"Your Past Life Doesn’t Define You: An Interview with Donato Martinez" by Trinity Santillan

MORIA takes pride in accepting literature that relates to life, showcasing poems based on personal experiences and allowing the public to feel that connection between writer and reader. One such poet is Donato Martinez, who has recently been published by the Los Angeles-based El Martillo Press and has created poetry that reflects a personal journey of overcoming difficulties and traumas in his early life.
Martinez was born in a small pueblo in Zacatecas, Mexico, and immigrated to the US at a young age, and this status plays a significant role in shaping his perspective and the themes he explores in his work. He teaches English Composition, Literature, and Creative Writing at Santa Ana College and has also taught classes in Chicano Studies. He hosts and curates many artistic events that feature poetry and music at his campus or in the community. As a poet, he writes about his barrio experience, his community, his Chicano culture, bilingual identities, and other complexities of life.
El Martillo Press — with its mission to publish working-class poets who (according to Matt Sedillo, a co-founder of the press) are “deeply connected to their communities, cultures, and life experiences” — provides a platform for voices like Martinez’s. When I spoke to Sedillo, he emphasized that the press is “promoting literary and cultural arts, as well as opening doors to Chicano/Chicana voices,” which aligns with a broader commitment to fostering diversity and inclusivity in the literary world.
When creating his book, Touch the Sky, Martinez had a motivation that propelled him to continue writing, which is that it served as a means of dealing with trauma and has been a source of healing for him. The acknowledgment of past traumas and the refusal to let them define him highlight the resilience and strength in his voice, as in these lines from his poem, “Oranges at My Grandfather’s,” that MORIA is publishing in Issue 12:
Like scavengers we quickly ran to our homes,
out of breath,
and, for a night, we forgot about our sadness
and hid the grief of our own homes,
the scars of our past
the sins of our fathers . . .
The idea that “all the trauma doesn’t have to define me” — not allowing it to hold him down — is a powerful message from Martinez, and it stuck with me.
Martinez also emphasizes the importance of remembering. His analogy that “it's like a fucking high, being above the clouds” shows the sense of euphoria and relief he feels as part of the act of creating. This emotional high, combined with the ability to confront and remember trauma, provides a unique and potent source of inspiration Martinez’s poetry.
In summary, Martinez’s journey of writing, documented in his book, Touch the Sky, has become a therapeutic process for him. It enables him to confront and transcend the difficulties of his past, offering a pathway to healing and personal growth. Lastly, the sense of having the connections to his readers like myself becomes a primary way for Martinez to share his story with the world, making his feelings and experiences in his poetry universal to all.

Trinity santillan

Trinity is a fourth-year Architecture student with a minor in Interior Design. Her favorite color is green. In her free time, you can catch her trying different coffee shops, watching her favorite show, which currently is Desperate Housewives, and discovering new restaurants. She also enjoys the company of family and friends.