Meet Sharon Suzuki-Martinez | Poet and Essayist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Sharon Suzuki-Martinez and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Sharon, can you share a quote or affirmation with us?
“Mystery is the real condition in which we live, not certainty.” –Barry Lopez

This quote inspires me to take risks in my writing life. That could mean writing a poem or essay that might upset readers, or sharing my work in a way that’s outside of my comfort zone. I’m cautious by nature, cautious to the point of constantly imagining worst-case scenarios. Barry Lopez’s quote lets me exchange fear with a reverence for the unknown. What is known is only a glimmer of the all-encompassing mystery we live within. The need for total control is a form of narcissism fueled by fear. Grace is choosing to walk through the dark night of all possibilities, and remembering to bring a flashlight, pen and paper.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
My art allows me to finally take advantage of being a lifelong weirdo. Being the weird quiet kid was not fun! Seriously, my poems, essays, and wildlife photography work together to create my unique worldview. What sets my work apart is a sense of humor alongside a strong belief in social justice, and a love of wildlife (particularly bugs) as well as mythological creatures (like Sasquatch and Mothra). What informs the aforementioned is growing up in Hawaii, and now living in Arizona in an Okinawan-Japanese-Akimel O’odham-Hia-ced O’odham-Chicano household.

My biggest challenge was finding the appropriate journals and presses for my work. I started out when most places only accepted submissions via snail mail and required an SASE or self-addressed stamped envelopes for a response. Most of the time, I never even got my SASE back. I spent months anxiously waiting for letters that never arrived. It took me years to figure out my work does not typically fit into places that focus on women or Asian American writers. That still puzzles me, but also made me look at less obvious facets of my identity that shape my art and seek publishers who I might connect with because of an indirect mutual interest, for example, like entomology. You can easily discover these things by reading the journals and books from presses with who you hope to publish.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
A best friend of mine could expect to be treated to my favorite Valley places: to walk in the desert, browse books, write and chat over coffee, and eat delicious local food. The Desert Botanical Garden is the first place we would go because no matter how hot it gets, it is always revivifying. It’s impossible to take a bad photo there or go away unimpressed by the variety of cacti, wildflowers, birds, ground squirrels, and pollinators. Outside of the DBG, sprawling Papago Park is full of charming smaller desert parks with trails and ponds to explore. I would also take my friend to my favorite bookstore, Changing Hands Books in Tempe because I can always count on an excellent selection of titles, gifts, and good vibes there. Since almost all my friends are writers like me, I would take them to my favorite coffee shop where I have written many of my poems: the cozy Gold Bar Espresso, also in Tempe. And of course I would take visitors to eat at my neighborhood Los Favoritos “immortalized” in my poem, “Taco Shop Haibun.”

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Any writing career is impossible without the generous support of other people. I’m deeply grateful for all the good people in my life who have encouraged me to keep writing through their kind words and actions. I want to thank my husband, David Martínez, a powerhouse scholar and author who has been there for me through all the rejections and acceptances. Thank you to my writing partners who are also dear friends: Karen Rigby, MaryAnn Franta Moenck, Heather Nagami, and Jane Lin. Thank you to Shawnte Orion, Rosemarie Dombrowski, and Sophia McGovern for their hard work in building a warm, flourishing creative community in the Phoenix valley—which initially felt like a literary dead zone when I moved to Tempe from Minneapolis. And thank you to my superhumanly dedicated editors at The Word Works, New Rivers Press, and Rinky Dink Press—because editors are magicians / midwives who can bring a writer’s words to life.

Website: sharonsuzukimartinez.com

Instagram: @sharon.suzuki.martinez