Felicia Zamora is the author of the books Of Form & Gather, winner of
the 2016 Andrés
Montoya Poetry Prize (University of Notre Dame Press), &
in Open, Marvel (Parlor
Press), and Instrument of Gaps (Slope
Editions). Of
Form & Gather was
listed as one of the “9 Outstanding Latino Books Recently Published by
Independent and University Presses” by NBC News. She won the 2015 Tomaž
Šalamun Prize from Verse,
and authored two chapbooks. Her
published works may be found or forthcoming in Crazyhorse, Hotel
Amerika, Indiana Review, jubilat, Meridian, Notre Dame Review, North American
Review, OmniVerse, Pleiades, Poetry Daily, Poetry Northwest, Prairie Schooner,
Puerto del Sol, Sugar
House Review, Tarpaulin Sky Magazine, The Cincinnati Review, The
Georgia Review, TriQuarterly Review, Tupelo Quarterly, Verse Daily, Witness
Magazine, West Branch, and others. She is an associate poetry editor
for the Colorado Review and holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Colorado State University. She lives in Colorado with
her partner, Chris, and their three dogs.
1 - How did your first
book or chapbook change your life? How does your most recent work compare to
your previous? How does it feel different?
Poetry
is a part of my being, a part of who I am. An internal need drives my writing.
My MFA advisor and mentor had prepared me, saying many times a first manuscript
written is not always the first manuscript published. What sound advice! I
graduated from the MFA program in 2012, with a goal to write a poetry
manuscript a year. Of Form & Gather
was just released from University of Notre Dame Press, winner of the 2016
Andrès Montoya Prize, on February 2017 and is my first full-length book
publication. This is my first book publication, but my fourth manuscript
written since I completed the MFA.
Winning
the prize certainly feels surreal, still. It’s definitely made the small
community of poetry feel even more intimate and tangible to me. I’ve been very
privileged to feel the generosity and openness from poets and editors around
the country whom I’ve never met in person. I felt this the moment that Edwin
Torres selected my book. There’s nothing like picking up a book with your name
on the cover. For me, it’s also a continued motivation to push my goals. In
March, I finished my sixth manuscript. These poems are different because I am
different and because the political climate of the country I live in is
different. I’ll take a quick breather and then begin a new project in a few
weeks. For me, the process of writing propels everything.
2 - How did you come to
poetry first, as opposed to, say, fiction or non-fiction?
An
over obsession with details, I think, and what poetry requires of the reader. I
enjoy the challenge of poetry, the exquisite sparseness of poetry, the rhythm
and ebbs of poetry, the way poetry asks the reader to leap with the language
and lines and stanzas. Poetry’s ability to accomplish so much with so little
draws me in, lulls me as both reader and writer. I enjoy fiction and nonfiction
as well, but find myself utterly lost in poetry, in the most extraordinary
ways.
3 - How long does it
take to start any particular writing project? Does your writing initially come
quickly, or is it a slow process? Do first drafts appear looking close to their
final shape, or does your work come out of copious notes?
I
mentioned my goal of writing a manuscript a year, so I start there. From the
time I end my last manuscript, I give myself one to two months of reading and
regeneration, then I dive back into a project. I write when inspired, and I
write when uninspired, to ensure the practice doesn’t get lost in all the other
aspects of life. I constantly ask myself, how can I be a writer if I am not
writing? Therefore projects emerge fairly quickly for me. Thus far, my
manuscripts evolve very organically. Research happens in all my writing, from
the etymology of a single word, to an entire research thread on certain
theories, species, or histories. The more I learn, the more I know I need to
learn. A lot of situating and organizing goes into the final product, but no
stacks of notes yet. That’s not to say that this won’t happen, depending of on
the project.
4 - Where does a poem
usually begin for you? Are you an author of short pieces that end up combining
into a larger project, or are you working on a "book" from the very
beginning?
Poems
begin for me very simply, through either an image, word, sensory spark, or
creative thought. Typically, something I’ve witnessed or read about gets me
spinning, but even a smell tempts the poem to the page. I always start in the
poem. For me, a singular poem must hold its own weight as an artistic
expression, but also be willing to be in dialogue with a larger body of
work…even if this macro work has not yet shown itself to me. I guess you could
call me a poem as a potential for book kind
of writer.
5 - Are public readings
part of or counter to your creative process? Are you the sort of writer who
enjoys doing readings?
In
writing a poem, I read it aloud over and over again in the drafting phase. How
I hear it determines punctuation changes, line breaks, breaths, rhythms, and
the entire flow of the poem. The auditory dimension of poetry remains forefront
with my editing phase. Many times, I’ll start a poem aloud to myself before it
ever gets to the page. Readings are a way for writers to share their words and
their interpretation of how the poem could be read; they are a form of
community. I enjoy readings as shared artistic expression.
6 - Do you have any
theoretical concerns behind your writing? What kinds of questions are you
trying to answer with your work? What do you even think the current questions
are?
I
think almost everything I write has a theoretical concern underlying it. My poetry
asks many, many questions. Recently my poems concern themselves with equity,
social justice, existentialism, humanity as nature, instinctual-ism, mind-body connection,
social construction, nationalism, and many others. I am not sure my question
seek answers as much as they seek more questions.
7 – What do you see the
current role of the writer being in larger culture? Does s/he even have one?
What do you think the role of the writer should be?
I
can only speak for myself, but in my mind a writer’s responsibility is to pay
attention, to witness. Writers question society at large, question the ways in
which we operate as systems and cultures and humans. Writer’s hold a mirror up
to ourselves, both in the singular and collective, and bring into light the
things we as humans are trying to hide, cover, and ignore. As a poet, I write
to comprehend, to understand, to yearn, to be an activist, to think through, to
engage, to mend, to help others mend, to question, and to wonder.
8 - Do you find the process
of working with an outside editor difficult or essential (or both)?
All
the editing professionals I have worked with in journals and at presses have
been fabulous. My voice is heard and it feels like we are both working toward
the collective goal of making the piece or book the strongest it can be. As an
associate poetry editor myself for the Colorado
Review, I understand the work that goes into a journal and respect all
those in the industry. My mentor is an editor (hi, Stephanie)! For me, it’s an
essential piece in the process, one that I continue to learn and grow from.
9 - What is the best
piece of advice you've heard (not necessarily given to you directly)?
Just
write. You can make up every excuse under the sun as to why you can’t, won’t,
shouldn’t, couldn’t be writing, but if you are a writer, write. And read. How
can you be a writer if you don’t read?
10 - How easy has it
been for you to move between genres (poetry to critical prose)? What do you see
as the appeal?
Currently,
my focus is poetry. When entrenched in a book project, I tend to write mostly
poetry and read poetry. My work requires a lot of technical, professional
writing, so between that and poetry, I don’t add other genres to the mix much.
11 - What kind of
writing routine do you tend to keep, or do you even have one? How does a
typical day (for you) begin?
I
don’t have a routine for writing, and not much for my existence either. I like
change and possibility. I worked fulltime at Colorado State University while
pursing my MFA, so this taught me to write during breaks, while waiting for
meetings, while walking across campus, at lunch, before dinner, after dinner,
before bed, in the middle if the night, and in the morning. Basically, I taught
myself to write in awkward bursts or at what one might consider inconvenient,
or uninspiring times, which allows me to stave away the excuses.
12 - When your writing
gets stalled, where do you turn or return for (for lack of a better word)
inspiration?
I
return to books I love, and start new poetry books from presses I admire. I
also go out into the natural world for rejuvenation. My mind and body get very
stale from being in human-made spaces too much. As a natural being, I feel more
at home in a field, in woods, places where pavement isn’t under my feet.
Another tactic I use is quieting myself and looking around, paying attention.
Wonder always finds me when I am open to it.
13 - What fragrance
reminds you of home?
The
smell of soil. Mulberries. I spent my childhood climbing mulberry trees and in
a dirt fort carved in the belly of a steep hill in the woods behind where I
grew up. I am happiest when in nature as my natural self. Also, the smell of wind
on my partner’s hands.
14 - David W. McFadden
once said that books come from books, but are there any other forms that
influence your work, whether nature, music, science or visual art?
All
of the above. I am open to all sorts of influence when writing…nothing’s off
the table. Things family members say, looks strangers give, comments in the
media, falling seed pods from a cottonwood outside…all are fair game.
15 - What other writers
or writings are important for your work, or simply your life outside of your
work?
I
love reading contemporary poetry, new voices and pioneers. It’s important to me
to feel connected with the voices and moment of time I am a part of. As a woman
of color, I look to other women of color as guides and the voices of
underrepresented populations who literature and poetry did not always welcome
with open arms. Our voices as a collective humanity are important now, more
than ever. My mentors as writers and friends are important to me, as well.
16 - What would you
like to do that you haven't yet done?
Wow,
a lot. I’d love to live in another country and be fully immersed in another
culture.
17 - If you could pick
any other occupation to attempt, what would it be? Or, alternately, what do you
think you would have ended up doing had you not been a writer?
Photographer
or a visual artist, for sure. I definitely think of myself as an artist, not
just a writer. I think if I didn’t write, I’d need to pursue another form of
creative expression. You can’t just shut that creative need off.
18 - What made you write,
as opposed to doing something else?
My
mom wrote children’s books when I was young. As a kid, she’d read her stories
to me and my siblings; I remember making my own little stories and books as
early as age five. I admired my mom’s creativity; I still do. My mom never got
a book published, well, because it was the eighties, she was a single parent
working in a factory, and children’s books have always been a tough genre.
However, she planted the seed in me early. Even when I tried to deny writing in
my life, some circumstance or opportunity dropped me right back in writing’s
lap. Writing makes me whole. I’ve finally figured that one out.
19 - What was the last
great book you read? What was the last great film?
I
read great books all the time. Recently, though, House A by Jennifer S. Cheng from Omnidawn. Wow. How Cheng
constructs home in body, mind, memory,
and family is extraordinary. I knew I fell in love with this book when I
thought, “Wow, wish I wrote this.” My jealousy is a sure fire sign that I
admire the shit out of a book.
As
for movies, I love horror movies. I know, I know, judge me if you must. My
siblings and I grew up with horror as a genre that connected us as kids. Even
now, we are all grown-ass-adults going to see horror movies as a family (since
we have the privilege of living in the same city again). Wow, I feel like I
just admitted something in therapy. Any who, Get Out, directed by Jordan Peele, was an outstanding horror movie;
right up there with The Shining. I
can’t wait to see more from Peele. And yes, my King books sit right next to
Dickinson’s on the shelf.
20 - What are you currently
working on?
Since
I just finished my sixth manuscript, I am currently in my one to two month
rejuvenation period. Reading some new poetry books that just hit my mailbox, engaged
in a few interviews, working with two great presses on my second and third book
publications, and enjoying the budding and greening of spring.
