119. The Poet’s role w/ Anaheim Poet Laureate Camille Hernandez

Daniel Dissinger welcomes the Poet Laureate of Anaheim, Camille Hernandez, to talk about her new book Motherlands, what it means to be Poet Laureate in Anaheim, the impact of poetry and poets, her mission to make poetry accessible to as many people as possible, and how poetry informs, reports, and dismantles. Camille also reads the poem “Overwhelm: A Colonial Swarm” from her book Motherlands which leaves Daniel speechless. This is one of those episodes of Writing Remix that reminds us of the humanity, pain, grief, dreams, and joy that each person on this planet share. It’s a conversation about reconnection to ancestors through poetry. It’s an episode that teaches and invites, so please share this with your friends, family, and your students.

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Approximate Show Notes

00:00 Introduction and Guest Welcome

01:05 Camille Hernandez’s Background and Cultural Identity

02:08 Exploring Feminism and Womanism

02:36 The Concept of Kapwa Womanist

03:20 Motherlands: The Journey of a Book Title

07:48 The Role of Poetry in Academia and Society

14:46 Becoming the Poet Laureate of Anaheim

19:38 Building and Supporting the Poetry Community

31:39 Motherland: Themes and Inspirations

33:41 Exploring Immigrant Experiences and Motherhood

35:31 Reading ‘Overwhelm: A Colonial Swarm’

37:20 Discussing the Impact of Poetry

46:38 The Writing Process and Inspirations

51:22 The Role of Poetry in Social Commentary

58:06 Final Thoughts and Reflections

People, Texts & Podcasts Mentioned in the Episode

• Toni Morrison
• bell hooks
• All About Love by bell hooks
• Arthur Sze
• The Hero and the Whore: Reclaiming Healing and Liberation through the Stories of Sexual Exploitation in the Bible by Camille Hernandez
• Roots. Wounds. Words. Inc
• The Anaheim Poetry Review
• Wendy Van Camp
• Indie Author Day in Anaheim
• Alligator Alcatraz
• Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paulo Freire
• Yusef Komunyakaa
• Gwendolyn Brooks
• Sonia Sanchez
• Ajanaé Dawkins
• Brittany Rogers
• To Go Without Blinking by Aimee Herman
• Meant To Wake Up Feeling by Aimee Herman

“Make that poem […] give that poem the reflective element that haunts people as they walk away and makes them wanna come back to it.”
-Camille Hernandez

“There is no such thing as a virtuous poet. Um, because we’re all dismantling something somehow. And sometimes what we dismantle aligns and other times. What we dismantle brings us further into chaos. But like if poetry were, if poetry were a pool, it’s just nuance all over, like we swim in the waters of nuance.”
-Camille Hernandez

“I once received a word from a writing mentor who told me that the art of poetry is to mess with language.”
-Camille Hernandez

“The poet’s job really is to, is to use language in a way that frees ourselves of all of the things that dehumanize us.”
-Camille Hernandez

“There are all these types of violences […] One specifically for people who are marginalized is that we remain hidden until some sort of violence exposes our identity. And then what is also truly violent is now we are the ones who are forced to speak up  because we’ve been backed in a corner by those who don’t understand and want to remain committed to misunderstanding but also want to feel good about themselves.”
-Camille Hernandez

“I worked really hard to make poetry fun and accessible and to get it in places where people would not want it to be.”
-Camille Hernandez

“As a poet laureate, I definitely treat this role as grassroots organizing and it’s the only position in government that I know of where you can be in the barrio at the beginning of the day and then have a meeting with the mayor at City Hall at the end of the day.”
-Camille Hernandez

“I feel like books are really tangible messages from our ancestors. Like people are trying to venerate and conjure and I’m like, you can literally go to the public library and get a book.”
-Camille Hernandez

119. The Poet’s role w/ Anaheim Poet Laureate Camille Hernandez

The theme song is “4 am” by Makaih Beats. You can follow the podcast & all social media: Linktree, join the newsletter/Follow Dan’s Medium & Substack for “A Note From Dan”, episode-specific writing prompts, and book recommendations.