"I went from being a teacher who occasionally wrote poetry and short stories, to a writer with a burning purpose and the ganas to get it down on the page before I die"
The Naturalization
It is November, and I have been Mexican all my life. My cousins saywe are all norte americanos because we are all born on the same continent. I imagine saying this to Rosy and Greta down the street. They will roll their eyes.
Two Blessings
You in my arms a heavy weight, asleep, your light snoring murmuring with the warm hum of the bus engine. We’d escaped. The sun still under its blankets. I watched the gray moonlit signs grow large, then disappear behind the glass windshield. The words and the pictures on the signs— bottles of sodas in all colors, the Sabritas potato chips yellow frightening smile face saying “Open the bag and crunch the chips inside!” The red, white and green signs with big, black letters I could not read.
After the Melanoma
They take small patches of skin
like cornflakes from your forehead.
They leave scalpeled wounds to drain out the sun.
Interviews
With M.J. Fierve at Sliver of Stone Magazine:
September 29. 2012
"Three of Natalia’s poems are featured on Sliver of Stone.
M.J. Fievre: When did you first turn to a creative art?
Natalia O. Trevino: I turned like a slow meat roast. I don’t eat mammals or birds anymore, but this image works to describe a very slow process. It started in third grade, where I was temporarily enrolled at Flour Bluff Elementary in Corpus Christie, Texas. I was given a prompt-card with a giant on it; he was missing a sandal and the small girl next to him looked smart. I was told, “Write. Make up a story.” Even though I had never written anything in my life, I wrote and wrote. The other children finished long before I did, and yet my teacher did not tell me to hurry. I was lost in my story, and when I looked up, there were eight pages. I had created a whole world. The teacher was amazed to see how many pages I had written. She picked them up them with a big, warm smile, and just could not believe what I had done. I never got a chance to read the story back to myself. She never returned those pages to me, not even when I left the school to come back home to San Antonio. To me, that moment meant this: I had the ability to write, and writing had the ability to change my world." More
With Francisco Aragon at Letras Latinas
June 13, 2013
Letras Latinas Blog: First of all, thank you for agreeing to this modest interview. Before we get to the matter at hand—the Macondo Writers’ Workshop prospective re-birth—could you briefly share with the readers ofLetras Latinas Blog what the Macondo Writers’ Workshop is, generally speaking. And more specifically, what it has meant to you?
Natalia Treviño: Francisco, I’m thrilled to share the news we have about the developments about Macondo here in Letras Latinas Blog because I imagine that many of your readers and many Macondo members are already literary siblings, interested in letras, and the life-changing power that these letras have when used in a socially conscious way. It is with awe that I attempt to describe The Macondo Writers’ Workshop and what is has meant to me because it truly did generate a transformation in my life, not only as a writer, but as a person. Generally speaking, the Macondo Writers’ Workshop is a weeklong residency for writers who are socially engaged and committed to changing the world through creative and non-violent means. I can easily compare it to the pace and caliber of an MFA residency, but with special perks that just do not happen in MFA programs. So many members who have their MFA’s from all over the country, have told me the same thing year after year: “I learned more this week than I did in my entire MFA program.” Truly, they say this with a genuine look of astonishment in their new eyes. That look has become the recognizable look of Macondo membership, a look of warmth, disbelief, and relief all mixed into one soft expression. More