Jose Angel Araguz's Blog, page 6
July 15, 2022
new poems & review
¡Hola! Happy to be sharing with y’all some recent publications 
First, I am excited to share that I have two poems featured in the latest issue of Talking Writing. This publication of poems is special to me as it has me in two different modes. The poem “Listening” is more in the usual lyric narrative vein, while “On Touch” is more the work I do in the aphoristic, gregueria vein. Both poems mean much to me and I’m excited to share them.
Secondly, I am honored to share this review of Rotura by Dana Delibovi in the latest issue of Witty Partition. Delibovi does a great job of noting the nuances of the project, engaging with both the conceptual themes and the formal aspects. Rare is the reviewer able to honor the use of Sapphics while also unpacking some of the more politically charged moments. Indeed, Delibovi’s description of the book as both “polemical…[and] beautiful” is reaffirming on a number of levels.
a hand palm up holding two scraps of paper on which the following two phrases are written: “welcome to the jungle” and “don’t give up.”I shared the above image on my Instagram account, poetryamano, with the following caption:
Here are some phrases that are good to hear at any point, I imagine. I don’t remember who handed me these mid workshop during my last semester at NYU getting an MFA, but I’m grateful for them. Still need to hear this. And if you needed to hear this, well here it is. I’m in the middle of doing a journal project, in which I go through the journals I have dating back to 2004 and transcribing anything that is of merit, merit being given a very generous, loose, yet complicated and ever-evolving form. I’m doing this so I can also get rid of the journals and have some space open in our very small apartment, haha. and if this frightens you, you can talk to Marie Kondo about it. I’m hoping that this transcription project will at least be worth reading over once, if not sent out into the world. But we are a ways off from that. Kind of lost my thread, kind of feels right. Welcome.
I’ll underscore the not giving up part today as the world continues its fluctuations of incomprehensible and incredible.
¡Cuídense!
José
July 8, 2022
podcast recs
Hello again!
Working my way back into this space after summer teaching. Had a blast, always do, but I’ve been going through a lot for a long time, as everyone has. Happy to have a little more flexibility around chipping away at the todo list.
One of the sources of reprieve has been listening to podcasts. Here are some quick recommendations of ones I’ve found inspiring:
The Personhood Project : This podcast “looks to connect incarcerated writers to a larger poetry community. Writings in the project culminate in this monthly podcast which explores poetry’s ability to provide the tools necessary to process trauma, lead toward personal growth, and help reduce recidivism in the carceral system.” I became familiar with them through the episode with Chicano poet and friend, Vincent Cooper. In it, the poet and host discuss Cooper’s book Zarzamora (which I did a microreview on) as well as recited poetry written by incarcerated writers inspired by Cooper’s poems. The host even shares the writing prompts during the episode. Poets at Work : Poets at Work “explores topics relevant to contemporary poetry, both in the academy and the wider literary community” with an eye on “insight into how the work of poetry extends beyond what we encounter on the published page.” My introduction to this podcast was the episode featuring Vanessa Angélica Villarreal. Villareal shares her work and her vast insight into what informs her poetics.Upstream: A bit of a detour from the above, this podcast’s tagline is “Radical ideas and inspiring stories for a just transition to a more beautiful and equitable world” and each episode lives up to that ambition. They split their episodes between “documentary” and “conversation.” I’ve listened to more conversations, I believe, each one a crash course into another aspect of radical economics. One of their most recent episodes, “Our Struggles are Your Struggles: Stories of Indigenous Resistance & Regeneration” is a good start with their documentary vibe.¡Cuídense!
José
June 24, 2022
virtual event next week + updates
Been surprised by how busy I’ve been this month. I definitely plan on posting some microreviews in July. In the meantime, here’s some of what I’ve been and will be up to
Flyer for the upcoming virtual event.Super-excited to be doing a virtual event next week with dope poet and fellow Black Lawrence Press author Alan Chazaro. I’ve admired Chazaro’s work for a few years and have found it a delight to read as well as teach. Here are the details of the event including the registration link:
WHAT: Black Lawrence Press Reading Series: José Angel Araguz & Alan Chazaro
WHEN: Tuesday, Jun 28, 2022 08:00 PM, EDT
WHERE: online, Zoom
REGISTRATION: This event requires pre-registration.
Also, I continue to be grateful and humbled by the reactions to Rotura. It really means a lot to me to have people engage with the work, either by buying a copy of the book, attending a virtual event, or checking out excerpts online.
Here are some recent reviews I’m excited to share:
Thank you to poet and dear friend, Kathleen Aguero, for including Rotura in the Kenyon Review’s “KR 2022 Summer Reading Recommendations” list.I am also grateful for Denise, one of the writers for the site New Pages, for doing a short review of Rotura.Lastly, thank you to Rochelle Jewel Shapiro for spending time with my book and writing a review of it on her blog.
A black cat peering out of a box.Lastly, here is a picture of my cat Semilla whose eyes are a wonder in themselves, no?
¡cuidanse!
José
June 10, 2022
community feature: Through These Realities
This week I’m featuring the local, Boston-area art project, Through These Realities, featuring collaborations across photography and poetry. I shared about the call for this in a previous post, and I’m now happy to celebrate the opening of the exhibition and the publication of the work online.
A typewriter, tape recorder, and camera.Neuroscientist, photographer, and writer, Joshua Sariñana, PhD, who is one of the coordinators, defines the project as follows:
Through These Realities challenges the narratives of mass media that invalidate the experiences of people of color through the interactions of poetry and photography. Six photographers of color have created a series of images inspired by work from six poets of color. These images incorporate the figurative and literal visual elements related to associated poetry—prompted by a James Baldwin quote. Artists use poetry and photography to validate their realities, reveal the discrepancies between the dominant culture, and solidify the normality of people of color living in the everyday.
A good example of the kind of dynamic work it involved in this project can be seen in the poem “Black Mirror” by Kesper Wang. In this poem, the speaker takes us through different images of contemporary life. A life often centered around smartphones, streaming, and/or at least highly impacted by the internet, but in which folks also strain at turns to be grounded in as well as to find reprieve from the real world.
In this poem, we move through a series of images, teased along by the title, which can be taken at first as a reference to the popular TV show Black Mirror, but which by the end repeats in a way that haunts long after the last line’s been read.
This kind of engaged reflection and meditation on the ills of the world–not just to lament but also to explore the depths of feeling that we are taken to at times–speaks to the prompt defined by Sariñana, and by doing so gives insight into the realities in the title of this project.
If you’re in the area, details of the in-person exhibition can be found on the TTR website. Even if you’re not in the area or are practicing social distancing, I encourage you to spend time with the work online.
June 3, 2022
virtual event this Sunday + new podcast interview
Just a quick post to share about two things:
the logo for The Tell Don’t Show podcastFirst, I’m excited to share the release of a podcast interview I did for The Tell Don’t Show. I had a great time talking with Katie Marya and Kasey Peters about Rotura (Black Lawrence Press), our various younger siblings, and the single line stanza.
the flyer for this weekend’s virtual eventAlso, I’m excited to participate in Malaprop’s Bookstore / Cafe’s Virtual POETRIO monthly poetry event coordinated by Mildred Barya. I have the pleasure of reading alongside Danita Dodson and Cathryn Hankla.
WHAT: Malaprop’s Virtual POETRIO poetry event featuring José Angel Araguz, Danita Dodson, and Cathryn Hankla
WHEN: Sunday, June 5, 2022 – 4:00pm EDT
WHERE: online
REGISTRATION: Click here to RSVP. (The form will open in a new tab or window.) Prior to the event, you will be sent a reminder email with the link required to attend.
Looking forward to this event!
I’m still catching up on things but will have more to share soon. Thank you to everyone who has supported Rotura whether it’s by picking up a copy, coming to a virtual event, or just reading excerpts available online! It all means a great deal–muchisimas gracias!
May 22, 2022
writer feature: Laura Cesarco Eglin
Just a quick post to celebrate the publication of Time/Tempo: The Idea of Breath (PRESS 254) by Laura Cesarco Eglin.
Book cover for Time/Tempo by Laura Cesarco Eglin.I had a chance to spend time with this collection pre-publication. Here’s the blurb I wrote:
Laura Cesarco Eglin’s Time/Tempo is a meditation on time unlike any other. Where time is often viewed as a limited resource, a reminder of our mortality and an immovable structure in our lives inevitably to be reckoned with, Eglin’s poems invite us into a deeper contemplation where one is asked to consider “What is left of me after I’ve left a place, after it has left me.” This visceral logic and sensibility make of time not only a companion but a dimension of self, and it is here where these poems most speak to the human experience. Eglin joins Emily Dickinson and Octavio Paz in her pursuit and engagement with what can be learned from the space between the ephemeral and everlasting. –José Angel Araguz, Ph.D., author of Rotura (Black Lawrence Press)
The poem below, “Learning Time,” embodies a number of the qualities I point out here. The poem starts off with a simple enough admission. The voice, however, continues building off the initial observation, eventually developing a meditation whose sense of intimacy lies somewhere between philosophy and diary. The result is a poem whose turns and logic feel both urgent and personal.
The ending of this poem is one of my favorite moments in the book. Cutting off mid-sentence on the word “Clouds” creates a jolt in the momentum of the poem which evokes the feeling the speaker has been lyricizing around. It is a moment at once tongue-in-cheek but also visceral, showing that humor and insight are born of the same material.
*
Laura Cesarco Eglin
Learning Time
It rained yesterday and I missed it.
What happens simultaneously doesn’t
wait for witnesses and grows
in the air to then come down,
touch the trees at varying speeds
and leave the summer green a few
moments removed. That’s how
it rains again. Rain’s repeated, rain
is multiple and plural in its singularity.
Puddles in the parking lot say
there was a different picture moving
its way through a before. Clouds
*
Copies of Time/Tempo: The Idea of Breath by Laura Cesarco Eglin can be purchased from PRESS 254.
Be sure to check out this microreview & interview of one of Eglin’s earlier publications.
To learn more about Eglin’s work, check out her website.
May 13, 2022
updates & sharing
Hi y’all! Just a quick post to share some recent Rotura-related happenings.
The book cover for Rotura.First off, thank you to everyone who has shown support for Rotura (Black Lawrence Press)! Whether you’ve snagged a copy, read some of the poems online, or heard me at a virtual event, the support and connection mean a lot.
Speaking of poems online, happy to share that three poems from Rotura were featured in last month’s issue of Poetry is Currency.
Continuing the Rotura-related thread, I am excited to share this interview for Mass Poetry’s “Getting to Know” series. I share a bit about origins and influences as well as insights about the new book.
Lastly: poet, scholar, and dynamic human being, Urayoán Noel, was also kind enough to include Rotura in his article “‘La Treintena’ 2022: 30+ Books of Latinx Poetry.” Honored to have Rotura featured alongside recent collections by Raquel Salas Rivera, Rio Cortez, and Darrel Alejandro Holnes among other essential, vibrant voices.
I’m transitioning from spring teaching into summer teaching as well as wrapping up the latest issue of Salamander, amongst other endeavors. If you’re reading this, I hope you are managing in your own world as best you can. Here’s to us working out how to show compassion to ourselves as well as each other.
More soon!
José
April 15, 2022
virtual events, new pub, & shout-out
This week, I’m excited to share about a few upcoming virtual events, a recent blogpost, and some thoughts on poems by Jose Hernandez Diaz:
The first features myself, Quintin Collins, and Daniel B. Summerhill and is hosted by The Notebooks Collective. Here’s the full info:
WHAT: The Notebooks Collective hosts “In Conversation: Three Poets”
WHEN: Saturday, April 23 @ 7:30 pm – 9:00 pm EDT
WHERE: online
REGISTRATION: Click on “tickets” to register here.
Flyer for The Notebooks Collective virtual event.The second virtual event features myself and Kathleen Aguero and is hosted by the Concord Free Public Library. Here’s the full info:
WHAT: Virtual Poetry at the Library: Kathleen Aguero and José Angel Araguz
WHEN: Sunday, April 24 @ 3:00 – 4:00 p.m. EDT
WHERE: online
REGISTRATION: To register, click here.
Flyer for the Concord Free Public Library event.Also, I’m happy to share a recent blogpost I wrote for the Countdown to Muse 2022: “Finding Your People” series. In this short essay, I share some of the key lessons learned in my friendship with poet Dennis Flinn. Read the blogpost here.
Lastly, I wanted to share a link to these two poems by Jose Hernandez Diaz published in the latest issue of The Acentos Review. I assigned the issue to a student and, in discussing the great work featured, we dwelled on these two poems.
In “Huevos Revueltos con Chorizo,” Diaz does a graceful ode to a staple of Mexican desayuno. By engaging in description, memory, and a welcoming tone, the poem evokes the act of breaking bread with someone. In “My Mother’s “Broken” English,” Diaz dynamically raises one person’s “broken” English to art. Some lovely poems to move us into the weekend.
Thank you again to all of you who have supported Rotura! If you’re interested in buying a copy, know that Black Lawrence Press has an offer now through 4/30 of 50% off their poetry collections. Just enter promo code: NatPoMo50 at checkout.
Book cover for Rotura.¡Cuídense!
José
April 8, 2022
new podcast interview
Excited to share this interview I did for an episode of Poetry Spoken Here, a poetry podcast hosted by Charlie Rossiter. I had a great time talking poetry with Charlie, answering questions about process, form, and teaching.
Check out my interview here!
The cover of the book Rotura.Thank you to everyone who has snagged a copy of Rotura! The reactions to the book so far have been humbling and encouraging. I’ll have info on a few virtual events coming up soon!
Paz,
José
March 27, 2022
new work + Salamander virtual event
Just a quick post amid the mayhem winddown that is Sunday night (and right before the mayhem windup that is the start of a new week, haha) to share two things:
FIRST, I’m happy to share that I have a new poem, “Pen,” in the latest issue of The Shore. This poem was inspired by a story my father-in-law shared about his years as a paramedic. Some heavy stories with that job.
What moves me most–and what I hoped to capture–is the balance he had to do between urgency and empathy. One poem doesn’t do it justice, of course, but I’m holding space for him here.
Check out the rest of the issue–including work by Jen Gayda Gupta, Jane Zwart, Daniel Ruiz, Stephanie Kaylor, and among other stellar writers here.
the flyer for the next Salamander virtual event.SECOND, I’m excited to welcome folks to the next Salamander virtual event happening on April 7th. Here are the deets:
WHAT: Salamander issue #53 Virtual Reading
WHEN: Thursday, April 7th: 6-7PM EST
WHO: Katie Marya, Nicole Simonsen, & Sara Elkamel
WHERE: Via Zoom! Register for this event at this link.
[Note: ASL interpretation will be provided at this event.]
Super-excited to be hosting these wonderful writers! Check out work by Katie Marya and Sara Elkamel as well as excerpts from the rest of issue #53 here.
Here’s to another week, y’all!
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