 At the end of my reading in Hermosillo, Sonora, for Horas de Junio, a woman in the audience rose to her feet and said, “Your poetry opened my consciousness and made my stomach churn. I want your book.” I was so moved by her words I wanted to cry.
And here in the US, what has the response to your work been?
In the US, I have shared my work in both English and Spanish. Last fall, Dr. Manuel Martín-Rodríguez extended an invitation to both Ángel Sandoval and me to UC Merced’s Chicano/a Literature Series. Professor Francisco J. Bustos also invited Spider Woman/La Mujer Araña to South Western College’s Guest Writers Series. Francisco X. Alarcón, poet, role model and mentor, invited me to the Congreso Universal de Poetas Hispanoamericanos (CUPHI III) held in Los Angeles, California. At the event, Dr. Luis Alberto Ambroggio, introduced Spider Woman/La Mujer Araña; acclaimed poets from Latin America attended the event—and the audience embraced my poetry.
This fall Spider Woman/La Mujer Araña will be a part of California State University San Marcos’s California Arts & Lectures Series, and I will also be joining a panel at City College’s International Book Fair. I look forward to seeing where Spider Woman/La Mujer Araña is going next.
What has been the most challenging part of the journey thus far?
Incorporating movement in my life has been the greatest challenge. Writing is a sedentary life style, and that is not good. I do my best to walk and work out at least fifteen minutes a day. Another challenge has been changing my favorite time to write. I used to stay up and write until two o’clock or three o’clock in the morning when everything was so quiet, and I could only hear my thoughts. Not anymore. My body deserves a healthy lifestyle and sleep.
So how do you balance it all--motherhood, teaching, writing, health and rest? How does Spider Woman navigate the different realms and keep producing poesía despite all the responsibilities and the everydayness of todo?
I told a friend, who asked me a similar question a few months ago, “Parenting drains me, teaching energizes me, and writing is my Zen.” In order for me to be happy—all my passions must be in perfect alignment. I cannot sacrifice my children for my writing; I cannot sacrifice my writing for my children; I cannot sacrifice my teaching for writing... To be happy, I must do what makes me happy—all of the above. Sometimes I clean, write, grade, teach, and cook all in one day, and then other days I simply cannot. And it’s okay! My partner is also a professor and supports what I do. It wasn’t always like that.
What advice would you give to other mujeres out there who are creating literatura (or trying to) in the midst of so many other responsibilities and roles?
People may criticize you for writing, including your own mother..., but never let go of you because writing is central to your existence.
What is your writing process like in regards to creating poems in two languages? Do your poems tend to originate in one language more than the other?
I love writing poetry in both languages! If I do not translate a poem, my work feels incomplete. In Spider Woman/La Mujer Araña, some poems were born in English; others were born in Spanish. As I was finalizing the collection, my writing process changed though. If, for instance, a poem had been born in Spanish and the English translation was not poetic sounding, I would go back to the original poem (I still do) and recrafted the original version until the translation felt solid. Now I even find myself writing a poem and its respective translation at the same time. If I will be submitting a poem to a Spanish-written publication, such as The San Diego Poetry Annual, I impose on my creative writing process and force the poem to be born in Spanish—that’s how “Memografía” was born. My novel, on the other hand, was born in English.
Do you have a piece in the collection that you frequently read aloud at readings or events? Something that seems to speak to live audiences?
When I have a public reading, I have to feel the room. I ask myself: What poems must the audience listen to? From the Spider Woman/La Mujer Araña, “Memografía”/”Memography,” “The Calculated World of Monsters”/“El mundo calculado de los monstrous” and “Mi bandera”/“My Flag” are three poems that speak to all audiences.
Do you have a favorite "quiet" piece in the collection? I am thinking, for example, of poems that are not often read aloud, but that speak to you personally/intimately for some reason or another.
Oh yes. I cried at my first public reading in Oakland, California at the Intertribal Friendship House. I didn’t know I was going to cry. When I read “Brown Child,” a poem about miscarriage and the desire to procreate, I learned I could only read that poem to myself. The womyn in the audience were very understanding. “Brown Child” is my quiet poem.
And "The Passing/El viaje"? That poem is a beautiful tribute to your mother. It tugs at the heart.
“The Passing”/”El viaje,” a poem about my mother teaching me how to cook mole and the persistence of memory, should be a quiet poem. However, even though it hurts me to read it aloud, I share “The Passing” to keep the memory of my mother and her spirit alive.
What is Spider Woman currently weaving?
I am crafting Legacy/Herencia, a bilingual poetry collection. I hope to be done by the end of year—and if I am not—I wouldn’t be disappointed. Revisiting Kissing Dreams from a Distance has crossed my mind. (I am waiting to hear from a university press.) Starting another novel has also crossed my mind—the main character is taking form.
Muchisimas gracias, Sonia, for taking time from your busy schedule to share some of your insights with our readers. We wish you much success and look forward to more and more of your spider's webs being released into the wind. Nos despedimos with Sonia's poem, "The Passing," which is dedicated her mother, Estela Gutiérrez.
them with letters and numbers.
heavy with timeless recuerdos.
Today, I make mole in your honor.
turn a cinnamon brown.
have become mine.
craving the memory of you.
Sonia Gutiérrez is a poet professor, who promotes social justice and human dignity. She teaches English Composition and Critical Thinking and Writing at Palomar College. Her poetry has appeared in La Jornada Semanal, Magee Park Poets Anthology, Fringe Magazine, Revista Ombligo, and contratiempo, among others.
Thank you Olga for posting this interview with Ms Gutierrez. Your insightful questions and Ms Sonia's touching responses allow me a window with a bit of a view into a writer's process. I like the feeling of her poems or novel being "born" into a language.
When talking about Brazilian brands, they don't really get bigger than Petrobras. In a recent study it came out as the eight biggest company in the world, with a turnover of $164.8 billion. That is more than the GDP of a country like Pakistan. How did it get so big?
Although the oil industry was liberated in 1997, today the majority of the company is still in the hands of the government. Petrobras has operations all around the world, with recent ventures in Portugal and Turkey, where it looks to get involved in the energy battle around the Black Sea. Activities of the company include exploration, production, refining and transport of oil and natural gas in South America. It also generates side products from the oil production such as synthetic rubber. It is also generates and distributes electricity. In 2008 a big oil field was discovered in the deep waters on the Brazilian coast (it actual size is still uncertain but it could be the third largest oil field in the world). They built a cool flash application that has more info.
At a time when we try to make people less dependent on fossil fuels, a discovery of this magnitude complicates things. What do you mean there is no more oil?! The oil is located 7000m under the sea. That makes the extraction very difficult and poses many risks to the fragile ecologic system at that depth. But the third largest oil field of course means a lot of money and power. In the reformation of the economic world order this is an important asset for Brazil to have.
Another activity of theirs is the extraction of ethanol from crops such as soy, corn, wheat sugar cane. The latter is the most popular as it is the cheapest to produce. Alternative fuels are really popular in Brazil as they are cheaper then regular gasoline and available in all gas stations. But the company doesn't see these alternative fuels as the solution to the future energy problem. Estimated investments in alternative fuels will be around 1% of the profits in the period 2008-2015.
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