picked up during Operation Wetback in the 50s and 60s and returned to Mexico. In both cases, the men left behind women who struggled to raise children on their own. I also wanted to capture the perseverance of the generations that followed, the children and grandchildren whose lives were impacted by prejudice. Finally, I wanted to write a book that my parents and my aunts and uncles could read, hear and understand and know their lives, and those of their children, were being honored.

In what ways does creativity shape your work and your life?
I have always trusted my response to the natural world, that sense of self that is best reflected by moments in nature. Similarly, when I write, I feel a sense of connectedness to the world around me, to the expressions and experiences reverberating in the world. Writing also is like intellectual weight lifting for me. Much as a sturdy weight lifting workout leaves me drained and tranquil, a good bout of writing leaves my brain strangely emptied and refreshed.

I know you teach an upper division course, Social Action Writing. How did that course evolve and can you tell us a bit about it?
California State University Monterey Bay, established in 1994, is the first university in the CSU system to require 30 hours of service learning at each of the lower and upper division levels. Within our interdisciplinary humanities and communication major, two such courses, “Social Action Writing” and “Creative Writing and Service Learning” (originally titled “Creative Writing for Teachers”), were developed as part of our creative writing and social action program. The focus is on learning as much as it is on service. We value the commitment our neighboring communities—Seaside, Salinas, Marina, Monterey and Pacific Grove—made to converting the former Ft. Ord to a university. Not just communities, but the neighboring counties of San Benito and Santa Cruz were also involved. We want our students to learn from this level of civic engagement, this commitment to the issues affecting our neighbors and colleagues. In “Creative Writing and Service Learning,” students focus on using creative writing to engage children’s creativity and imagination in after school and community school programs. In “Social Action Writing,” depending on the theme that semester, students might work with community partners examining substandard housing, pesticide poisoning, educational inequality, or the peace movement. Our partnerships are on-going and a vital part of our students’ education.

In a political introduction recently, Obama was described as “burning on the inside” referring to his passion for a just nation. Though I was only with you briefly, my sense is that Diana Garcia also burns on the inside. Am I right?
Injustices of any kind anger me, especially since in most cases, injustice is leveled by those with power against those who are voiceless and powerless.

What were you like as a child and what advice would you have given to that young, beautiful self?
As a child, I was a bookworm, reclusive, and living in a world of my imagination. I imagined a world of books, of teaching, of travel. I never would have imagined that all my dreams would come true, and then some!

Fall Beauty in the Desert

I’ve spent much of my life in the Chihuahua Desert of the Southwest. I’m at home in this landscape that some consider stark and bare. Yes, it gets plenty hot, but it also rains, though not often enough, and we do shiver in snow. The desert teaches me to notice: small wildflowers and the lizards I so cherish. In the fall, Santa Fe turns to gold: locust and immense cottonwood trees, sunflowers, firewheels (gaillardias), chamisa (rabbitbrush), yellow wildflowers such as golden crownbeard--all transform hills, fields, paths, gardens: suffuse them with light. I wish I could meet all of you who visit my blog. Here’s a small gift.

          A Bouquet of Wild Asters

          When nights cool,

          wild asters wriggle

          out of the desert sand, s t r e t c h

          day after day, and gradually unfold

          into surprises:

                    lavender bouquets.

                    Pat Mora ©

The Moon and a Poem

Love the moon? I do, especially on full-moon nights. I tend to feel a bit stunned by the beauty of that celestial radiance. Wanted to share this picture of the moon rising above the Santa Fe hills recently. Here's a companion poem from my book BORDERS(1986). Though hard, the moon seems such a benevolent body of light.




                 







Home

It only happened once
spinning in the desert white
with moonlight, glancing down,
rabbits, snakes, small burrowing owls
in a circle round her bare feet,
stretching too toward the moon,
snakes charmed by silent music.


Closing her eyes, feeling the pull
as they spun round
her knee, breasts, touching
her long hair, circling higher
in a funnel through which she rose
pushing upward, upward, grazing stars
with her fingertips and toes
her body light
finally curling on the moon
which circled round her
while she slept, slipped her
softly on the desert floor at dawn.

                              by Pat Mora ©  

Poetry, Inclusivity, and Creativity in Classrooms

Last month, I spoke at Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan. Dr. Linda Pavonetti had invited me to visit her class, “The Author’s & Illustrator’s Art & Craft.” I was intrigued by the concept for the class. The masters students in education study the work of the visiting authors, illustrators, editors, etc. prior to the lecturer’s arrival. On the day I visited, I used my book ZING! as the basis for my PowerPoint focusing first on my books of poetry and why it’s my favorite genre as a writer. Sadly, many teachers feel hesitant to teach poetry though it’s a fine way to foster delight in language and to strengthen our writing at any age. I also stressed the importance of being inclusive of all the various parts of ourselves and of enjoying diversity in literature, colleagues and students. A key theme of my remarks was the seven practices I propose in ZING! to help nurture creativity in ourselves, our colleagues, and our pupils.

Symbols for the seven creative practices of ZING!

My flight experiences on this trip were the worst of my life (the challenge of flying these days), BUT I so enjoyed part two of the class when, after meeting in groups, the students asked me many thought-provoking questions. As educators at all levels prepare for a new academic year, I wish them excitement as they prepare to foster creativity in themselves and their students. Life’s details, technology, etc. can snare us. I find it takes daily effort to value our unique inventiveness.

Bookjoy Celebrations

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Creativity Salon: an Interview with Dr. Janice Gould

I’ll begin the post by saying: Welcome to my Bookjoy Creativity Salon, Janice, and congratulations on recently receiving tenure at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs. You are a new friend with whom I’ve so enjoyed spending time recently.

Photo by credit Jason Ordaz, School for Advanced Research, Santa Fe, NM

 1. You’re a poet, scholar, teacher, musician, photographer, a woman creative in so many ways. When and how did your awareness of your creativity begin?

JG: My mother encouraged my sisters and me to be creative when we were just little. She gave us lots of room to explore our world and to play. We made up stories and acted them out: we were pioneers, cowboys, Indians, detectives, railroad engineers, wanderers and explorers. I liked to draw and color; my mom was always enthusiastic about my work. She taught us music—we had a piano—and we were always singing. In first grade, I wrote a poem about the rain, and doing this I realized all in a flash how I felt about rain, how I perceived it.

Writing that little poem provided me with an opportunity to gain insight into how I connect with the natural world. I had found a new way to see things and it felt exciting and marvelous.

2. Thinking back to yourself in third grade, are you surprised at what you are doing now, at the woman you have become?
JG: When I was in third grade, I had a teacher who segregated our class, putting all the “dark” children together, and treating us one way, and placing all the white children together and treating them another way—giving them certain privileges, and treating us “dark” children as if we were too “dumb” to protest this. Back in those days, we learned folk dancing as part of our curriculum. The teacher didn’t want the white children to partner with the “dark” children.

My mother had talked with my sisters and me about discrimination based on race, something she had faced as a young person (and as an adult). It seemed wrong to me that the teacher had separated us children into distinct groups. I went home and complained about this to my parents. The sense of social justice and injustice my mom instilled in us still resides in me.

I was also sure from an early age that I wanted to be an artist. I loved drawing, enjoyed making music, and as a teenager began exploring poetry. I studied oboe, and when I started college, I majored in music. But because I liked to read and write, and because I was rebellious in my own way, I eventually followed the path of poetry.

After I realized that I was a lesbian (I was a teenager, and this was an era when people did not talk about sexuality or sexual orientation), I felt that there was no place where I could be naturally and truthfully myself. It was a very difficult time, and it took years before I felt comfortable being “open” about my sexual preference. As feminism emerged on the scene, making it possible for girls and women to dream and imagine different possibilities for themselves, the world opened up in new ways. I found I could live truthfully.

3. Family and nature seem deep sources of inspiration for your poetry, yes? Are they also sources for your other creative work?
JG: While family and the natural world are to be sources for my writing, it is the idea of relationship that motivates and inspires me. As a photographer—and I am an amateur at this practice—I love recording the natural world. I respond affectionately to “landscape” in my photographic work and also with my music.
Friendship and love are equally inspiring sources for writing. Perhaps inwardly (and against all reason), I am always fearful that love will withdraw, leaving me bereft, lacerated, and in a kind of despair. The power of that withdrawal is frightening to me. I have always pursued intense friendships and sought intensity in lovers. And like many artists and others, I desire praise; it helps feed creativity. “Am I connecting with you?” is my unspoken question.

4. Are your varied creative expressions connected?
JG: Yes, but I’m not entirely sure how. Music and poetry have much in common: sound, rhythm, and tone. My poetry tends to be lyrical—I sometimes use more formal structures to express an idea, though I also employ free verse. My work is also narrative. My impulse, again, is to connect with others through emotional knowledge, through the body’s knowledge.

I’m still learning how to take photographs. I notice in professional photography uses of lighting or coloring that ask me to look deeper, to observe the surface and also what lies below the surface, what emerges from another layer. I am drawn to work that is generous, inclusive, and affectionate, that helps us connect with the beautiful and fecund world.

5. You have studied and been inspired by the grand Spanish poet Federico García Lorca. What fascinates you about his voice on the page?
JG: Lorca seemed aware of the power that brings both life and death. He called it “duende,” a term that we associate with flamenco, with the movements and rhythms of dance, theater, and performance. In his famous essay on this subject, Lorca disposed of the muse and the angel, forces that worked for earlier generations of writers—those given to nostalgia or pure intellectualism. He wanted to tap into a stronger impulse, something that came right up out of the earth and entered the body, tearing away masks and pretences, useless language, politeness, effeteness. He wanted to connect with something that felt more raw, “primitive,” and truthful. For him, it seems, truth could be found in the magic of the natural world: in wind, shadow, snow, and water; in the various acids that eat away at surface; in death and decay.

While Lorca’s imagination could explore violence, he tempered violence with language, always aware of the sounds of lamentation, loneliness, and longing. As a homosexual living under the repressive order of that day and time, he probably experienced life as a surface, for when people cannot live openly, they must resort to secrecy and deceptions—ways to carry on their own natural impulses inwardly when the reality of the surface prohibits and disdains them. I believe that Lorca imagined the stultification and sterility of Spanish conservatism through a feminine reality (for example in his plays) because it was clear to him that women suffered from sexual and political repression. Yet Lorca’s voice seldom feels “political,” and never didactic. His approach was to encourage human connection through lyricism—song and music were important to him—and imagination, through a magical, sometimes whimsical, sometimes violent apprehension of the natural world and the world of human making.

6. In your essay in the book you co-edited, Speak to Me Words: Essays on Contemporary American Indian Poetry, you write, “We have to forgive our imperfections and heal the hole in our hearts that is left there by shame.” The book was published in 2003. What have you learned in the intervening years about the connection between creative work and healing ourselves?

JG: Healing is creative when it comprises a re-creation of self, the work of the psyche, the soul. As I think about my own inner work, I realize I have become clearer about what I want to do, and as importantly, what I do not wish to do. I have learned to say “no” to certain tasks that would take psychic time and energy away from writing poetry or music. Creative work is healing when it’s undertaken without guilt, when we move past the distractions that life presents. If we believe our job is to give back through our creative works, we must sometimes be “selfish” to accomplish this.

7. Any new projects you’d like to share with us?
JG: I’ve been working on a new manuscript of poems since 2009. I have several “gacelas” (a term I borrow from García Lorca), some lyric poems in free verse, and some that I term “prose poems.” I post some of my photos to my blog. And I continue to practice guitar and to write music for it and for accordion.

8. What makes Janice really laugh?
JG: I saw Marcel Marceau in performance once. He made me laugh because Bip was most always in a daydream, which meant that whatever he was trying to accomplish came with goofy mistakes (having to re-button his shirt many times, tripping over his own feet, trying to look nonchalant, even debonair, but slipping on a banana peel at the last moment). Bip had a sweetness and innocence that came from having an affectionate heart, a heart that took in all the world and gave it all back with the largest of grins, voicelessly.
Although Marceau has passed on, I still love Bip’s humanity and relate to his penchant for error. I enjoy being in the company of people who act from the heart, who are not afraid of silliness, who laugh with soft laughter.

Read Janice's blog and see more photographs.

Gracias to Con Tinta and UNLV

Thanks to poet and Pilgrimage editor and publisher Maria Melendez and her Con Tinta colleagues, I enjoyed a wonderful day in Chicago, March 1. The Association of Writers & Writing Programs (AWP) was having its annual conference, and Maria et. al. had organized a 2012 AWP Tribute for me that they’d titled: “Eloquence & Bookjoy.” I read from published and new writings, and Diana Garcia, Beatriz Terrazas, John Drury & Xánath Caraza generously spoke about my work. A special memory.

Photo by Xanath Caraza

Photo by Xanath Caraza

That evening Con Tinta, hosted a Pachanga at which I saw writing friends and met new writers. Paloma Martinez-Cruz provided guitar music, and poets Irasema Gonzalez and Diana Pando read some of my poems to the audience. I received the Con Tinta Achievement Award for Literary Activism and a wonderful statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe from Oaxaca. Maria and her colleagues are all busy people, and I wish to express my deep thanks to her and all who created two special memories and who deepened my commitment as a writer and literacy/literary advocate.

Con Tinta is a coalition of Chicano/Latino cultural activist poets and writers who believe in affirming a positive and pro-active presence in American literature. Con Tinta's mission is to create awareness through the cultivation of emerging talent, through the promotion and presentation of artistic expression, and through the collective voice of support to its members, communities, and allies.

Photo by Xanath Caraza

On March 17, I had the good fortune to be part of the University of Nevada Las Vegas’ first Gayle A. Zeiter Children's Literature Conference. My friend, Dr. Cyndi Giorgis chaired the friendly group of UNLV colleagues and students who created a day with lots of helpful strategies for promoting books for children. I again enjoyed listening to talented illustrator and writer James Ransome and was glad to also meet and listen to his wife, the writer Lesa Cline-Ransome. Each is mighty talented and as a duo presenting their work and ideas, they are mighty funny.

Children’s Literature Conferences are an effective strategy for gathering librarians, teachers, professors, etc. who want to share their commitment to children and literacy and for motivating attendees and presenters to re-commit to this challenging goal. I enjoyed speaking about my writing, Día, sharing bookjoy, creativity, and the art of teaching and writing. As always, I enjoyed chatting with attendees and was inspired by their commitment to students and young people. Congratulations to Cyndi and her colleagues on initiating an important tradition and for including me in their inaugural event.

Bookjoy at NCTE

As a former English teacher, there’s always something exciting for me about being invited to speak at NCTE (National Council of Teachers of English). I joked with the Random House team (the press that was kind enough to sponsor me) that many teens might shiver at the thought of the two Chicago hotels full of English teachers.

I had the pleasure of preparing for two programs. I say “pleasure” because I love presenting as much as I love writing and because such preparations are opportunities to think, and we all know that creating thinking time can be a challenge. I joined poet Joyce Sidman and two faculty members in offering a master class on “Poetic Voices: Writing, Reading and Responding to Poetry.” Frankly, I seldom have the opportunity to hear another writer, and I so enjoyed hearing Joyce read her fine poems and explain how a poem evolves for her. For the first time, I prepared a PowerPoint of my books of poems and rhymes in the order the books were published. In addition to reading some poems especially from Dizzy in Your Eyes: Poems About Love, I asked the audience to think about what voices (and languages) are included in our poetry. I was asking: who belongs in poems and what do poets look like?

I was introduced at the Conference on English (CEL) breakfast by my friend Dr. R. Joseph Rodríguez from the University of Texas. Joseph, a dear friend, often knows my work better than I do. I struggle almost daily to find time to continue my own writing and to promote Día  and family literacy. I seldom consciously sit and think about leadership, also a topic of great interest to me. My title, “Creatively Practicing Resilience: The Zing of Bookjoy” allowed me to address some of my key themes but also to explore potential: our personal potential as leaders, the potential of the literature and literacy field, and the potential of our collaborators.

May we all be bolder and more creative leaders in 2012! Wishing you health, happiness and bookjoy.

In 1986, I was fortunate to receive a Kellogg National Leadership Fellowship, a three-year experience that greatly enriched my life. In 2001, the W. K. Kellogg Foundation published a book entitled, Leading from the Heart: The Passion to Make a Difference. My essay and its introduction are from that book. It’s interesting how many of the ideas in this piece are part of ZING! published in 2010.

The Gift of Poetry

Gift Tag is the third poetry e-book compiled and edited by Sylvia Vardell and Janet Wong. These poetry anthologies feature poems by many well-known contemporary poets and Pat has poems included in Poetry Tag Time and Gift Tag.


Gifts and giving is the theme chosen for Gift Tag. Photos (taken by Sylvia Vardell) served as prompts for each poem and each poet also wrote a “connection” piece explaining how the poem came to be.







Here's Pat's photo:

Here's her "connection:"

"Want to write a gift poem?" Sure, I thought, remembering the Christmas the electricity stopped. "Please, choose from our holiday photos." Oh, no! I sighed. I scrolled and scrolled. Then, there they were. FISH! Curling and furling. Serendipity.

… and here’s the poem she wrote.

Flying Fish
by Pat Mora
"Snow! Snow!" whisper
my sisters. Yea! But, oh!
Did our goldfish fly
over trees and roofs
in Santa's frosted sled?
We run through the cold
house. Our fish swirl
cozy by the fire. Magic.
Two wishes: snow
and fishes.

Visit the Poetry Tag Time website and learn more about each e-book.

Creativity Interview: Father Murray Bodo, OFM

Father Murray Bodo, a fellow Southwesterner though he has lived in Cincinnati for many years, is a treasured friend. All of us lucky enough to know Murray personally treasure him not only as a fine and prolific writer but as a raconteur who makes us laugh, and as a wise, compassionate and devout man. Welcome to Bookjoy Creativity Salon, dear Murray!

1. Little Louis Bodo who grew up in Gallup, New Mexico, now annually spends time in Italy. How did that happen and how has it affected your life and your writing?

MB: The first time I went to Italy was on a mission from my Franciscan Province to write a book about St. Francis. That was in 1972, and the book was Francis: The Journey and the Dream. A fortieth anniversary edition of that book is now available from St. Anthony Messenger Press. Then in 1976 I began leading pilgrimages as a staff member of Franciscan Pilgrimage Programs. I’ve been going to Italy for a couple of months in the summer or fall for 35 years now; it’s like a second home to me, especially Assisi where I continue to be inspired by the life and times of St. Francis and by the beauty of the Umbrian countryside and the enchanting streets of Assisi.

2. You were a teacher and professor for many years. Now you lead retreats. Do you miss teaching and what is the challenge of leading a retreat well?
MB: I do miss teaching. I taught for 36 years and loved my years in the classroom. But in 2002 I asked to be relieved of that ministry to devote my time to writing and leading pilgrimages. Interestingly, the challenges of a good retreat or pilgrimage are much the same as those of teaching: thorough and ongoing preparation, interesting delivery and lively inter-acting with the group; and, for me, prayer – my own and those supporting me and the retreatants, or pilgrims, with their prayers.

3. I believe I met you in 1989 in Cincinnati. During those 22 years, you have always been writing new poems and working on two to three books at a time. You amaze me. What keeps you writing at such a pace?
MB: I was asking myself that same question lately. For one thing I love writing and don’t know what I would do if I couldn’t write. And secondly, because of my age, I may be writing against time, trying to be an instrument of God’s Spirit while I still have it in me to create. But most of all, it is because writing is something I just have to do to be me. It’s intimately a part of my identity.

4. Have you always thought of yourself as creative? How do you nurture your creative life?
MB: I was the kind of kid who, as far back as I can remember, was always performing improvised skits for whoever could endure my extemporaneous plays. But it wasn’t till I was in high school that I discovered poetry as a creative outlet for me. Poetry, both reading it and writing it, gives me life; and I nurture that creative outlet by reading poets who stimulate my own writing and by walking, observing, meditating on the world around me and within me. I wait for a line, an image, or word to come to me.

5. What are your new writing projects?
MB: At present I’m completing a new book of poetry, Something Like Jasmine, which will be released by Tau Publishing in early 2012. I’m also working on the introductions for a St. Francis Day Book, which I’m co-authoring for St. Anthony Messenger Press with Pat McCloskey, a Franciscan confrere. In addition, I’m writing a small pamphlet on Pilgrimage that will be published by Abbey Press in their Prayer Notes series.

6. What makes Father Murray laugh?
MB: Usually, its human nature and the goofy, inconsistent things we all do, especially when we’re trying to be serious, and instead we tickle someone’s funny bone. But animals and birds make me laugh even more. I love to observe their antics, their play, and their inexhaustible curiosity.

Creativity Interview: Guadalupe Garcia McCall

I’ll begin by saying:  Who has her first book coming out this fall?  My guest Guadalupe Garcia McCall. Her verse novel, Under the Mesquite, will be published in September. I met Guadalupe through e-mail, and we soon discovered our many connections including a love of nature.  Congratulations on your verse novel, Guadalupe and welcome to Bookjoy Creativity Salon!

1. So how does it feel to have your first book published?
GGM: This is an amazing feeling, indescribable. When the ARCs first came in, I walked around the house holding it like a baby, carrying it everywhere. I would stand it on the counter and look at it while I cooked. I stood it next to me on my desk and watched it while I worked on novel number 2. I think I read it in ARC form like 20 times because it was such a dream come true.

2. Tell us about your publishing journey.


Under the Mesquite (Sept. 2011)

 GGM: It has really been quite a journey. Under the Mesquite started as a collection of poems I wrote over many years when I wanted to "show" my students how easy writing poetry can be. They would say, "This is hard," and I would show them how easy it was by just taking a memory and turning it into a poem in class. Of course, I had to rewrite it for every class, so by the end of the day, the poem was usually revised several times. I started collecting these "little poems" and when I had about 35 of them, I sent them out. Emily Hazel, my editor at Lee & Low, saw the potential for a novel in verse in them, and the rest is history.

3. Did you always want to be a writer?
GGM: Oh, yes, always. My first memories of writing are special. My father taught me to write so that I would be "prepared" for school in the United States. I loved listening to the pencil "whisper the words" as it travelled on the paper with his hand guiding mine. But the one who really put the idea in my head was my third grade teacher, Mr. Hernandez. After he read one of my stories (I was in a bilingual classroom, so I wrote it in Spanish) he asked me if I had written the story by myself. I said I had, and he said, "Someday, you're going to be a writer." Of course, hearing him say it cemented it in my head. It's amazing the profound effect a good teacher can have on us. If Mr. Hernandez hadn't said it quite like that, I might not have grown up believing it.

4. Have you always thought of yourself as creative? How do you nurture your creative life?
GGM: I have always loved the arts. My father, who was a carpenter, was very creative. He used to play the guitar, sing, and draw. One day, I came home from school crying because my teacher had given me a zero on a drawing of the earth. He sat down and taught me how "easy" drawing could be. It opened up the world of art for me.

My mother too was instrumental in helping me find my creativity. She recognized that I was "artistic" before I did and enrolled me in singing, dancing, and acting classes in Mexico when I was in elementary. I love to sing (although, I am not good at it) and still draw. I nurture my creative side by staying close to nature. I find nature is the most artistic entity of all. The movement of the elements as they interact is dance, the sounds of water and fire and air is music, and everything that happens on our planet is performance, and it's all out there, a feast for the senses, if we just open our eyes and feel and look with our hearts.

5. You are an experienced and committed teacher. What are your key challenges as a teacher? As a writer?
GGM: As a teacher and as a writer and as a mother and also as a person, I find that my biggest challenge in life is patience. I am not as patient as I'd like to be with myself or others. I like to finish things fast. I love movement and productivity. It comes from having two very hard working parents and also being somewhat of a perfectionist. So, every day I pray for patience and force myself to wait for perfection to come at its own pace and dressed in its own favorite outfit, not mine.

6. Are you working on other writing projects?
GGM: Oh yes. Absolutely. I am always writing. I finished revising Six Little Sisters last month. It is a multicultural novel (prose) with lots of magic realism, and I hope to find it a home someday soon. And now I am finishing up another novel-in-verse tentatively titled I Am Joaquin. It is a multicultural YA historical piece based on the conflicts in South Texas resulting from the Plan de San Diego in 1915. I have to say I am really taken by the voice of Joaquin and the story he has to tell. I Am Joaquin deals with rebellion and social injustice, but, at the heart of it, is a story about a boy, his family, and the girl he loves.

7. What do you do to relax?
GGM: Believe it or not, I write to relax. To sit in front of the computer means that I have time away from everything else that is ordinary and average. To sit in front of the computer means that I am on "vacation" from my life. I love to sit and daydream and think profoundly about life. Don't get me wrong, I am a social person. I have many friends and I love to talk, but to be able to sit and think, that is special. That's having time for myself. Time to do what I want.

More information:
Read an interview with Guadalupe at BookTalk on the Lee & Low website.
Visit Guadalupe's website.

Creativity Interview: Margarita Engle

I've had the pleasure of visiting with Margarita Engle, reading her books and savoring the Colorín Colorado interview below. I strongly recommend that you watch the interview for many reasons including to hear Margarita's eloquent response to why she writes in free verse.

Margarita, welcome to this Bookjoy Creativity Salon.



Photo by Marshall W. Johnson

 Hello, my name is Margarita Engle, and I write young adult novels in free verse, primarily about Cuban history. Although I was born in Los Angeles, my mother is from Cuba. When I was a child, we spent summers on the island, and I developed the deep attachment that inspires my writing.

1. You've said you were a book worm as a child and connected that to then becoming a writer. Many readers, though they may love reading, do not become writers. How/why, then, do you think your writing life began?
ME: I loved The Black Stallion, and Island of the Blue Dolphins. Both were books about children stranded on islands, trying to survive. Looking back, I think I must have related to those stories because of the Missile Crisis, travel restrictions, and my own sense of isolation from Cuba. Growing up in the hectic city of Los Angeles, I craved the peace of nature. Writing was an exploration, and an escape. I started writing lyrical nature poems when I was very young. The only one I vaguely remember was about dry hills that looked like brown lizards. I do remember that writing felt comforting, and it still does.

2. Your books have appropriately received many awards. You are the first Latina (o) to receive a Newbery Honor Award, yes? What is your reaction to that fact?
ME: I walked through the Newbery ceremony in a daze. To this day, I still suspect that I might have been dreaming. I didn't realize how much it meant to the Latino community, until I was included in articles and books about women who changed America. It's humbling too, because all I did was daydream on paper. I feel like I'm standing on the shoulders of Latino earlier Latino authors who were not honored.

3. What is your personal writing challenge?
ME: There are so many tempting stories, and so many fascinating subplots. It's easy to get sidetracked. Each time I start a book, I have to write a note to myself about the theme. Later, when I feel confused, I can read the note and remember what I'm really trying to say. When I finish the book, the note becomes my "Author's Note."

4. Have you always thought of yourself as creative? How do you nurture your creative life?
ME: I have always been a daydreamer. My mother must have mistaken my daydreams for philosophy, because when I gazed into space, she would tell people not to bother me while I was thinking! She understood the key to creativity: quiet time. In the modern world, that means turning off noisy gadgets and electronic interruptions. I need time alone in a hammock, or out in the woods, walking... Many great poets (Antonio Machado!) have been avid walkers. The rhythm of footsteps turns into the music of verse.

5. Would you like to tell us about the projects you're working on or topics that intrigue you, those, to use your words, that now "haunt" you?

ME: My next novel in verse is The Wild Book, scheduled by Harcourt for March, 2012. Unlike my historical books, this one is completely personal. It was inspired by stories my grandmother told me about her childhood. She grew up on a farm during the chaos following the U.S. occupation of Cuba after the "Spanish-American" War. She also had dyslexia, so the book is dedicated to reluctant readers. Exploring my grandmother's childhood, and taking on her voice, was an emotional experience!

My next picture book is about search and rescue dogs, it's scheduled by Holt/Macmillan for 2013. This topic comes from my husband's volunteer work, training our two dogs in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. I am a volunteer "victim." I hide in the forest, so the dogs can practice finding a lost hiker.

6. You've talked about writing about people who made "hopeful choices." In what ways is writing a "hopeful" choice for you?
ME: I won't write a story for young people unless it has a hopeful ending, so every time I start exploring some complex historical situation, I'm forced to choose the optimistic aspects. I can only go ahead with the project if I discover that there were people who were kind while surrounded by cruelty, or fair while surrounded by injustice. If I don't find documented examples of admirable qualities, I drop that project, and move on to something else.

7. To end on a lighter note, what makes Margarita really laugh?
ME: Animals and folklore! In my daily life, our dogs make me laugh. They help me remember how to be silly. In my literary life, the exaggeration found in Cuban folktales is hilarious. I am trying to include some of that folklore in my writing.



Visit Margarita Engle's website.

Creativity Interview: Maria Melendez

I have so enjoyed preparing for this interview with my friend, the poet and editor Maria Melendez, who presently lives with her family in Pueblo, CO. Welcome to this Bookjoy Creativity Salon, Maria.

Thank you, Pat! I’m honored to be part of the lively work you foster here. BTW, I loved seeing the photos of the mural for The Desert Is My Mother that you included in your last post. I’m thrilled when the arts can be wellsprings for each other.

I've just finished re-reading your two poetry collections. Bravo! Such variety you offer readers.

PM: When did your deep attention and connection to nature begin? 

MM: Thanks to some good urban and suburban planning, and to my parents’ motivation for picnics or hikes outdoors, I experienced wonder in wild nature throughout my childhood in the East Bay area of Northern California. Sunol Regional Wilderness, Del Valle Reservoir and Sycamore Grove Park inhabit me “deep in the brain, far back” (as Roethke says).

PM: Why poetry? I have a friend who teases me that he wonders why I don’t just write in sentences and paragraphs, why don’t I just write prose?

MM: That is such a loaded question for me; I feel I have to answer it every time I sit down to create new work. There are so many anti-poetry forces swirling around us/me, that I’m always having to talk myself into poetry. Well. I undergo something, in the process of working on poetry, that I don’t undergo at any other time—a suite of sensations. I tried to write about this in an early poem called “Poeta Falsa,” which appeared in the Swan Scythe Press chapbook Base Pairs. It ends with this answer to the persistent “Why poetry?” question: “because at no other time / am I as half-assed and ragged / as the early draft, / or as mammoth, as orchestral, / as the near-end.” Ooh, I really get the willies when poets quote themselves, and here I’ve gone and done it.

PM:  I was struck by the boldness of your work from incorporating scientific terminology to juxtaposing Our Lady with web lingo. In “Catamite,” you write, “Where do you get the strength to be you?” Where do you get the strength to be the poet you are?

MM: When the writing process is hot and cookin’, I’m surrendering to the interests and concerns I’ve been given. More than in everyday life and conversation, in poetry I’m free to link them together, as they always are in my emotional life. I’ve been really enjoying the idea of writing as surrender, rather than as an exertion of strength or will.

PM: You are the editor of Pilgrimage: Story • Spirit • Witness • Place. How long have you been the editor and what intrigued you about doing this work? In my experience, editors don’t edit my poetry. They may make suggestions on my prose and copyeditors made plenty of suggestions on the definitions of poetic forms in Dizzy in Your Eyes, for example. How do you see your role as an editor?

MM: My family and I became Quakers, and that’s occasioned my renewed attention to “spirit/Spirit” in contemporary writing. The areas of emphasis outgoing editor Peter Anderson brought to Pilgrimage (story, spirit, witness, place) appealed to me as a Chicana writer interested in the environment and as a po’ biz playah who had grown tired of the purely secular efforts of professional striving I saw in so many literary magazines. While the s/S-word rarely appears in work I select, presences or processes bigger and greater than a human individual are implied throughout the essays and poetry I publish. I’ve usually done some “hands-on” editing for about 30-50% of the contents in any given issue. My suggestions involve condensing, expanding, or re-wording sections that don’t hold up to an individual work’s best moments. I so enjoy this dynamic engagement with literature that I’ve begun my own individual editorial consulting practice. I work one-on-one with writers preparing nonfiction or poetry manuscripts, and I try to help these clients make their work as artistically viable, moment to moment, as they want it to be.

PM:  In your poem “Ars Poetica: Platanus Racemosa,” you write “listen/for what’s asking to be written.” So, what’s “asking to be written” in your life now, María?

MM: I have a new book of poetry that’s in the sludgy, murky, chaotic phase—I’ve fished about a book’s worth of drafts from my stream of notes, journals, fits and starts. Knowing I have to intuit some sense of artistic coherence from this heap feels daunting—but as a friend reminded me today, at least by now I know enough to know this phase will pass. The murk, though it returns with regularity, always yields something new.

PM:  What do you, a busy mom, wife, editor, poet—what else am I missing?—do to refresh your spirit and to nudge you back to the page?

MM: Reading and re-reading literature I love helps refill the well. Moving around also helps. I walk on the bluffs along the Arkansas river at the Nature and Raptor Center of Pueblo—alone, with family, or with doggie—and I’ve also become very reliant on some Tai Chi classes and practices to shut off the anxiety-generating crawl that runs across the screen of my consciousness. This shut-off allows my awareness to return to physical experience and to my sub-conscious, two muses with more clarity and vision than my intellect can usually offer.


           

 

News

ALSC announced the opening of 2011 registration for Día. Let others know about your upcoming Día programming and see what Día celebrations are occurring all over the country. Spread the Día word!


Cool stickers, right? Receive complementary stickers when you register.


PoetryTagTime is the first electronic-only poetry anthology for kids! This eBook project was compiled and edited by Sylvia Vardell and Janet Wong. Included are 30 new poems by 30 well-known contemporary poets writing for children -- including a poem by Pat.Visit the website for more information. (Available April 1)

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day to each of you who visits my blog! In Spanish, this day has various names. My favorite is El día del amor y de la amistad  because the name celebrates both love and friendship.

Love is all around ... all year long. My book for teens, Dizzy in Your Eyes, is a collection of 50 poems about love.

"Teachers in need of a fresh new avenue for teaching poetic form, lovers of language, and teens in search of a broader definition of love will find it here.” - School Library Journal



Creativity Interview: Sylvia Vardell

Although April is National Poetry Month, poetry lovers relish poetry throughout the year. A lovely woman who’s a poetry lover and an extremely effective poetry advocate is my friend Sylvia Vardell. Not only does she write inventive books with ideas for sharing poetry, she proposes sessions and conferences to build an audience for poetry. Sylvia is awesome!

SV: What a thrill to be invited to participate in this creativity focus. Thank you!

Am I correct that you invented a poetry tag on-line? How do you create such imaginative projects to excite others about poetry?
SV: Yes, the idea of “Poetry Tag” was mine. I enjoy approaching learning from a “game-like” point of view because I know that children learn from play and I see no reason to stop playing just because we grow up! I try to think of new ways to approach old things and keep it fun and participatory. That’s one of the things I love about poetry, in particular, it is naturally participatory.

Do you speak more than one language and if yes, has that affected your interest in words?
SV: Yes, my parents were German immigrants and my first language was German. We learned English together. I do think this has tuned my ear to be more aware of words and how they sound—which has translated into a real delight in the aural qualities of poetry.

What sessions are you chairing this fall that connect educators to poetry?
SV: I love doing conference presentations, particularly about poetry which lends itself to ORAL presentations, it is a great way to showcase poets (who are not always invited to the party), and injects some variety into the conference docket. I have three coming up in November. First, I’m sharing poetry selections from our university “Librarians’ Choices” project of best 100 books every year. That will be alongside two of my doctoral students and will be at a local conference of early childhood educators.

Then, I’ll be at the biennial YALSA (Young Adult Library Service Association) symposium in Albuquerque with a wonderful panel of poets that includes Jen Bryant, Ann Burg, Margarita Engle, Betsy Franco, Pat Mora (!), and April Halprin Wayland. We’re trying something different for this audience of teen services librarians—I’ve planned a series of “interview” questions that poets will answer (like “If you were to pair your poetry with music, what music would you choose?”) and then we’ll have time for a “Poetry Improv” exercise where the poets will share poems in response to prompts (i.e., “No one “gets” me” or “My current Facebook status”). It should be fun!

Finally, I have a session at NCTE (National Council of Teachers of English) in Orlando along with two fellow poetry bloggers (Tricia Stohr-Hunt and Elaine Magliaro) and 4 poets: Lee Bennett Hopkins, Pat Mora (!), Jame Richards (her FIRST time!), and Marilyn Singer. We three bloggers will be featuring the poets on our blogs for 2 weeks before the conference, inviting reader participation. Then we’ll share the results as well as other strategies for using technology to connect kids with poets and poetry. Finally, we’ll share the conference highlights on our blogs afterward, as well. It’s a new model for conference presentations that I’m excited about and extends the conference for people who can’t be there.

I do think of myself as a creative person, although oddly enough I have no aspirations to write poetry myself. I see my writing ABOUT poetry and my teaching and presentations as legitimate creative acts, too. I like making things— books, blogs-- but to the outside world they may seem like practical products, rather than creative objects. Either way, I love doing it—and that’s the key, right?!

 

Sylvia is a Professor at Texas Woman's University, an author of professional books on poetry and children's literature, and co-editor of Bookbird, the journal of international children's literature. She blogs at Poetry for Children.

Meet My Friend Father Murray Bodo

What a pleasure it is to introduce you to one of my dearest amigos, Franciscan priest and author of poetry, nonfiction and books on spirituality, a retreat leader here and in Assisi, the gifted story teller, Murray Bodo.

Years ago, I knew the poet Denise Levertov. I wrote her in 1989 to say that I was moving from El Paso for the first time and going to Cincinnati where my husband had begun to teach at the University. Denise suggested that I write to her good friend Father Murray who lived in Cinci. We met, took a poetry workshop on campus together and started a small poetry group. (I wrote about the group’s process in ZING.) There we were in the Midwest: Murray of Italian heritage who was born in Gallup, New Mexico, taught by nuns and as a child played at being a priest; and Pat of Mexican heritage, born in El Paso, Texas, also taught by nuns who as a child played at being a nun.

Murray and I shared and share a love of the Southwest, its landscape, peoples and deep spiritual traditions. We share our love of books, writing, and especially of poetry. We also love to laugh, and Murray can always make me laugh. How blessed I feel that this fall, Murray will have been my loyal and caring friend for 21 years. I encourage you to visit his new web site.

Poetry, Por Favor!

April is Poetry Month, but did you know that this is Young Peoples' Poetry Week ? In honor of this week that celebrates all that poetry has to bring to children and teens, we asked poetry advocate, Sylvia Vardell, for a post.

I’d like to highlight the power of poetry for inviting kids into the music of language—the rhythm, rhyme, and sounds of words. Very young kids will love Fiesta Babies (Tricycle Press, 2010) by Carmen Tafolla, with bouncy folk art illustrations by Amy Córdova. A rhyming couplet begins each double-page spread, “Fiesta Babies sing along/ to Grandpa’s favorite mariachi song!” The babies parade, munch, sing, dance, celebrate, and nap in playful language that invites children to join in with motions and chanting.

Another great read aloud selection for children is ¡Muu, Moo! Rimas de animals/ Animal Nursery Rhymes (Rayo/HarperCollins, 2010) selected by Alma Flor Ada and F. Isabel Campoy. Here are 16 inviting story rhymes from several different Spanish speaking countries—classic folk rhymes plus new verses, all in Spanish and English accompanied by captivating watercolor illustrations by Viví Escriva.

For older kids, I have to plug Pat Mora’s own new work for teens, Dizzy in Your Eyes; Poems About Love (Knopf, 2010) an innovative anthology of nearly 50 poems about all kinds of love-- of parents, friends, family, pets—acknowledging the depth of feeling in many relationships and at many stages of life and in many different poetic forms.

Thank you to our guest blogger Sylvia Vardell, Professor at Texas Woman's University/ School of Library & Information Studies, and author of several books on literature and poetry. This month on her marvelous blog, Poetry for Children, she's organized POETRY TAG, a unique celebration of poets, poetry and poetic connections.