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Author Spotlight: Javier Sandoval

Buy: Blue Moon Looming | May 2024 | CutBank


 

You can often tell a lot about a book by how it begins and how it ends. What is the first line and last line of your book?


Blue Moon Looming begins with a portrait inspired by my father & homeland of Chihuahua: 


Beneath the nightbirds, Pops, straw-brimmed, comes trudging out of midnight's thorned shrubbery, / strumming Caminos de Michoacán on his black guitar.


And ends with a piece dedicated to my mother & the lessons she's taught me: 


Son, I don't know why / our red drums beat / this twisted desert song / —but what the old riders sing, I ride. / And I ride along the horizon / when I sing.


Via those characters' actions, these opening & closing lines represent poetry & art's purpose to me: to create light in the world. And I say create explicitly, because I'm convinced we have to make it, be it; not find, buy, or take it.


I don't believe art's the most sublime experience in the world. I don't believe in living just as a means to create art. Whether I'm consuming or producing it, I'm looking to catch a glimmer in art that I can bring into my life and brighten things. I'd rather spend time with my family, lady,  friends, recovery & faith community, than isolate myself in a heightened fantasy. And I think most religious leaders would agree, preferring people bring the lessons from sacred texts into this harsh world, than merely escape into them. But of course, I still love making and consuming art, especially when I feel particularly down and can't bring my best self to loved ones. 


So when writing this book, I wanted to highlight experiences where within the darkest darks, there was a glimmer. To remind others, but mostly myself, that even in the crappiest of crappy times, there was something. Something to hold onto.


This mission to elevate readers is also in the book's form. I tried to not only replicate the physical shape of the gospels, but also its combination of narrative, poetry, music, letters, & direct address to aid its greater aim.


My family, especially my mother, massively influenced my philosophy. I also believe Mexicans have a knack of heightening suffering with humor, passion, faith, and community. I'm particularly reminded of Octavio Paz's essay Los Hijos de La Malinche, which comments on this cultural survival tactic. I hope these poems do justice to the good I've garnered from my influences. 



What was your writing process? Your editing process? Did you adopt a unique process for this book, or do you have a "go-to" approach for all your writing?


Most of the poems didn't start as “poems.” “Bible Lessons,” “Praise Dog!,” & “Uncle Peyote” all began as stand-up routines; “Blue Moon Over Seattle” & “From Your Forest Dog” were personal letters; “Requiem for the Ungoverned” & “In the Name of Perfection” were supposed to be longer stories; and “Street Howl for the Exiled” & “Twisted Desert Song” were raps I'd written to instrumentals. 


They turned into poems because I get bored working on long projects, and no matter what I write, I just like using poetic principles: being visual, musical, efficient, and implicative.


One of the things I like about poetry is its undefinability, its expansiveness. Any art that produces an emotional, unique, insightful & meaningful experience is a poem to me.



How did you get into writing? Can you pinpoint a memory where it all began for you?


My mom isn't a big reader, and she famously dislikes my poem “Praise Dog!,” holding out hope that one day I'll write one "worthy of his holiness," but she's always supported my work and got me into it.


When she'd punish me as a kid, she'd make me write lessons over & over. That habit seemed to stick: to study I recopy my notes, to work out dilemmas I journal my thoughts, and to reinspire myself I draft poems. She also brought me along to all her English classes when we moved to Wisconsin from Chihuahua and made me practice by reading literature advanced for a kid in pre-k. She'd sign me up for public speaking competitions so I'd get over my shyness. She's why I am who I am.



If you could have a dinner party with anyone living or dead, who would it be and why? What would you serve for dinner?


Apart from starting a family with my lady, creating a TV show, and taking my mom & brother on an overseas trip, I really don't have any more dreams left. So if I didn't use this opportunity to invite the Pope over to my mom's for grub & a chat, I wouldn't be able to consider myself a good son. She'd probably make him her wildly impressive dish of chiles relleños with a sauce de nueces and pomegranate-seed garnish. Sounds crazy and tastes even crazier. She's full of wonder. 


Apart from trying to hear some gossip from him, as we're both big chismosas, our big question would be whether God, or whatever higher power one believes in, suffers? That dilemma's always sparked long debates, I mean we'd stay up for hours yelling & pointing at passages & convincing each other of surprising points.  


Does the highest power in existence suffer? What we find fascinating is how that usually splits the room. How one side wants & needs to see themselves, their humanity, in their high power, and do not exclude suffering from the ideal, while the other wouldn't consider it the ideal if it still involved suffering. Both sides are convincing.


We both mostly think it does not, that true suffering only comes from a lack of faith in a higher power, from a pessimistic perspective. I'd wager the Pope would say it does, particularly that it suffers for us. And then we'd argue with him until he'd had enough and just left.



Do you have a new project that you're working on? Could you tell us a bit about it?


Apart from expanding Blue Moon Looming into a larger collection, I'm also writing a TV pilot, Fare Well. Modeled off shows like Reservation Dogs, Cowboy Bebop, & The Addams Family, Fare Well is a stylish & comedic Southern-Gothic Western Noir delving into contemporary American fears & faiths. It follows a cozy couple as they become vigilante undertakers for mystical communities across America, and as a result are caught between a mysterious & magical figure that may be Death and a corrupt, global cryogenic company searching for eternal life.


Like with Blue Moon Looming, I'm trying to incorporate all my craziest & magical experiences into a narrative that brings light to the dark, and what question poses this dilemma greater than that of how we should face death? It's been fun to work on, especially with my lady, as one of our favorite pastimes is watching & discussing cozy shows that tackle difficult subjects.


You can follow my updates on this project via Instagram: @JavierWantsCandy.




 



Javier Sandoval grew up in the Chihuahuan Desert of Mexico and studied under Forrest Gander and John Wideman at Brown University. He now teaches at the University of Alabama where he also served as Poetry Editor of Black Warrior Review. His work has appeared in Narrative, Gulf Coast, Indiana Review, Massachusetts Review, and Southeast Review among others, and he's been a finalist for awards from Iowa Review, Pinch, and Ninth Letter, and the recipient of Frontier Poetry's Global Poetry Prize and swamp pink's Indigenous Writers Award. But mostly, he loves to smoke on the stoop with his lady.


You can follow him on IG for updates and jokes @JavierWantsCandy.



Blue Moon Looming Information

Blue Moon Looming showcases contradictions across themes of faith, class, race, and sexuality by mixing nonfiction with fiction, poetry with narrative, horror with romance, and solemnity with comedy. One review by the National Book Award nominee José Olivarez states, 'Sandoval is a poet for the unruly, the untidy, and yes, the brilliant among us,' and another by the emmy-nominated poet Alejandro Jimenez says, 'He takes us in a graceful ride across stories, moments, and people he loves, reminding us about the songs we carry.' 


You can purchase a personalized & autographed copy at his site: JavierSandoval.me.


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