Sandra Cisneros on Poetry & Her Life in Mexico

At Ploughshares, Shereen Lee interviews Sandra Cisneros about her commitment to poetry and activism and her new life in Mexico. Lee explains in her introduction to their conversation, "Although Sandra Cisneros is most widely known for her authorship of beloved fiction books like The House on Mango Street and Caramelo, she calls herself, first, a poet-activist." On from there: 

This is the title she believes most closely coincide with her fundamental goal: truth-seeking. Her journey toward a complex honesty stands in sharp contrast to a political society where it is common to avoid honesty, and more natural still to intentionally obscure the truth.

Cisneros’s truths are malleable. The exploration of childhood present in many of her novels unveils new ways to heal and revisit what was discovered and forgotten years ago. It is clear, too, that her work serves to analyze her life as a cross section of identities. As a mirror of both the past and present, Cisneros’s work remains a fascinating and constantly-morphing study of Chicana life.

I had the honor of speaking to Cisneros in March during her visit to Taipei, Taiwan; we discussed conduits of truth, living across borders, and femininity.

Shereen Lee: What do you think makes a poem?

Sandra Cisneros: I suppose we’re always trying to redefine that, right? I know a poem’s a poem when I have to invent the language for it. It’s an emotion for me, the same way that a pebble would force you to stop and take it out of your shoe. It’s like that, you know. I feel unbalanced, discomfort, until I take the pebble out of my shoe.

I feel that right now I’m looking for a way to jumpstart my writing and make it as meaningful and beautiful and powerful as it can be. I’ve been writing the same poem for a while. I’m looking for that writer that makes me go like, “ah!”

I do know I want to explore these things at the heights of my life at 63; I feel like I am getting more courage to say what I think and to explore parts of my life that might not have been that important in the past. I wasted a lot of time writing about love, because women waste lots of time writing about love. But now, I’m looking for love from more reliable sources. And I’m the happiest I’ve ever been with life and myself, I’m in love with the universe, and the universe is in love with me. I’m married to my writing, and he can be brutal but he never strays.

The same way I once looked for a great love, now I’m looking for a great piece of art that’s going to change my life. But I think it’s not just art I’m looking for, it’s everything. It’s art, it’s living, it’s spirituality, it’s mysticism, it’s living right now that’s going to illuminate me and guide me toward my next step.

Learn more at Ploughshares.