We were lucky to catch up with Richard Vargas recently and have shared our conversation below.

Richard, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?

I believe any form of Art is part of a life-force or energy that has been in existence long before our early ancestors started making attempts to walk upright. We are merely the vessels used to expand it:

Typewriter #1

read this
read it and feel
what it does to you
letters become words
words become lines
then stanzas
it vibrates on the page
it is shiny and you want to touch it
go ahead slide your fingers
across this paper
let it infect you
it takes up a space
somewhere inside
carry it and touch
someone and watch them
feel it too
this is how it works
leaping across
from one to another
a cell dividing

we are the conduit
finally knowing
our purpose
the “why”
we are
here

We are born with Art in our heart, flowing in our veins. As children we sing, dance, pretend, paint, sculpt, all under the label of “play.” In reality, it is a vital part of who we are. The capitalist society we live in pulls us aside and tells us if we can’t sell it, make money from it, then we have to find something else, another pursuit that will generate income. It’s called “growing up.” Many of us put aside the part of ourselves that wants to create and make. It has created a dysfunctional streak in this country which cripples its potential.

I wanted to draw and paint. I loved to sing. I read Ray Bradbury and H.G. Wells at a very early age and was inspired to write. My imagination was constantly working whenever I played with my collection of plastic dinosaurs. But the event that traumatized me and could have discouraged me if I’d let it, happened when I was in the 4th grade. I was on the glee club for the Christmas program at Mark Keppel Elementary. One morning during practice, the music director stopped us in mid-song as she studied us with a steady gaze. Then she started to play the piano as we picked up where we had left off. She stopped playing again, looked directly at me and said, “Richard, just move your lips.” It was a slap in the face, and I did as I was told, and to this day I don’t sing.

Poetry found me when I’d read the poems in our 4th grade reader, the anthology of stories and literature we read together as a class during the school year. The poems sang, the language was musical. Poetry returned my voice. Art reached out to me, and I’ve embraced it ever since. I never made a living as a poet, every job I ever had (and there have been many) was just a way to pay the rent and put food on the table. I never identified with my employment, I knew who and what I was.

I salute those who make a living with their art. But for every one of them, there a hundred of us who are just as deserving, and continue to create and make because it is who and what we are.

Richard, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

As an undergrad during the 1970s at Cal State University, Long Beach, I decided to publish and edit my own poetry magazine. I took a semester of independent study and my faculty supervisor gave me the green light. I wanted a platform that would emphasize the poem, more than the poet. I developed my mantra, “It’s all about the poem,” and continue to use it as my personal identifier to this day. I published unknown poets next to those who had already developed an audience.

I did the cover art and solicited submissions at a time when snail mail was all we had to promote and get the word out. I mailed flyers to all the creative writing MFA programs at the time, as well as other small press literary journals. I had a friend who had a small press. He helped design the layout. I did five issues, and to this day I will come across issues of The Tequila Review listed on those rare and collectible book sites.

I renewed the project in 2010 while enrolled in the creative writing MFA program at the University of New Mexico. This time around I had access to publishing services on the internet. A friend designed a template I could use as a way of skipping the costly publishing design services offered. I would put the contents together, submit to the publishing service, and after a few tweaks, the issue would appear online. It was published on demand, making for a smooth and easy process. The internet made it easy to solicit and locate poets, and I relied on social media to promote The Mas Tequila Review. I edited 12 issues and I am very proud of the network of poets across the country I was able to publish and bring to the attention of the reading public. An artist has an obligation to serve, and this was my way of giving back. I never made a profit, but relied on donations and support from other poets who appreciated my contribution to our art.

I put down my publisher/editor hat to concentrate on my writing, and between 2005 and 2023 I’ve had five collections of poetry published.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

I feel that the ego is mostly a bad thing in the creative process. The mentality of “look at what I made,” “Buy my new book,” “Watch me! Listen to me! I did this!” can become obsessive. I watch my peers do this and can only shake my head. I, myself, wrestle with it, so I know first-hand how it can detract from and diminish the art. I hate the aspects of self-promotion, even though I know it is necessary. If a small press publisher believes in my poetry and publishes it, the least I can do is help promote the book. But I also feel our best work happens when we put the ego aside and let the art flow through us, using us to expand itself. That is art in its purest form. I recognize this and struggle to achieve that mental and spiritual state whenever I sit down and stare at the blank screen in front of me.

But one of the most enjoyable aspects of getting published is taking part in poetry readings. The times when I can stand before an audience (from one to 400, it doesn’t matter) is always a magical moment for me. The connecting energy that appears out of nowhere is addictive. During the summers of 2022 and 2023, I asked friends to help organize readings in their city and I reached out to independent bookstores who might be interested in hosting a traveling poet. During the course of 8 weeks, I drove throughout the Southwest and gave readings from New Mexico to So. California. Some of the events paid a small stipend, some did not. I sold books, reconnected with old friends and made new ones. The entire book tour was paid for on my own dime, and when friends graciously offered a place to stay or a meal to share, I gained an appreciation for the human connections we make because of art.

I will also add that the pandemic required us to come up with new ways to reach an audience, and I participated in several Zoom poetry readings in an attempt to share my work with a live audience. Although not the same as facing an audience in person, I gained an appreciation for what technology allowed us to do.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

Once I embraced poetry, I began to see it as a part of myself that was always present. My senses were attuned and enhanced. There is a constant state of awareness that is applied to something as simple as waiting in the check out line at the grocery store, or sitting in rush hour traffic, or watching bees collect pollen in my garden. I like to tell stories through my poems, so my narratives became more accessible as I used imagery and metaphors that were relatable to a reader on the street, as well as the reader in the classroom.

My body, the physical self, gives me a sense of presence. But it is raw. Poetry provides the means to interpret and measure my interaction with my surroundings; both the natural and the manmade. Art plugs me in, turns me on.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.richardvargaspoet.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/richardvargas_poet/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100027699066543
• Other: Email: picodegallo54@yahoo.com

Image Credits

My best photos are on my phone or Facebook, which this app does not allow me to use as a source. I would prefer to send photos via email, using my phone.