Gustavo Hernandez is the author of the micro-chapbook Form His Arms (Ghost City Press). His full-length poetry collection, Flower Grand First, is forthcoming from Moon Tide Press in March 2021. He was born in Jalisco, Mexico and lives in California. More information can be found at www.hernandezpoetry.com.
Gustavo’s poem “1990/20XX” appears in the Winter 2021 issue of Carve. Order the print issue here.
Why is poetry your genre of choice? Have you ever written in any other medium?
Like many other poets have said in the past, I love how much of life can be conveyed in so few words when you write poetry—how entire decades can be revealed in a few stanzas. Also, poetry fits my temperament. I can be impatient with the creative process sometimes, so the thought of being able to produce a draft of a poem fairly quickly is appealing to me. In my twenties, I played guitar and wrote songs, and I loved the almost instant gratification of songwriting. I get the same gratification from poetry. I have written short stories in the past, but I don’t feel like I’ve yet been able create the same emotional impact within that medium. It feels like there is too much space for emotions to be diffused if you don’t have an extremely strong grasp of the genre.
What are you reading right now? Do you gravitate more towards poetry, or do you read in various genres?
Right now I am obsessed with the poetry collection What Happens is Neither by Angela Narciso Torres. Her poems are gorgeously rendered and so tender. Angela writes a lot about the love she has for her parents. That really resonates with me. I think that poetry is a great way for us to honor those we love and for us to preserve our memories. I feel a kinship with Angela, because I get a sense that both she and I are using poetry to act as family historians.
I am also reading Aaron Caycedo-Kimura’s work online. I recently became aware of his poetry and was so impacted by it. His chapbook, Ubasute, comes out soon, so I’m looking forward to that.
I read short fiction more than anything. It has the least amount of roadblocks for me. Reading novels sometimes feels like too much of a time investment, but once I stop reading them for a while, I get a deep craving to go back and finish one in a weekend. With poetry, I confess that I don’t read a wide variety of books. I tend to fixate on certain books for large amounts of time. I think that reading poetry takes a lot more focus for me, and I like to take my time with the titles I read.
What do you most like to write about? In contrast, what subject matters are the toughest for you to take on in your work?
I write autobiographical poems mostly. Poetry has been such a great way for me to grieve and to heal from past traumas. It has always felt easier to write about my own experiences, even if I’m revealing things that are deeply personal. It’s what feels the most genuine.
I do think that I have a hard time writing about negative emotions, like anger or jealousy. I’m sure there is a lot of material I’m not touching because of the difficulty I perceive in writing about those feelings, but I hope that I will be able to come to terms with it at some point if my writing pushes me there.
What are you working on right now? Any projects you want to focus on in 2021?
I’m actually taking a break from writing at the moment. My first full-length poetry book, Flower Grand First (Moon Tide Press), just came out, so I need a good recharging period in order to move on to the next stage of my writing. Knowing my writing process, I will probably focus on writing a smaller collection of poems, maybe a chapbook with a strong thematic focus. I’ve also been thinking about science fiction a lot lately, so maybe that will work its way into the new poems.
What advice do you have for aspiring poets?
Inspiration can come from many places, not just from other poems and poets. I would urge poets to take a look at other mediums and other genres of literature. Listen to music you’ve loved. Go watch some good movies. Pay attention to your elders and the way they tell their stories. Listen to the words they use, their pacing, the imagery they focus on.