Episode 121 with Michael Torres, Crafter of Profound and Musical Lines, Master of Imagery and Pathos, and Author of the Award-Winning Poetry Collection, An Incomplete List of Names

Episode 121 Notes and Links to Michael Torres’ Work 

 

 

    On Episode 121 of The Chills at Will Podcast, Pete welcomes Michael Torres, and the two discuss, among other topics, his growing up in Pomona, CA, and his childhood and adolescence influences on his work, the speaker as poet and vice versa, his early reading prompted by a generous older sister, works and writers that have thrilled him and impelled him to write, his poetry collection’s themes of identity and masculinity, and the real-life background of his dynamite lines and strong images.  

    Michael Torres is a VONA distinguished alum and CantoMundo fellow. In 2016 he received his MFA in creative writing from Minnesota State University, Mankato, was a winner of the Loft Mentor Series, received an Individual Artist Initiative Grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board, and was awarded a Jerome Foundation Research and Travel Grant to visit the pueblo in Jalisco, Mexico where his father grew up. In 2019 he received fellowships and awards from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, and The Loft Literary Center for the Mirrors & Windows Program. A former Artist-in-Residence at the Camargo Foundation in Cassis, France as well as a McKnight Writing Fellow, he is currently a 2021-22 Jerome Hill Artist Fellow.

    His first collection of poems, AN INCOMPLETE LIST OF NAMES, (Beacon Press, 2020) was selected by Raquel Salas Rivera for the National Poetry Series, named one of NPR’s Best Books of 2020, and was featured on the podcast Code Switch.

    His writing has been featured or is forthcoming in Best New Poets 2020, The New Yorker, POETRY, Ploughshares, Smartish Pace, Los Angeles Review of Books, The Georgia Review, The Sun, Water~Stone Review, Southern Indiana Review, Ninth Letter, Poetry Northwest, Copper Nickel, Fifth Wednesday Journal, Tinderbox Poetry Journal, The McNeese Review, MIRAMAR, Green Mountains Review, Forklift, Ohio, Hot Metal Bridge, The Boiler Journal, Paper Darts, River Teeth, The Acentos Review, Okey-Panky, Sycamore Review, SALT, Huizache, online as The Missouri Review’s Poem of the Week, on The Slowdown with Tracy K. Smith.

    Michael was born and brought up in Pomona, CA, where he spent his adolescence as a graffiti artist. Currently, he teaches in the MFA program at Minnesota State University, Mankato, and through the Minnesota Prison Writing Workshop.

 

 

Michael Torres' Website

 

Buy An Incomplete List of Names

 

Michael’s Appearance on NPR’s Code Switch

 

"In The Field: Conversations With Our Contributors–Michael Torres"

At about 3:20, Michael talks about growing up in Pomona, CA, and his relationship with language and literature

 

At about 6:00, Michael highlights his older sister’s contributions in introducing him to great literature, and Michael details being immediately intrigued by Luis Rodriguez’s Always Running

 

At about 10:00, Pete connects Luis Rodriguez and getting attention through his nickname and Michael’s views of tagging and identity 

 

At about 13:50, Michael responds to Pete’s questions about connections between peer pressure and growing up, including how Michael’s “Down” was inspired by Kendrick Lamar’s “The Art of Peer Pressure”

 

At about 18:00, Pete flits from A Bronx Tale to a phenomenon with students’ writing their full names in past years as the two “discuss the “desire to leave something behind”

 

At about 20:10, Pete cites profound and interesting lines from An Incomplete List of Names

that deal with identity, and Pete asks about “Michael” and the delineation between his name and “Remek”

 

At about 22:00, Michael discusses what reading and writers inspired and thrilled him as he got into late high school and college, including 2Pac and The Rose that Grew From Concrete, Charles Bukowski, Gary Soto’s The Elements of San Joaquin, and Albert Camus’ The Stranger

 

At about 26:40, Michael further explains hip-hop’s influence on him, including from groups like Dilated Peoples, A Tribe Called Quest, Pharcyde, Jurassic 5

 

At about 30:00, Michael lays out events and people who helped him find his writing voice and skill and community 

 

At about 32:00, Michael highlights moments that convinced him of his love for poetry 

 

At about 34:00, Michael highlights John Bramingham and others who helped him learn about the publication process

 

At about 35:30, A Mic and Dim Lights is highlighted as a open mic spot that fostered Michael’s skills and confidence

 

At about 37:00, Pete asks about the transition from student to teacher/mentor for Michael, as Michael shouts out UC Riverside and Freddy Lopez

 

At about 40:10, Pete asks Michael about “Stop Looking My Name Like That” and ideas of the speaker as the poet

 

At about 42:40, Michael describes “writing in resistance” to conversations had at a conference he attended

 

At about 44:30, Pete talks about his favorite scene in moviedom, and its connections to innocence and nostalgia and Michael’s writing

 

At about 45:30, Pete quotes some dynamite lines and asks Michael about ideas of identity

 

At about 49:30, Michael analyzes a profound line and connects it to memory and nostalgia 

 

At about 51:00, Michael discusses community and connections to a “transaction” and the moving (no pun intended) poem “Push”

 

At about 52:10, Michael gives background on his father and perspectives on his dad’s background and its connection to their relationship

 

At about 54:15, ideas of masculinity are explored through standout lines, including “Down” and its three iterations 

 

At about 56:45, Michael talks about “masks” and tough exteriors and acting tough as ways of getting by and not getting “clowned”

 

At about 58:45, Michael gives background on an interesting and fitting phrase he uses in his poetry

 

At about 1:00:25, Pete and Michael discuss a tender line from “Down/II” as Michael gives background on the line as a mix of moments in his life

 

At about 1:03:30, Michael discusses ideas of youth valuing themselves as touched upon in his work

 

At about 1:05:20, Pete highlights a line from the collection that is representative of the whole

 

At about 1:07:00, Pete asks about Michael’s community of writers and who moves him in 2022; Michael cites Willie Perdomo, Mary Szybist and “Incarnadine,” Patricia Smith, Paul Tran, Dustin Pearson, Emily Yoon, Chris McCormick, Eduardo Corral, and Chen Chen

 

At about 1:09:10, Michael reads from “Down/I”

 

At about 1:15:00, Michael reads Part VI and X of “Elegy Roll Call”

 

At about 1:17:00, Michael details upcoming projects

 

At about 1:21:00, Michael gives out social media/contact info

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The intro song for The Chills at Will Podcast is “Wind Down” (Instrumental Version), and the other song played on this episode was “Hoops” (Instrumental)” by Matt Weidauer, and both songs are used through ArchesAudio.com.

    Please tune in for Episode 122 with Sonora Reyes, the author of the forthcoming contemporary young adult novel, THE LESBIANA'S GUIDE TO CATHOLIC SCHOOL. They write fiction full of queer and Latinx characters in a variety of genres, with current projects in both kidlit and adult categories. Sonora is also the creator and host of the Twitter chat #QPOCChat, a monthly community-building chat for queer writers of color.

    The episode will air on May 10.