Gemini Ink profiles Writers in Communities faculty member Jacinto Jesús Cardona, a 33-year veteran of the Texas public school system who has won many awards for teaching creative writing, including the Imagineer Award and the Trinity Prize for Teaching Excellence. In addition to publishing poetry in various journals and anthologies, Cardona is the author of Pan Dulce (Chili Verde Press, 1998), a book of poems. He has also been awarded National Endowment for the Humanities visiting scholar grants to Harvard University, Boston University, and the Newberry Library in Chicago.
Gemini Ink Communications director Jennifer Herrera caught Cardona in a “zany” mood while discussing his book of poetry and his writing process.
Jennifer Herrera: Can you tell us about your 1998 book of poetry, Pan Dulce?
Jacinto Jesús Cardona: My book of poetry Pan Dulce celebrates my Tex Mex experience growing up in Alice, the Hub of South Texas: “So was I Tex or was I Mex, parttime Aztec, or was I your classic borderline case?” I write primarily in English, but I integrate certain Spanish words that conjure childhood memories, like “chavalón” (young boy) and “chicharra” (cicada). As a writer, I keep faithful to my code-switching chapulín (grasshopper) linguistics: My chavalón bones bouncing like xylophones.
JH: You’re a high school English teacher, how have your students played a role in your writing?
JJC: My heart goes out to students who come to school and think they have to fold their creative wings. I encourage my students to tap their creative powers, to believe in paper, pencil, plus potential.
JH: What are topics you have yet to explore in future writing?
JJC: Angst! Angst & more angst. Angst is good! I want to find strange Spanish words, make them my inspiring stars, words like zurumbático, estrambótico. Topics I have yet to explore, you ask? Hmmm. I’ll have to check out my Chicanoscope. Hmmm. I wrote about fixing flats and pneumatic jacks once, but lately I’ve had an itch to write about the phantom pain of empty cash boxes. I am also very interested in Golpes, blows. I am always expecting the giant golpazo from the sky. Hence, angst and more angst! Did you know that the motto of the Foreign Legion is “When in doubt, Gallop!”? Oops! Barnacles! I just dropped my Chicanoscope! Sorry.
JH: Who are your favorite writers?
JJC: Too many, of course, but among them are Italo Calvino, Fernando Pessoa, Vasko Popa, Charles Simic, Wislawa Szymborska, Antonio Machado, Gloria Fuertes. etc.
