"Will Write for Soul Food" is proud to present, an interview with Award Winning Slam Poet and English Teacher Joaquín Zihuatenjo.
Joaquín, among other things, inspired me to write when I took his creative writing class in high school. Little did I know that this titan of a writer and poet possessed deep humility.
In 2005, Joaquin was featured on season five of Russell Simmons Presents Def Poetry for HBO, in which he received a standing ovation for his performance. He has shared the stage with Billy Collins, Saul Williams, E. Lynn Harris, Alicia Keys, and Maya Angelou among others.
Joaquín recently won the 2008 Individual World Poetry Slam Championship besting 77 poets representing cities all over North America, France and Australia. Due in part to this victory, Joaquín received a book deal with Wordsmith Press, to be published in the fall of 2010. Also, because of this victory Joaquín was the poet chosen to represent the U.S. at the 2009 World Cup of Poetry Slam in Paris, France, a competition that he won besting 13 poets from 13 different nations making him the number one ranked slam poet in the world on both sides of the Atlantic. (For full bio, click here).
In order to continue to teach other writers, Joaquín took some time out from his busy schedule to answer a few questions about writing and inspiration.
What incidents in your life that made you want to write?
All of them. I'm amazed how most of my inspiration for writing short fiction or poetry comes from airports, or park benches, or church ceremonies. The people, the sights, the sounds of my life. These are where I get ideas for poems. My last book, Family Tree happened because I kept having conversations with students and people after I would do a reading about the word "family," what that word means to them, what it means to me. So it was natural that I write a collection of poems entirely about that word, as that word kept popping up in my life time and time again.
What is the best advice you've ever received on how to be more creative?
To read. I once read that a great writer reads more than they write. And these words are so true. If surround yourself with words you will become inspired to write them. And what a wonderful time to be a reader, especially of poetry when we have so many great writers and poets writing today, people like Jimmy Santiago Baca and Sherman Alexie and Naomi Shihab Nye. It truly is an inspirational time to be a reader and writer.
What about writing poetry can make you a better short story writer?
I think when you write a great deal of poetry, which is all about economy of words, it is very liberating, you know freeing, to then say to yourself, now instead of half a page, let's see what I can do in 15 or 20. And one must remember that the first rule of poetry is to tell a truth, usually an awful truth in a beautiful way. With short fiction the first rule is to not tell the truth, to make it up. And that's also a very liberating experience, to break free from the shackle sod truth and make up entire families, towns, worlds.
As a poet/writer, what is your measure of success?
At a reading if one person comes up to me and says that one of my poems shook them, or made them laugh, or made them cry, or reminded them of their grandfather, or some such, then it was a successful experience. You can't measure your success by book sales, because then you come to care more about the sale than the book. But you can measure success by a heartfelt email, or a thank you at a reading, and that's how I measure it.
After experiencing recognition and success as a slam poet and writer, how do you maintain originality with your writing without “doing what you know will get people’s approval”?
I never write for judges, whether they are slam judges or a publication panel. I write for me, and the voiceless people of my youth and the voiceless of today. I've always thought that if I start to write to give the people what they want, rather than what they need, it might be time for me to stop writing. I haven't reached that point yet. I pray I never will.
Has there ever been a poem you’ve written that has surprised you (with where it went) when you’ve finished?
"Elephant" it's one of the few poems that happened organically, almost magically, like something else larger than me was working through me. It's also the poem that has a subject matter that is farther from me than any other I have ever written, the children of Africa, but it's also one of the poems I'm most connected to, which makes me feel that it connects all humanity together, and isn't that the ultimate goal of any poem?
I’ve often heard you say that Sliding Doors, Frogs, and How We Love Each Other is a love poem. Because writing about love is so hard, what advice would you give to writers wanting to write about it without sounding cheesy?
In my new book I have a love poem entitled, "The Bride Sister from Sixteen Candles". It's another one of those Joaquin Zihuatanejo love poems that don't sound like a love poem. And those are my favorite. That subject, love, is so large, has been written about for so long, that we have to find a way to step back from the poem and make sure that we are creating something that is odd, and twisted, and resplendent, and heartbreaking, and heart-mending. You know something like...love.
What’s the greatest compliment you’ve ever received for your writing?
I recently had brunch with my hero, the greatest living Chicano writer and author of Bless Me, Ultina, Rudolfo Anaya. When I first met him years ago, he was so kind and selfless and giving that not long after that when I asked him to write the introduction to my second collection of poems, Of Fire and Rain, he agreed. He concluded with this sentence, "I felt freedom and justice ringing in your poems, and I trust many readers will feel the same sense of liberation." To this day the greatest literary honor I have ever received was the "yes" when my good friend and mentor, Rudolfo Anaya agreed to write that introduction to my work.
What advice do you have for aspiring writers?
Read voraciously. Write everyday. Do not smoke cigarettes or wear too much black. Travel. When you do take a journal with you. Talk to people, listen to their stories, reflect about your stories, and then stir it all together and see what happens.
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