Poetry Consultations with MK Chavez

There is a profound urgency I find in writing and reading. I am drawn to the spaces where varied narratives collide, overlap, and diverge. In the realm of words, it’s the process of transmutation, the alchemy of turning the ordinary into the extraordinary, that pulls me in. For me, the magic emerges when a piece of writing detaches from its creator to converse directly with the reader.

I look below the surface, into the energy of words, their intent, but also something beyond. Understanding and honoring the core is a primary goal but I also consider how the work conveys and perceives beyond the experience of the creator—searching the dynamic and ethereal space of the gaze. While reviewing the writing of others I inhabit the lens of a reader and writer and use this dual vantage point, to ask questions and offer insights about the work’s impact and where opportunities offer themselves for expansion or shapeshifting.

In my own writings, I’m deeply influenced by the spirit of exploration—be it documenting the nuances of life, studying the resonance of language, or the transformation of experience into art. I’m intrigued by the stories embedded in our surroundings and the juxtaposition of our complex histories. I have a penchant for voices that document brave spaces, trust their readers, see beyond the immediate, and can hold the universal and are imbued by timelessness.

My personal writing is engaged with new eco-literature, ekphratic works based on American Horror Films, documentary poetics, and writing that is born of and occupies liminal spaces. I have been inspired by the writings of Anne Carson, Octavia Butler, Carmen Gimenez, James Cagney, Maw Shein Win, Alejandra Pizarnik, Bhanu Kapil, and Claudia Rankine. Authors whose new books are inspiring me are mimi tempsett’s, The Delicacy of Embracing Spirals, Omotara James’s, Song of my Softening, and Tureeda Mikell’s, Body: Oracle of Memory.