Melinda Palacio
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| Emma Trelles, Mission Poetry Series Director |
Emma Trelles is taking over the Mission Poetry Series in Santa Barbara. The Florida native is immersing herself in all things California, not just poetry. Last weekend, she volunteered with the Santa Barbara County coastal cleanup and helped collect 3,864 pounds of trash on the beach and 831 pounds of recyclable materials.
She sat down with La Bloga and discussed some of the exciting changes at the Mission Poetry Series. The series has always been a favorite of poetry enthusiasts in Santa Barbara and beyond. The poetry is always exceptional (disclaimer I am reading with Blas Falconer and Michelle Detorie this season; Emma herself read last year), and the series is generous with free refreshments and broadsides for the audience.
Emma Trelles is the 2011 winner of the Andrès Montoya Poetry Prize for her book, Tropicalia (University of Notre Dame Press) and the author of Little Spells.
La Bloga: How did you get involved with the Mission Poetry Series?
Emma Trelles:
I first read at the Mission Poetry Series in the fall of 2013 and hit it off with the series' co-founder and director at the time, Paul Fericano. He's a lovely and intelligent person, as well as a talented poet, who really cares about bringing quality poetry to the community. But he was moving full time to San Francisco and wasn't going to be able to continue directing the series from there, so he asked me to take over.
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| Paul Fericano, co-founder and former director of the Mission Poetry Series |
La Bloga:
Can you tell us a little bit about your poetry and how being in Santa Barbara has influenced your work?
Emma Trelles:
Moving to Santa Barbara was, in some ways, a huge change for me, particularly since I had lived in South Florida my entire life. Since "place" is a subject I've often addressed in my poems, I definitely see SB seeping into my lines now, mostly in subtle ways that have to do with its eco-systems and how they can be examined through the lens of myth and culture. While in Florida, for example, water was prominent in my poems and even my dreams. Here, its absence is now finding its way into my consciousness as well as my creative work. I never thought I'd say this, but I actually miss those muggy afternoon monsoons that would just pour down and wash the world clean. South Florida has some glorious rain...
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| Sister Susan Blomstad, Co-founder of the Mission Poetry Series |
La Bloga:The Mission Poetry Series began at the Mission, but has changed venues. Will you rename the series?
Emma Trelles:
I'd like to keep the series name intact to honor the place of its birth, the historic Old Mission in SB, and to recognize the hard work its founders Paul Fericano and Sister Susan Blomstad did in establishing it as a valued and respected reading. The Mission is one of SB's historic jewels and I love that the series reflects that in its own way.
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| Mission Santa Barbara |
La Bloga:
Tell us about what you will maintain and the changes forthcoming in the Mission Poetry Series.
Emma Trelles:
I want the series to maintain the spirit of inclusiveness that Paul cultivated so well, as well as his attention to bringing poets of diverse backgrounds and ages in to read. I'd like to further develop that by including more Latino poets, especially because SB and its surrounding regions are so rich with Latino culture and talent. I'm also exploring how to add additional programming that would further serve greater Santa Barbara by connecting it with poetry through volunteer work, workshops, and more. It's all in the preliminary stages now, but stay tuned for more later this year, when MPS will likely announce on our Facebook page what we're up to!
Guest Post by Sheryl Luna, winner of the inaugural Andrés Montoya Prize for her 2005 Pity the Drowned Horses. Her latest poetry collection is Seven (2013 3: A Taos Press).
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| Sheryl Luna |
Students from around the country wrote me after two of my poems came out in the April edition of Poetry Magazine.Chinyere, Shannon and Gene wrote me with specific questions about my motivations for writing. A few other high school students around the country wrote me as well. The initial poem “Shock and Awe” deals with sexual trauma, and the second poem “Lowering Your Standards for Food Stamps” deals with the speaker working at 7-11 and observing violence in the parking lot. The poem deals with the shame of being on public assistance in this country. Most of their questions seemed to circle around the poem about food stamps. One young single mother wrote because she had recently had her food stamps slashed. She wrote an emotional email thanking me for exploring such a difficult topic.
The students from the Illinois Math and Science Academy also asked challenging and intriguing questions. They have given me permission to use their questions and my answers for La Bloga.
Here are a couple of email exchanges we had.
Hello Ms. Luna,
Our names are Chinyere, Shannon, and Gene. We attend the Illinois Math and
Science Academy. We are emailing you to inform you that we have picked you
as a candidate for our Poet Laureate Project. In this project we research
American poets who we believe will be worthy of the title Poet Laureate.
As a part of this project, we would like to ask some questions. We were
wondering where you got your inspiration for your poems? We also wanted to
know whether or not you feel that your poems represent American ideas and
values. We feel that your poems and background are very strong
representatives of recent America, making you a candidate for this
project. We hope you contact us back.
Thank you for your time, and our most sincere compliments to your work!
-Chinyere, Shannon and Gene
Here is my response to their initial email questions:
Hi Chinyere, Shannon and Gene,
Thank you so much for reading my poems!
I suppose I get my inspiration from living. I also learn about life from others, and it is through learning that I hope to grow as a person. It is that life journey, and our humanity towards one another, and even or our inhumanity towards one another that leads me to write I believe. It is my hope that we learn to treat ourselves well, and treat one another well.
The poems in POETRY magazine deal with public assistance and trauma and recovery, and yes, I see this as being representative of a large chunk of America and American ideas of fairness, equity and freedom.
I’ve heard 1 in 3 women are assaulted in this country. PTSD is prevalent as well after Afghanistan and Iraq. Many in society maneuver through a difficult bureaucracy, such as single working mothers, disabled people and the unemployed. So yes, in terms of recovery, resiliency, and overcoming adversity, I think they represent American ideas. My first collection and parts of my second collection deal with cultural diversity, which I think is central to American ideas and values. We are learning to value the various cultures which make America America.
I hope these answers suffice. Feel free to ask any questions that may arise.
Best Wishes,
Sheryl
Another group of questions they asked a few days later address community work and what one would do as Poet Laureate.I thought the students asked thought provoking questions, and their interest in what the poems were doing got me interested writing an essay on Post Traumatic Stress. Also, I found many of the questions by other students to be centered around the sexual trauma described in the poem “Shock and Awe.”
Ms. Luna,
Thank you for your timely response! We do have some follow up questions
for you, and we hope you can give us as many answers as possible (its a
bit extensive).
Besides your website and publications what do you do to help share poetry
with your community? And how would you do this for the country if you were
nominated as poet laureate?
Also, can you tell us a little about your past; how you came to writing
poetry and more about what writing poetry means to you?
And as a final question (it's a broad one); what would motivate you to
serve as our national poet laureate?
Thank you for your time and effort once again. I'll be awaiting your
response.
Here are my responses to those questions.
One thing I do to help share poetry with community is that I volunteer at a local mental health center where I help teach a creative writing class. I think tying the creative arts, including poetry, to mental health centers is a great thing because it allows people to express themselves and their observations of the world and validates those experiences.
I came to poetry through a creative writing class I took as an undergraduate at Texas Tech University. I wanted to be a novelist, but the professor told me I was more of a poet.
What would motivate me to serve as national poet laureate? Wow. Well, I think I would like to share the joy of poetry with people of all ages. Encouraging others to read and experience the joy of writing would be a goal. Poetry writing is a means of sharing, surviving and thriving, so I would like to help implement community oriented venues where people can discover the healing power of art. I think this goes for young people as well as incarcerated people, the elderly, the disabled, middle aged individuals and families. I think oftentimes we are overly materialistic, and poetry can help us see the intrinsic value of creativity and art. So promoting poetry is promoting health and healing.
Melinda Palacio
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| World Book Givers Emma Trelles and Melinda Palacio |
I arrived in California a week ago, amidst the buzz of
poetry month in Santa Barbara. April is national poetry month in case you are wondering why your local barista is turning sonnets instead of steaming your cappuccino. The first poetry event I attended was a big ticket team of Billy Collins and Aimee Mann at UCSB's Campbell Hall. The combination of poet and rock star was superb. The two luminaries met at the White House and there was much banter and references to their having met at the President's request.
I don't begrudge them their numerous White House references. I'm sure if I ever found myself reading poetry at Obama's request, I wouldn't let anyone forget my presidential invite. Thanks to my friend Diana, I had a seat in row D with no one in front of me. The parley of poetry and musical performance felt intimate, even though Campbell Hall at UCSB is a large theater. My favorite song that Aimee Mann performed was the last one, written by Harry Nilson, "One Is the Loneliest Number." The song was made famous by Three Dog Night. Aimee Mann's haunting rendition brought out the song's sadness.
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Sunday Poets: Susan Chiavelli, Katie Ingram, Sojourner K Rolle, Fran Davis, Steve Beisner, Melinda Palacio,
Toni Lorien, Alison Bailey and Marcia Meier |
A few days later, I participated in the 10th annual
SantaBarbara Sunday Poets read at the Book Den. The facebook invite looked pretty grim with six people going and five maybes. However, we ended up with a standing room only crowd that snaked to the door. Many of the numerous weekend book browsers stayed for our event. The Book Den is Santa Barbara's oldest bookstore, established in 1902, and Eric Kelley recently celebrated his 35th year as owner. Eric didn't have enough chairs for our poetry fans, but it was wonderful being surrounded by books and people while we read spring poems in honor of poetry month. I love it when poetry elicits such enthusiasm.
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| SRO Crowd for Sunday Poets at the Book Den |
Last Wednesday, April 26, was World Book Night, where people around the globe give away books on Shakespeare's birthday. Poet Emma Trelles signed up to be a book giver and enlisted my help. When I arrived at the bookstore, they had an extra box of poetry books. We stopped people on the street and plied them with a free book of 100 Best-Loved Poems, edited by Phillip Smith, or a novel by Diane Ackerman, The Zookeeper's Wife.
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| World Book Takers and Giver |
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| Cyclist Ryan was happy to receive free books. |
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This lady was on her way to the library to return a book.
She couldn't believe we were giving her free books. |
Emma is really good with talking to strangers, and talking in general. Her journalism skills are always on. Listen to her interview on
the Writer's Cafe; she sort of takes over towards the end.
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| Emma listening to a lecture on Andre Breton, surrealism and guitars. |
When our first possible book receiver approached, I thought we would never complete our mission because Emma proceeded to listen to a lengthy discussion on Breton, surrealism, and one man's fantasy of a guitar using a keyboard. In addition to being a good talker, Emma is a good listener (the sign of a good poet). Listen to
her poems on theWriters Cafe. Emma Trelles was the 2010 Andres Montoya Poetry Prize Winner. The 2014 winner is Fresno's
David Campos for his collection,
Pica.
We sure had a lot of fun giving away books. Of the experience, Emma Trelles said:
"My favorite part of WBN was seeing the delight in people's faces when we put books in their hands. It reminded me of the power of print and of literature. Standing outside in the sunshine and talking about reading was a pretty great way to spend an afternoon."
Upcoming April Events
April 30, UCSB Little Theatre, 4pm
May 2, First Friday Phoenix, 6:30 pm at Obliq Gallery
Crossing Borders
Book Review by Manuel Ramos
Crossing Borders: Personal EssaysSergio TroncosoArte Público Press - September, 2011
Although the noted sportswriter Red Smith got it wrong about Muhammad Ali, he was right on when he said that writing is easy: "All you do is sit down at a typewriter and open a vein." Ernest Hemingway put it this way: "I have to write to be happy, whether I get paid for it or not. But it is a hell of a disease to be born with. I like to do it. Which is even worse. That makes it from a disease to a vice."
Sergio Troncoso, author of the acclaimed
The Last Tortilla and Other Stories (winner of the Premio Aztlán),
The Nature of Truth, and his most recent novel,
This Wicked Patch of Dust, embodies both Smith's and Hemingway's brutal yet romantic views of the writer. Want proof? Pick up a copy of
Crossing Borders: Personal Essays, Troncoso's latest.
We live in a complex time. Troncoso is a complicated man trying to understand a complicated world. In his quest for understanding, he eloquently shares lessons learned in sixteen provocative essays.
Troncoso delivers on the promise of the title of his book. These very personal essays cross several borders: cultural, historical, and self-imposed.
For example, he contemplates writer's block in
A Day Without Ideas and compares it to a death-like existence where nothing matters and he will "simply be there."
In a painful letter to his sons detailing their mother's struggle with breast cancer, Troncoso the writer reveals his true identity as Troncoso the frightened, caring, and strong father.
He takes on the 9/11 attackers (
Terror and Humanity) not with hatred or revenge but with a plea for basic humanity. "To be human is to engage with, to care about. To be human is to love another. To be human is to communicate with someone, even if you are only shouting at them. The most human of all is discourse. With nature. With other human beings."
He writes, with some anxiety and plenty of honesty (
Fresh Challah), about major contradictions he has embraced – he is a Chicano from El Paso, educated at Harvard, attracted to Judaism, and now living the intellectual life in New York. The careful reader picks up on Troncoso
Over on Latino Books Examiner you can read more about La Bloga's own René Colato Laínez and his new children's book, René has two last names.
And check out Mayra Calvani's interview where Colato talks about his books, his writing habits, and his road to becoming a published author.
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Call for essays on Latin American literaries
Got something you've always wanted to share about where La Raza Cósmica is now? Never found a home for your piece on the Latino hero Subcomandante Marcos? Now's your chance:
ANTIQUE CHILDREN, which bills itself as "a mischievious literary arts journal," is preparing a special issue for February on Latin American Writers. (When you go to the site, click on "Quarterly" to see this info.)
"We’re looking for writers to pen creative essays on Latin American Writers or review their books. You may write a piece of fiction but it must envelop one of these writers and their selected book."
The writers and books include, among many others, Jose Donoso - Hell Has No Limits; Juan Rulfo - Pedro Paramo; José Vasconcelos Calderón - The Cosmic Race; Guatemalan writer Rigoberta Menchu; and Subcomandante Marcos.
Deadline is January 20, 2010, but for details you need to click here.
You'll also find the story Kind of Blue by La Bloga's own Daniel A. Olivas there.
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Rudy, nice roundup of literary news and opportunities. Mil gracias.