12 or 20 (second series) questions with Tommy Archuleta
Tommy Archuleta is a native northern New Mexican. Heworks as a mental health therapist for the New Mexico Corrections Department.Most recently his work has appeared in the New England Review, LaurelReview, Lily Poetry Review, The Cortland Review, Guesthouse,and the Poem-a-Day series sponsored by the Academy of American Poets. Susto,his full-length debut collection of poems, published by the Center for LiteraryPublishing, is a 2023 Mountain/West Poetry Series title. He is also the authorof the chapbook, Fieldnotes (Lily Poetry Review & Books, 2023). Helives and writes on the Cochiti Reservation.
1 - How did yourfirst book change your life?
One’s first kiss.One’s first fish. One’s first day of school. Whatever the right of passage, thebody absorbs, then records them all, etches them onto stone tablets, stoneculled from a quarries nowhere near Ohio.
Why for—who knows?
Perhaps they’regiven to the mind for later playback over those final few breaths.
Perhaps they’resold outright to the unconscious who then trades them to the soul for Mozart’sunscored cello concertos.
Perhaps nothingmuch changes beyond our noticing how much the road we’re on narrows as we go incontrast to the ever-widening, ever-expanding horizon.
2 - How did youcome to poetry first, as opposed to, say, fiction or non-fiction?
Not far from wherethey found me the first time I got lost, lies a fire road that was cut longbefore Eustacio Ortiz, the first ore miner, “courted” Delilah Rose. And along acertain, short section of that road lives a cake of air thrice colder than theair before or after it. Who can be blamed for believing one comes to thisparticular brand of cold, but no—with enough time and pressure, one arrives atthe realization that said cold was both never and always there, and anywhereelse land, air, and water might care to meet.
3 - How long doesit take to start any particular writing project?
151.7milliseconds.
Does your writinginitially come quickly, or is it a slow process?
37 years ago, at abus stop on the corner of 42nd Avenue and Hollis Avenue, Oakland CA,an old old man in black shoes and white socks, said the following words:
“When you get to acertain stage, you’ll regret more what could’ve said rather than what ended upsaying.”
Two days ago, and37 years later, I heard the above words.
Do first draftsappear looking close to their final shape, or does your work come out ofcopious notes?
Orchid:
seed germination
root growth
leafproduction
flower spike growth
bloom stage
dormancy
4 - Where does apoem usually begin for you?
As one enters theCochiti Reservation on foot, from the West, the earth there is redder than red.Nowhere else for miles and miles and every direction is this the case.
Are you an authorof short pieces that end up combining into a larger project, or are you workingon a "book" from the very beginning?
Yes, and, also—Itouched a frog once.
5 - Are publicreadings part of or counter to your creative process?
“Knowing one’s owndarkness is the best method for dealing with the darknesses of otherpeople.”
--C.G. Jung
Are you the sortof writer who enjoys doing readings?
I’m the sort ofwriter who enjoys being read to.
6 - Do you haveany theoretical concerns behind your writing?
I’m concernedabout birds in midflight freefalling to the cold, hard ground.
Alternative factsvastly concern me.
I’m concerned theSandhill Crane won’t know where to fly when soon autumn feels as warm, orwarmer, than summer.
I’m concerned I’llbe at work when my father’s last few breaths arrive, finally.
7 – What do yousee the current role of the writer being in larger culture?
If we’re talkingabout a human writer, writing on the planet Earth, then I can’t think of abetter role than writer, nor can I think of a better larger culture than Earth.
Do they even haveone?
As far as I know,all writers have two of everything.
What do you thinkthe role of the writer should be?
I think the writershould avoid processed sugar and illicit drug trafficking.
8 - Do you findthe process of working with an outside editor difficult or essential (or both)?
If a higher powerdoth exist, then a lower one, too, must exist.
9 – What is thebest piece of advice you’ve heard (not necessarily given to you directly)?
Avoid, at allcosts, staring directly at the sun for any length of time.
10 - Whatkind of writing routine do you tend to keep, or do you even have one?
As far as I know,all writers have two of everything.
How does a typicalday (for you) begin?
Through the ringing, now in both ears, and the wavering
hum of lower earth:
the caws of dawnlit crows lifting off.
We’re not built to sit still for too long, either.
Nor are we born broken.
And barely do we come equipped to survive
whatever might fly out of our own godgiven mouths.
It’s going to hail soon. You can feel it.
11 - When yourwriting gets stalled, where do you turn or return for (for lack of a betterword) inspiration?
Sorry—that’sclassified information.
12 – Whatfragrance reminds you of home?
Human and/or goatblood.
13 - David W.McFadden once said that books come from books, but are there any other formsthat influence your work, whether nature, music, science or visual art?
I once touch afrog that David W. McFadden once touched.
Translation: Ionce touched David W. McFadden’s frog.
14 - What otherwriters or writings are important for your work, or simply your life outside ofyour work?
I work as atherapist in a prison. Some of my clients are serving life sentences for havingmurdered another human being, to include several human beings. Clients of thissort often send me poems because they heard that I write poems. Few things inthis life move me more than reading the poems of men who experience theoutdoors belly-chained while in five boot by 12 foot iron mesh cage for onehour a day.
15 - What wouldyou like to do that you haven't yet done?
I’d like toapologize to at least two frogs.
16 - If you couldpick any other occupation to attempt, what would it be?
I would kill to bea Vanda Orchid.
17 - What made youwrite, as opposed to doing something else?
Early childhoodtrauma.
18 - What was thelast great book you read?
As for Dreams by Saskia Hamilton.
What was the lastgreat film?
19 – What are youcurrently working on?
A pocket dreamdictionary.
