Interview With Latina Cop and Poet Sarah Cortez

A proud Bostonian, Sarah Cortez is a cop, poet,draft," I will continue revising the poem. A very
short story writer and editor of thefew poems come together in less than a year.
award-winning nonfiction work, Windows Into MySometimes there will be just one word that isn't
World, a collection of short memoirs written byperfect and it may take years of thinking about it
young authors. She's also the editor of theto find the exact word to fit. I remember poet
anthology, Hit List: The Best of Latino Mystery.Olga Broumas saying for one of her powerful
She was kind enough to take time from her busypoems that it had taken seven years to find the
schedule to answer my questions about herfinal verb that completely and absolutely makes
work, editing, and the creative process.that poem come together.
Thanks for this interview, Sarah. How do youWhat about your process editing short fiction?
combine your personas as cop, poet, freelanceI was first published in short fiction because love
writer and editor when you sit down to write?of it is what led me to begin taking creative
When I sit down to write, the leading persona iswriting courses. In addition, my years of
that of poet. By that, I mean that the foremostexperience editing memoir had given me a lot of
goal - in whatever genre is at hand - is creating aknowledge dealing with those mechanics that the
piece that accomplishes that genre's goal in antwo genres have in common: narrative, pace,
economy of language and an elegant style. Addedtone, dialogue, characterization, moving back and
to this, of course, are considerations of subjectforth in time. I've had no less an author that the
matter and tone - which draw heavily on myamazingly prolific and talented, American Book
experiences as a street police officer. I see theAward winner Joseph Bruchac compliment my
world from a blue collar perspective. This changeediting of his short fiction. I consider editing a
has come about even though I grew up in avehicle for also educating the beginning writer, so I
white collar environment and worked in the whitetry to explain my choices so that a beginning
collar corporate world for fourteen years beforewriter will also be supported in their gaining of
going into policing.additional skills. Typically, an editor does not have
Were you an avid reader as a child?to explain choices to an experienced professional
As a child, I absolutely couldn't wait to learn thewriter - they understand immediately.
magic of letters and words. My mother was aLately you have been conducting workshops for
classroom educator and she started teaching meyoung adults based on your book, Windows Into
letters and words before kindergarten. In fact, IMy World: Latino Youth Write Their Lives. Tell us
remember with great fondness her sewing on hera bit about this book.
sewing machine the binding for books she madeThe original idea for creating an anthology of
for me using the large, beautiful photographs fromshort memoir written by young (high school and
Life magazine. Both my parents read a story withcollege-aged) Latinos came to me because there
me every night before bed - what a treat thatwas nothing on the market. There were plenty of
was! Once I was older I devoured all thebooks with middle-aged Latinos/as writing about
adventure stories in the library.being young, but there was nothing with young
After reading one of your poems, I can't helpLatinos/as writing about being young. (In memoir,
feeling that the 'toughness' required to being athis change in perspective radically affects the
police officer is reflected in your tone andwriting.) Through my own teaching of high school
imagery. Tell us a little about how your creativeLatinos I knew how desperately such a resource
process. Do poems flow out of you in awas needed. One of the greatest joys as I travel
stream-of-consciousness manner? Do you editaround the country meeting with teachers,
and re-edit a lot?librarians, community educators, and graduate
In terms of creative process, this is how I workstudents teaching composition is that they all say,
on poems. The first line will come to me, usually"Thank you! We need this book to help us reach
when I'm doing some mundane, repetitive taskour students."
like driving. I always write it down immediately. It'sWhat's on the horizon for you?
a gift from the subconscious. This first lineThank you for asking about my current projects.
establishes the rhythm of the poem. I call it "theI am collecting writing from police officers to
music of the first line." Later, when I have time Icreate an anthology of voices to tell America who
continue writing the poem, from that first line. Aswe are. Most of the next several months will be
I write, I experiment in the usual way any goodspent traveling to book launch events around the
poet does, e.g. I change line length, stanza length,U.S. for HIT LIST: THE BEST OF LATINO
vocabulary, sentence structure, punctuation, etc.MYSTERY. We have events in New York City,
During this period I am also looking at what theDenver, Texas, California, etc. The positive
poem is trying to become, i.e. the main focus ofresponse to the book is overwhelming. I am also
the poem. After many edits and experiments -still participating in events to help people learn
maybe, at least ten version of the poem - I'll getabout WINDOWS INTO MY WORLD: LATINO
to what I consider a "first draft." This is theYOUTH WRITE THEIR LIVES.
version I will type on the computer and print. (IThank you, Sarah!
do all the previous work by hand.) From this "first