We were lucky to catch up with MJ Gomez recently and have shared our conversation below.

MJ, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

I started pursuing poetry seriously in freshman year of university—what kickstarted my growth was developing a genuine love for the craft, then honing that love into a natural work process. I’d read deeply into one poet I admired while searching up all their interviews and readings on YouTube, then compare my own ideas against theirs. For instance, I spent months with Ocean Vuong’s debut, Night Sky with Exit Wounds, reading the collection while listening to him discuss his work and craft. The time I spent with Vuong’s work imparted many ideas that make up my own core philosophy as a poet: I believe poetry is inherently an act of kindness, and that the subject is made into an object of beauty through the care put into its depiction.

This long and often obsessive process was immensely generative for me, as it naturally shaped my voice as a poet through bringing out new ideas and methods of expression. It may be cliche advice, but I try to write poetry that I like. Honing the craft is easier if it’s through a method I already resonate with. In practice, I’d try to apply an element of another poet’s work into my own—a certain literary device or turn of phrase—not as a form of imitation but of integrating another voice into my poetry.

On the topic of integration, I also want to say that stagnancy is a common pitfall for emerging poets. You’ve got a small pool of inspiration, but it never expands. At times, I’d unknowingly pigeonhole myself by thinking that I have to write a certain way, or perhaps that I couldn’t phrase a line a certain way because I feared it’d read as cliche—eventually, I’d burn out and plateau. To remedy this, I try to regularly challenge my standards for literature. What do I enjoy? Why do I dislike a certain way of writing? Despite my personal dislike, what does this style have to offer?

By keeping an open mind and not letting one’s ideas and processes stagnate, a poet’s work is never done.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I’m MJ Gomez, a Filipino poet based in Saudi Arabia. My debut chapbook, Love Letters from a Burning Planet, came out with Variant Literature in late 2023, and tackles issues of faith, masculinity, and the nature of human devotion. I began compiling Love Letters in 2022, pulling together poems I’d written in that year, while also writing new work to round out the collection. This work was driven by a very personal grief at the time, and aims to convey that sense of living through great loss and change through various shifting angles in the poetics; not every poem is inspired by the same muse, per se, but they all come together to circle around the same core emotion.

In my work, I also want to create ample space for doubt and discussion, instead of treating issues of faith in black and white. I’m proud of that separation in Love Letters, and the poems that followed; many poems of mine circle doubt and confusion, but aren’t necessarily aimed toward the God I believe in. Instead, I want to express the limitations of the human mind: our incomplete perception of reality, and our often conditional and transactional kindnesses. Human mercy is all too fraught compared to the idea of an all-forgiving, all-loving God, and that tension is something I want to delve into in following projects.

Additionally, I also volunteer for a number of independent publications! I’ve worked with Healthline Zine, the Cloudscent Journal, and the Renaissance Review. In a field full of elitism and paywalls, I’ve found an incredibly warm and accepting space in these magazines, which are largely youth-led, but ambitious as any other established publisher. As an editor, I try to highlight craft choices rather than personal taste when providing feedback, as I unfortunately can’t spend time with each and every submitter. I focus on the structure of individual lines, and try to bring out a writer’s voice rather than attempting to name any of their creative choices as objectively good or bad. I’m really grateful for this work, as it’s allowed me to read widely and deeply, and also taught me to extend to myself the grace I give others.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

Being a poet has absolutely shaped my outlook on life. It’s allowed me a very accepting space to express visceral emotion, and also untangle the complexities within my subconscious. I’ve learned many transferable skills from my writing practice, including a very flexible and associative thought process. If a certain device isn’t working, I’m able to find a different angle of expression. I spend a lot of time drafting and redrafting, attempting to bring out my subconscious obsessions, then tempering them with the knowledge of craft gleamed from my inspirations.

I think of a quote from Andrea Cohen, who advises young poets “to have both humility and hubris. And the good sense to know when each should be employed.” To be an emerging poet within a modern literary canon urges one to call established poets their peers in thought, but also asks of us to remain humble and open to new ideas from anywhere. Even a poet you dislike may have something you can learn from. I believe that combination of “humility and hubris” is invaluable in any field, literary or otherwise.

However, I ultimately have to say that community is the most rewarding aspect of being a poet. The stereotype of the lonely starving creative is largely untrue. I’ve fostered many close relationships through the literary community, and received much treasured warmth from poets I admire. I believe poetry is as much a communal act as much as it is a single person putting words on a page. Trusted friends and mentors play such an instrumental role in a poet’s journey, through the warmth, inspiration, and guidance they offer.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

A few months ago, I was in a total rut with my poems, feeling completely uninspired, yet paradoxically disdainful of poets I disliked. I had built a resentment of the “teen poet” style, feeling that it forced young creatives into exotifying themselves and their upbringings for a chance at recognition from a major writing institution.

However, that resentment bled over into certain stylistic choices as well. I’d started preventing myself from using certain phrases or words, like starting a sentence with “Because”, or the phrase “which is to say”. Petty, I know. That state of mind proved to be pointless, and extremely damaging in the end; I realized I was restricting myself from a totally free expression, and not letting myself write what I had to write. After reexamining my relationship to poetry, I had to let go of my budding resentment and elitism in order to grow as a creative.

I forced myself to write a number of poems using the very devices I had grown to dislike, and thus began to cultivate a healthier and more open mindset in my work. The work is not done, nor will it ever be, but the progress made during the work is what counts most.

Contact Info:

• Twitter: @bluejayverses
• Other: Purchase Love Letters from a Burning Planet: https://variantlit.com/product/love-letters/ Most recent publication: https://heroinchic.weebly.com/blog/poetry-by-mj-gomez

Image Credits
Cover Artist: Anna Papadopoulou