Artist Profile: Angie Trudell Vasquez
(Photo credit: John Ficenec)
Angie Trudell Vasquez is a poet, writer, performer, activist and the current City of Madison Poet Laureate. Angie received her MFA in poetry from the Institute of American Indian Arts. Her work was recently featured by former U.S. Poet Laureate Tracy K. Smith on the poetry podcast The Slow Down, which is broadcast daily on Minnesota Public Radio. Most recently, her work has been published in Taos Journal of Poetry; Yellow Medicine Review; Raven Chronicles; The Rumpus, Cloudthroat; and the South Florida Poetry Journal. She has poems on the Poetry Foundation’s website, plus was a Ruth Lilly fellow while at Drake University. In 2018 she was a finalist for the New Women’s Voices series and her book In Light, Always Light, her third collection of poetry, was published by Finishing Line Press in May 2019. She guest edited the Spring 2019 edition of the Yellow Medicine Review with Millissa Kingbird and is co-editing a collection presently with Margaret Rozga (current Wisconsin Poet Laureate) entitled Through This Door set to be released in fall 2020. Angie also serves on the Wisconsin State Poet Laureate Commission as co-chair.
1) What are challenges you've encountered to earning a viable income from your creative endeavors?
Most poets need day jobs. It would be hard to sustain myself just on poetry, and I have worked full-time since I was 21 with breaks now and then when I would move to a new city.
I have many events coming up in September and October. I am very fortunate. Being the poet laureate I had to pivot with the pandemic back in March, but now I am busy with many wonderful projects. My day job also has been affected by the pandemic so I am busier than ever at work.
I focus on balance; I am in training for balance. Yoga, walks, cooking and talking on the phone with my family help. My backyard is my sanctuary. I write, read and dance in my backyard. I edit there too.
I have been working on my artistic endeavors most of my life, but have always had a day job as an adult. Which means I write and edit in the early morning or late hours, and on the weekends. I long for the unfettered weekend when I can write all day and work on my craft or think. But then again, I love my husband and my family so it is always a balance.
2) Have the events of 2020 greatly shifted the focus of your writing?
I consider myself a poet of witness. I observe what is going on around us. And I read history and politics as much as I read fiction or poetry or theory. I read works by writers from other countries. I write about our world. I am influenced by everything and am ever curious. The events of 2020 have affected my writing in that I write about the present and mix it with the past in poems as well as essays sometimes. I am ever reflecting. What we see now has been happening for a very long time. Injustice in this country has been present from its inception. One of my greatest poetic influences early on in my undergraduate years was the book, The Country Between Us, by poet Carolyn Forché. It changed how I viewed poetry. I proceeded to read Eduardo Galeano and Joy Harjo (the current U.S. Poet Laureate). Then I went to the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) for my MFA and furthered my education. I am still learning and unlearning. We marched for farmworkers' rights as children with my parents alongside the Chicano House members in Iowa City when my dad attended the University of Iowa. It was during the lettuce boycott. One of my first memories is holding a picket sign outside of a grocery store during the boycott with my sister. Racial justice, social justice, dignity of workers, equity, feminism and environmentalism were all a part of my early life; and have always been part of my work. I have these poems I am writing now called "Dispatches from Radar Hill." These are poems of the pandemic, and different poems from my other project. I feel a need to write these poems now.
I do miss reading in public and listening to the poems of others; being able to see each other in the flesh; hugs…that instant connection you get at a poetry reading. I look forward to when we can be in community again. There's nothing like a poetry reading to take you through all the emotions and experiences of being alive. I find people to be fascinating. I love being in the presence of other poets and writers like at Split This Rock, Association for Writers & Writers Programs (AWP), or IAIA during a writing festival in the winter or summer. I seek to connect when I read poems in public.
Online readings have been great especially during the pandemic—a joy even. I am able to see friends who are writers or writers I admire at least once a week. And now that the Wisconsin Book Festival has started, I’m looking forward to reading with friends on October 12.
3) How do you personally continue to grow as a writer?
I practice my craft. I study poems the way others may study the constellations. I read poetry and attend readings. I keep up on my studies. I work really hard on my lines. I do interrogate every word; every punctuation mark.. or not. I read other genres. I am starting a memoir workshop soon and am excited to stretch in another direction. I have earned two Pushcart nominations in my writing history, once for a poem and once for an essay. I try and get into journals I admire—in print or online. I take chances; and sometimes, I get accepted. I have work to do in this one lifetime.
I do things that scare me and force me to grow as an artist like when I did the Latina Monologues. I just submitted poems. I did not think I would become part of the cast. This was something I did for three years straight many years ago now; and one of my fondest memories. Some of the people I met during it are still in my life. One thing I will say is you do not want to compare yourself to other artists—be happy for them; celebrate in their success; and be generous. I am continually inspired by the success of the poets and writers around me who I’ve previously known; or who I went to school with; or have met through networking. The art world will continue to expand—as it should. We are creative beings and art feeds us in ways food cannot; and our stories need to be told.
4) Are there specific goals you would like to accomplish while you are Madison's Poet Laureate?
Yes! Establish a Madison Youth Poet Laureate during my term while also laying the groundwork for it to continue in the future. I am also planning on overseeing production of a youth poetry chapbook or anthology, My hope is poems will be collected before the end of this year and the collection published in 2021. (*Updates about this upcoming project will be shared on her website: https://angietrudellvasquez.com/ .)