Meet Alex Moreno of Los Feliz

Today we’d like to introduce you to Alex Moreno. Her debut poetry book, Sticky Time (Sunflower Station Press) is out November 15th, and you can pre-order it here: https://sunflowerstationpress.com/product/sticky-time/.

Hi Alex, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Writing has always been how I’ve processed life. There’s just too much piled up inside me otherwise. And I’ve always loved abstraction. In college I studied creative writing through short stories, but I loved to experiment in form. I consistently found myself writing poetry; it gave me the satisfaction of finishing. It’s always good during a longer project to have something more tangible to complete. During the writing of “Sticky Time”, I was trudging to the end of my first novel. So the poems were a coping mechanism. I could look at a poem and be like okay, here is the most synthesized version of how I feel right now, how I’m experiencing the world. And then I could carry on.

I moved to Los Angeles in 2021, and it took me a couple years to find the creative community that makes up my life today. But on one ~fateful~ night in 2024, I put in my name for Sunflower Station Press’ first (and only (since then)) open mic. At the time, I was having a bit of a psychosomatic breakdown, and needed to process that experience in words. So, poetry. That night, I read three poems and I met a community of writers who love and support each other in ways I’d never seen. It’s beautiful, and I feel so grateful that they welcomed me into their world. I started doing more readings with the press and after that, I began editing their Substack newsletter. When it came time for them to acquire a new book, they asked if I had any ideas, and I pitched “Sticky Time” the next week.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Ohhhh there are always struggles! That’s what all writing is about…there has to be the difficult, the thing to push up against, move past, process, accept. These poems began in a melty summer. I got depressed, and this caused the most intense and long-lasting eczema flare of my life, for which I refused to seek treatment. So I wrote. I made stuff up. I scattered nouns and verbs and looked at the world through this messy, leaky kaleidoscope. But as the months went on, I found turning points. I moved, I focused on my friends, my writing, nature, god stuff. And I went to the dermatologist.

Then there was the struggle of getting the poems published. Individually and as a collection, the rejections rolled in month after month. There were little glimmers along the way, presses that got what I was going for. But I really had to practice patience to get the book published. That’s why I’m so grateful for Sunflower Station. Not only have they created such a beautiful community of writers in LA, but they really believed in me, and for that I’m eternally thankful.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I always talk about my work as a tool for emotional processing, which is pretty much just a tool for living. I’m obsessed with surrealism – giving shape and language to the unconscious. Something about holding your own body in your hands, understanding it as simultaneously at one and apart from your “self”. My work has a lot of body stuff in it. Fingernails, blisters, organs. Maybe it’s a little grotesque. Absurd. I like asking absurd questions. It’s an absurd world. And I like expressing chaos. Everything’s coated with a hyper-modern feel. There’s also a level of earnestness in my work. I love a lot. Maybe that’s rare. I’d like for it not to be.

I was also painting for a lot of the time I was writing “Sticky Time.” My paintings all feature abstract figures (humans and plants mostly), interacting with each other, or with facets of the spirit world. I have a deep belief in the connection between all living things, and it was interesting to explore that in a visual medium. I think the paintings inform the poems, and the poems inform the paintings. Like I said, I take a lot of inspiration from the Surrealists, and that translates to both my writing and my art. That’s where the absurd, spiritual elements come into in my work, I think. There’s a lot of play.

Networking and finding a mentor can have such a positive impact on one’s life and career. Any advice?
Go to as many events as possible, talk to as many people as possible, and follow up with them! Invite them to another event. Start an interest group or working group. I’ve been a part of two writing/critique groups since moving to LA, and they’re all with people I’ve met at readings. Mentors and peers. I think that because writing is such a solitary act, a lot of writers are excited to share a space and exchange their work.

I also suggest taking a class, attending a lecture (libraries have awesome, free programming!) and talking to the host after the event. Ask questions, ask what they’re working on, what book they’re reading, if they have any other events coming up. And find a way to follow up. Be genuinely interested in whatever you’re talking about. Sincere connection is infinitely better than anything contrived.

Pricing:

• “Sticky Time” is $25

Contact Info:

• Website: https://alexalexherehere.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alexhere.ok/
• Other: https://thoughtjuice.substack.com/

Image Credits
Paasha Motamedi, Anastasia Duchess