Bio: 

Manuel Iris (Mexico, 1983). Mexican Poet living in the United States. Poet Laureate Emeritus of the City of Cincinnati, Ohio (2018-2020). He received the “Merida” National award of poetry (Mexico, 2009) for his book Notebook of dreams, and the Rodulfo Figueroa Regional award of poetry for his book The disguises of fire (Mexico, 2014). 

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Interview with Manuel Iris

By: Helen McCormick

Interview:

-How do you think teaching at a school like DePaul Cristo Rey affects your writing?

My students are my most important teachers. I learn from their stories, their youth, and their candid wisdom. I am very thankful for the opportunity of learning from them while sharing with them my own experiences.

-In what ways do your students, wife and child inspire your work?

I believe that every poem is, in a certain way, a love poem, because I only write about what I love. And they (my wife, child, family, students, friends) are incarnations of what I love. They are, also, the reason why the world is, at the same time, wonderful and scary. It is wonderful because they are in it, and scary because evil, ignorance, and hate is around them. Sometimes, literature comes from the space between despair and hope. 

-Does anyone else in your family write or are you a first-generation writer?

 I am the only one so far. I was an anomaly in my family (a happy one, I hope).

-I find it incredibly fascinating that you are a high school teacher and an extremely accomplished poet. How do you find balance between them?

 It is not easy. I try to make these two worlds merge in the classroom. I believe in literature, not as an occupation, but as a form of life. I am a writer while I teach, and my students are aware of that.

-You mentioned during your reading at UC Clermont that your first draft is normally in Spanish and then you revise in English; is that process difficult or do you find it relaxing in some ways?

 It is not a relaxing process at all, but it is gratifying. I get to read my poem very, very closely while I translate it. I have to stop in every single word. It is a lot of work, sometimes very puzzling, but I do enjoy the result.

-What initially pushed you to start writing poetry? Has your muse changed throughout the years?

Since I was very young, I’ve been interested in translating feelings, emotions, and thoughts into words. I care about the possibility of saying what is usually silent. I was very young, 15 years old or so, when I decided that poetry was going to be a central part of my life.

About my muse: yes. It has changed a lot throughout the years, because I have changed, too. I am not the same poet I was when I was in my twenties, and my interest and perspectives on life are not the same.

-How do you think the pandemic has effected your writing, if at all?

In short, the pandemic radicalized my need to talk about what I love. To keep those memories in the face of imminent (or at least possible) death or oblivion. I have always had these preoccupations, but they seem to be more urgent, less abstract, in a pandemic world.

-Are you currently working on anything?

I am working on a couple of projects: one anthology, a new book of poems, and some essays. Of course, there are always events, poetry readings, and other kinds of public engagements. However, I try to always keep time and space for quiet reading and writing.