A Conversation with Emma Trelles

Institute for Latino Studies

Available on-demand

From Miami’s neon car culture to Santa Barbara’s mountain dreams, Poet Laureate Emma Trelles explores the “bones-deep” honesty of her work, Courage and the Clock. Discover her transition from journalist to literary activist, the strategic necessity of paying artists, and her powerful rejection of perfectionism in this oral history interview, conducted by Letras Latinas associate and writer Cloud Cardona.

Will you be on campus in October 2026? Join Emma Trelles and fellow poet Alexandra Lytton Regalado for Now You See It: Ekphrastic Poetry Workshop at the Raclin Murphy Museum of Art on Saturday, October 3, 2026 from 1:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. In this creative writing workshop, you’ll practice looking and writing more deeply through the lens of color in abstract and figurative works. For more information and to register for the workshop, please visit the Raclin Murphy Museum of Art website.

The poets will also be utilizing their joint poets-in-residency sponsored by the Raclin Murphy Museum of Art and Letras Latinas to conduct research in the Museum’s galleries in order to create new ekphrastic poetry. Join us for Poets & Art with Emma Trelles and Alexandra Lytton Regalado, a public talk and live poetry reading engaging works of art from the Museum’s permanent collection, on Tuesday, March 23, 2027 at 5:30 p.m. Special guest Richard Blanco, U.S. inaugural poet for President Barack Obama, will provide the introduction. Poets & Art is a partner program of the 2027 Notre Dame Arts Biennial and is supported with funding from the Notre Dame Arts Initiative, as well as funding from Letras Latinas, the Raclin Murphy Museum of Art, and the James R. Wilson Fund for Excellence.

For more information on Letras Latinas at the Institute for Latino Studies, please visit the Letras Latinas website.

From Tropicalia to Courage and the Clock

Trelles deconstructs the thirteen-year gap between her landmark collection Tropicalia and her newest work, Courage and the Clock, as a period of profound internal maturation. Moving away from the “black top hat” of industry ambition, she describes a “sparrow-like” process—building her latest collection “one tiny twig at a time.” This shift signifies a move toward a “bones-deep” commitment to authenticity. For Trelles, the goal is no longer a sterile, unreachable perfection but a rigorous honesty. She frames the moment of completion not as a final polish, but as a truthful reflection of the self at a specific point in time.

The Soundscapes of Poetry

Trelles’s aesthetic is inextricably linked to music, though she has strategically evolved its application. While earlier work relied on pop-culture icons like Jane’s Addiction and Billy Bragg, her recent poetry moves toward abstract “soundscapes” of chords and notes to ensure timelessness. She notes that her early experience songwriting was “liberating” because it lacked the heavy ambition she initially attached to poetry. A key technical insight is her use of the tilde (~) in the poem “O to Stevie.” Trelles views the character as a visual “bell and horn” that emulates the “twirling” performance aesthetic of Stevie Nicks, migrating the poem’s rhythm between the past and the present.

Ecological Shifts and the Subconscious

Geography serves as a primary catalyst for Trelles’s professional and creative evolution. She contrasts the “car culture” of Miami—defined by the grinding anxiety of I-95, the “highway of death”—with the restorative stillness of Santa Barbara. This transition from a high-speed urban environment to a walkable, mountain-adjacent town fundamentally altered her subconscious. Trelles describes a “funnel” where the mountains began appearing in her dreams before they ever entered her poems. This geographic shift allowed her to move from the frantic pace of South Florida journalism to a slower, more deliberate rhythm as a poet and artist.

Literary Citizenship and Activism

Trelles leverages her role as a cultural leader to institutionalize fair compensation for artists. During her ten-year tenure with the “Mission Poetry Series,” she established a strict mandate: no reading would occur unless the poets were paid. By securing city grants and Academy of American Poets fellowships, she ensured stipends ranging from $300 to $500 per artist. Her “literary activism” also includes founding the bilingual “Alta California Prize.” Trelles highlights the profound impact of this work through the poet Crystal AC Sallis, whose bilingual collection allowed Sallis’s Spanish-speaking grandmother to finally read her granddaughter’s work—bridging a critical generational and linguistic divide.

How should a professional balance personal creative output with community responsibilities? Trelles champions a “people first” philosophy. By prioritizing human relationships and community needs over rigid production quotas, she argues that artists can sustain a long-term career that remains grounded in real-world relevance and emotional health.
What is the most effective method for determining when a long-term project is complete? Seek the “Gong of Truth.” Trelles credits her long-time friend, Alex, with providing the external validation needed to silence her internal critic. Recognizing when a project is “done” rather than “perfect” is a strategic necessity for moving toward new creative frontiers.
How can one manage the paralyzing effects of perfectionism in a professional setting? Systematically push back against the myth of the flawless creator. Trelles views the acknowledgment of being a “flawed being” as a liberating strategy, allowing for the release of work that is resonant and authentic rather than endlessly revised into sterility.
What does “literary citizenship” look like when translated into concrete action? It requires a commitment to the financial validation of labor. Trelles’s refusal to host unpaid readings and her success in securing $300-$ 500 stipends for poets demonstrates that advocating for funding is an essential form of activism that sustains the cultural ecosystem.
Why is the cultivation of solitude a functional requirement for high-level work? Stillness is the required environment for the subconscious “funnel” to process experience into art. Trelles argues that while community provides support, the actual act of making requires a deliberate retreat into solitude to access one’s most authentic and original voice.

“The people in my life take precedence over my Writing Practice… people first always.” (Reflecting on the hierarchy of values that sustains a healthy creative career). — Emma Trelles.
“Afterwards is when ambition puts on its like black top hat and shows up and says what are you going to do with it… but when I’m actually in the [act] of making it I’m really not thinking about anything.” (Explaining the tension between the pure act of creation and the pressures of the marketplace). — Emma Trelles.
“With age comes distance and also kind of a sense of safety… I’m able to now kind of look back and write about those things with the clarity that’s offered only by time.” (Analyzing how temporal distance allows for the safe exploration of previously painful experiences). — Emma Trelles.
“My new frontier is to sort of push back against perfectionism… and just realize that I’m a flawed being and everything I make is going to be flawed.” (Defining a shift in artistic philosophy toward embracing imperfection as a final state). — Emma Trelles.
“Cultivating Solitude is huge for making art… I think it’s really important to have Stillness and I don’t think it’s possible to make it without it.” (Emphasizing the functional necessity of quietude in the creative process). — Emma Trelles.