ALICIA MINJAREZ RAMIREZ

OUR POETRY ARCHIVE FEATURED

POET OF THE MONTH

ALICIA

MINJAREZ RAMIREZ

November 2016

OPA How long have you been writing Poetry? We would like to know the early stories about your growing up as a poet or writer in general. Who are your favorite Poets? What are some of your favorite genres to read and to write? Had they inspired you a lot, do you believe in inspiration as a guiding force behind writings at all?

ALICIA  First I want to thank you the great opportunity to be in this important space. It is a real honor for me!  Wholeheartedly thank you !

I write since I was 7 years old,  only my family, my teachers and my best friends know that I liked to write poems and they chose me to write the final speech at the  end of the school  year.   I was a very shy person but 3 years ago I determined to show the world what I write.   Among my favorite poets are: Hafiz, Rumi, William Blake, Novalis, Pablo Neruda, Ernesto Kahan and Winston Morales Chavarro.  Hafiz was my inspiration when I was 13 years old. Among my favorites genres to read are: Egyptian historical novel, science fiction, metaphysics, espirituality and religion. I like to write free verse poetry,  but I also write poetry prose or narrative.  Someone told me one day that the first words of inspiration are sent by the gods and the rest is the work of the poet. I definitely believe in the inspirational moment that comes to my heart to write.

OPA What has been the toughest criticism given to you as a writer? What was the biggest compliment? Did those change how or what you write?  What has been the strangest thing that a reader has asked you?

ALICIA  The harshest criticism: a journalist from Colombia said one of my poems had a very forced rhyme. She did not know that I write in free verse and that poem had been written several years ago.  The biggest compliment?...   I find them every time when I write a new poem, always wonderful comments!  And I think the  strangest thing that a reader has asked me is:  to marry him!

OPA What is your favorite poem you have ever written? Compared to when you first started writing, have you notice any big changes in your writing style or how you write compared from then to now?

ALICIA  I do not have a favorite poem, because I try to improvement each day and overcome what I wrote.  The difference between the writing of  my poems since I was  only 7 years old is very large compared as I write now, because I did not have knowledge of literary devices, nor knew about the meter and rhyme of  poem,  It  were only  the  felt thoughts come out of the heart of a girl who wanted to change the world.  My writing changed some years ago when my mentors in poetry gave me the guidelines to follow to find my own literary style and I am very grateful to them.

OPA   What has been your favorite part of being a poet or and author? What has been your least favorite?

 ALICIA  I love the creative imagination that allows me to unleash my thoughts. I like to playing with words to get all  what I want with my poems. The only part I don´t  like is that as writers, we do not  have the government support of our countries.

OPA  Did you get to quit your day job and become a writer and or author or do you still have a day job and writing is something you do for fun? If you still have a day job, what is it?

ALICIA On my day job I´m working as a French and English teacher,   I love  my work so much!  But my real passions are: Singing and Writing.

 OPA   Besides writing and reading, what is your most favorite thing to do? What genre are you most looking forward to explore during your writing career? Why?

ALICIA I greatly enjoy each of the activities I do. In addition to reading and writing I am passionate about singing since I was a child. I can sing in 5 different languages: French, English, Italian, Spanish and Bahasa (Indonesian). Through singing, I can get out  all the emotions and  feelings I have inside  of me. I have an  unpublished  book  written in poetic prose,  I'm also writing a novel. I feel that as writers we must explore several genres.

OPA: Do you think literature or poetry is really essential in our life? If so why? How does it relate to the general history of mankind?

ALICIA Man is a social being and the main element of sociability  is the word,  is therefore far better mastered the use of language and literature, we will be more complete and more useful. Speaking of literature is to immerse ourselves in a world of fantasy, fiction, history, facts; It is a world with which we interact and that is all around us at all times. This foundation is achieved through daily learning, either at university, college or daily life. Otherwise we would suffer a stalemate and the only way to overcome it is investigating and searching for ourselves.

OPA   Our readers would like to know your own personal experience regarding the importance of literature and poetry in your life.

ALICIA  We live surrounded  by Poetry.  We find  Poetry wherever we look around ... In a beautiful sunrise,  in a starry night,  on  the tender smile of a child,  in the soft voice of the beloved  one  caressing our soul only with a few words, in  the presence and company of our parents, in the embrace of a friend or a brother. Every moment  it´s  a not written poetry for me, offering us the opportunity to shape it in our canvas of paper… The best poetry will be found within your own voice!

OPA Do you think people in general actually bother about literature in general?  Do you think this consumerist world is turning the average man away from serious literature?

ALICIA There's a lot of it. I feel the love of literature is being lost, perhaps because the consumerist environment in which we live.  For this reason, we need to promote love of literature and poetry.   For an individual can appreciate all this, we must begin to instill a love of Literature and poetry to children in schools,  since kindergarten and not only that, but also the love of culture and arts.

OPA Do you think society, as a whole, has a factor in shaping you as a poet, or your poetry altogether?

ALICIA Definitely!   Because based on social problems, poets are a launching point to talk openly about relevant issues, or also to raise awareness, seeking followers to support our thoughts… We can not remain silent in the face of social injustices.

OPA We would also like to know; How do you relate the present literary trends with the literary heritage of your own country? 

ALICIA  The second decade of the twentieth century is an essential  key  for understanding the current development of Latin American literature period. It is a time when the precious sumptuous rhetoric of modernism is discarded and the basis for a complete break with the immediate artistic past.  From it, the dominant literary modes recognize the common roots. They were  years of demonstrations, proclamations and violent polemics, an intensive search of originality, expressive and formal insurgency that broke out in embodiments radically changing the course of inland letters.

Mainly poetry in American literature, presents a puzzling aspect to the public. The constructive will is imposed on the impressionistic, emotional and spiritual. The avant-garde poetry renews the language and purpose of traditional poetry. The cult of beauty,  to the demands of the aesthetic harmony. The new poetry rejects the rational use of language, syntax, declamatory  and musical form, musical legacy: meter, rhyme, giving primacy to the continued exercise of imagination to the unusual and visionary images, the asintactism, the new typographical arrangement,  visual effects  and a discontinuous and fragmented, simultaneity makes the primary constructive principle. The avant-garde echoes are felt in all Latin American countries.

OPA Are you a feminist? Can literature play any decisive role in feminism at all?

ALICIA  We consider feminism as a doctrine and social movement calling for the observance of capabilities and rights that have traditionally been reserved for men.  I try to defend the fair causes and rights of women on the world, through poetry and social media. Indeed!   Because the twentieth century is characterized by the struggle of women to end with the social, political and symbolic inequality which have been subjected for centuries. Feminism as a social movement born heir to the suffragist movement, has likewise led to a profound reflection on gender enrollment of individuals in their speeches and in their actions, questioning the universality of Culture and Arts.

OPA Do you believe that all writers are by and large the product of their nationality? Is it an incentive or an obstacle in becoming an international writer?

ALICIA  I do not feel that writers are a product of his nationality, because each of them has been influenced differently by some literary currents, or by some poets of different nationalities. It may be the case that a poet is recognized abroad and to be a perfect stranger in his / her own country. The nationality of a writer is not an impediment to excel abroad. Strongly influences,  hard work, consistence and permanence to fight for the realization of their dreams makes the difference.

OPA What 7 words would you use to describe yourself?

ALICIA   I´m  passionate,  courageous,  cheerful,  patient,  consistent, logic  and  meditative.

OPA   Is there anything else that you would like to share or say to those who will read this interview?

ALICIA  Never stop dreaming! Do not listen  the noise of others when they try to destroy your dreams,  just listen to your inner voice and defends everything you love.

The editorial staff of this project: Deborah Brooks Langford, Stacia Lynn Reynolds; sincerely thank you for your time and hope we shall have your continued support.