Interview with Melinda Palacio. Sunday, February 26th, 2012.

22: Daniel and guest co-host Sasha Pimentel-Chacon talk with Melinda Palacio, author of “Ocotillo Dreams” and “Folsom Lockdown.” Palacio talks about her upcoming collection of poems, “How Fire is a Story Waiting,” and how a visit to her estranged father in prison inspired the poetry chapbook, “Folsom Lockdown.”

The Poem of the Week was written by, and is ready by, Melinda Palacio – “Abluela’s Higuera.”

Writer & educator Oscar Bermeo contributes to this week’s Poetic License, with a reflection on why he cannot label himself a “Latino writer.”



Melinda Palacio grew up in South Central Los Angeles and now lives in Santa Barbara and New Orleans. She also writes a Friday column for La Bloga.com. Palacio holds two degrees in Comparative Literature, a B.A. from Berkeley and an M.A. from UC Santa Cruz. Melinda is a 2007 PEN Center USA Emerging Voices Rosenthal Fellow and a 2009 alum of the Squaw Valley Community of Writers. Her poetry chapbook, Folsom Lockdown, won Kulupi Press’ Sense of Place cash prize and publication, Spring 2010. Her work has been published in a wide variety of journals and anthologies, including the Arizona Republic, BorderSenses, the East Valley and Scottsdale Tribune, Phoenix Magazine, Sage Trail Poetry Magazine, Buffalo Carp, Black Renaissance Noire, the Valley Voice, PALABRA: a Magazine of Chicano/Latino Literary Art, Poets and Artists, the Maple Leaf Rag III and IV, La Bloga, Askew Poetry Journal, Latinos in Lotus Land: an Anthology of Contemporary Southern California Literature, Poets of the American West, Strange Cargo, El Tecolote, San Pedro River Review, Pilgrimage Magazine, Quercus Review, Eleven Eleven, the Mas Tequila Review, Hinchas de Poesia, the San Diego Poetry Annual, and Southern Poetry Anthology. Arizona State University’s Bilingual Review Press published her first novel, Ocotillo Dreams, Summer 2011. She enjoys public speaking and sharing her knowledge of writing and publishing through workshops, lectures, and panels. Tia Chucha Press will publish her full length poetry book, How Fire Is A Story, Waiting, Fall 2012.

Interview with R. Zamora Linmark. Sunday, February 5th, 2012.

19: Ben & Daniel talk with R. Zamora Linmark, author of the novel “Leche” and the poetry collection “Drive By Vigils.” Linmark talks about why “Leche” is only partly autobiographical, and about his struggles in getting the novel published. He also touches on the influence that Frank O’Hara had on his poetry.

The Poem of the Week is by this week’s guest, R. Zamora Linmark. Daniel Chacon reads “Sunday Morning” from the collection “Drive By Vigils.”

And in this week’s Poetic License, Sasha Pimentel-Chacon examines “unexpected etymologies” and the purpose of different languages in poetry & speech.

Interview with CD Wright. Sunday, January 22nd, 2012.

17: Ben & Daniel talk with poet CD Wright, who talks about how her poetry has changed over the years. She also talks about “One with Others,” a tribute to a friend that became the closest thing to a real novel she has ever written.

The poem of the week is by Jose Luis Borges, read by Daniel Chacon. “Argumentum Ornitologicum” comes from “El Hacedor.”

In this week’s Poetic License, Sasha Pimentel-Chacon explores the differences between poetry and prose, and why line breaks in poetry are so important.

Holiday edition with UTEP Creative Writing Faculty. Sunday, December 25th, 2011.

13: It’s a special Holiday Edition of “Words on a Wire.” The faculty from the University of Texas at El Paso Creative Writing Department has gathered in the studio to share their holiday reflections.

Jeff Sirkin talks about his first experience with Christmas as a Jew.

Rosa Alcalá talks about why she is reconsidering her holiday traditions now that she has a daughter.

José de Piérola reads “Noche Buena,” which tells of how he celebrated Noche Buena in Perú and how his beliefs evolved over the years.

Sasha Pimentel Chacón shares her memories of trying to fly to Buenos Aires from Paris on Christmas Eve.

In “Santa’s Big Helper,” Lex Williford shares his memories of being a young boy at Christmastime after the death of his baby brother, and how it relates to his experience as an older father to young children.

ONLINE EXCLUSIVE: Benjamín Alire Saenz shares his early memories of Christmas and why the holiday means more to him later in life.

AND, In “Mr. Microphone,” Daniel Chacón shares a mall-shopping Christmas memory and why it had an impact on him and how he celebrates the holiday.