Cal State Monterey Bay (CSUMB) students gathered for “Poetry and Pupusas,” a cultural and creative celebration hosted in partnership by Monterey County Poet Laureate Rachelle Escamilla and El Centro in the Tanimura & Antle Family Memorial Library.
Held Thursday, April 10, the event welcomed 60 students. Writers from all across campus were brought together to get inspired by readings performed by acclaimed poets, Lourdes Figueroa, Darrell Dela Cruz and MK Chavez. Escamilla, a CSUMB poetry professor, opened the night by reflecting on the theme of the event: “Being a poet is all about finding your community.”
Darrel Dela Cruz, a San Jose State alumnus with a master’s of Fine Arts and Poetry, a former colleague of Escamilla and a member of Voices of Our Nations Arts, was first to perform. Reading pieces from his debut poetry collection “This is a Love Story Listen,” touched on an array of vulnerable topics, from body image, queer romance and familial hardships. Twisting memory into metaphor with pieces like “Buddha’s Wardrobe” and “Targeted ads” where he takes vulnerable and raw deep dives into his journey through discovering his autonomy and exploring queer spaces.
Heather Carlos, a psychology major, and Jose Guzman, a humanities and communication major concentrating on creative writing and social action, both took to the floor to read their own original works. Each received roars of cheers in support from fellow classmates.
Lourdes Figueroa, an oral poet who writes from their lived experiences and received the 2021 Nomadic Press Literary Award, read for the crowd next. Sharing personal pieces reflecting deeply into not only their journey but their family’s, their roots and heritage.
“At first it was intimidating, being back in a classroom full of people, but in the end it was fun and went really well,” revealed Figueroa, after the event came to a close. “I was very happy to see plenty of people of color in attendance. Hoping to inspire them to continue creating spaces like this.”
MK Chavez closed out the event, introduced by Escamilla as “an art monster, writer, educator, whose work expands across mixed race identity, social justice, environmental resilience, horror, cinema, magic, rituals and the creative process. Her work has been recognized by the PEN Oakland-Josephine Miles Award, the San Francisco Foundation Nomadic Press Literary award and the Ruth Weiss Maverick award.”
Chavez captured the audience with impactful lines of prose from her horror series, exploring how “horror gives trauma an alternative ending.”
Having watched 400 horror films before embarking on this horror-filled poetic journey, Chavez began visualizing herself as a monster. “I was a mixed-race zombie. I wasn’t born a relentless creature of resurrection… once I was so invisible that I ate my way into existence.”
Chavez was unafraid to express her battles with growing up in this world as a mixed-race individual. “There is a slipperiness to capturing identity. The most terrifying part of the movie is never what you think. What if zombies are just misunderstood?”
“The world is the biggest dumpster fire right now” concluded Chavez before giving a final call to action. “There have been moments where I have felt so strange about reading and writing poetry, but I’ve also come to the decision again and again that we need to keep writing. Because our histories, our experiences are not the ones that end up in the history books. Not in totality, so we need to write our words.”