.Writers.on.Writing.
Get to know our authors, the foundation and heart of Yellow Arrow Journal, and what writing means to them through our monthly series.
.W.o.W. #37
Kamella Bird-Romero
What does your inner writing voice tell you?
To never sell myself short. My writing muse is much more confident than regular me, and she carries far more potential than I am aware of. Writing is an out-of-body, almost spiritual practice. The places I visit, the worlds I create, are like dreams and reality meeting for tea.
As a writer, what would you choose as your mascot/avatar/spirit animal?
An otter! I adore how carefully otter mothers care for their young. They groom them and float with them as their protectors. I consider each poem, each story, like a child. I cannot choose a favorite, and I am fiercely protective. I am hesitant to ever say something is complete, because words are fluid and forever evolving.
Describe an early experience where you learned that language has power.
My father’s first language is Tewa, followed by Spanish, then thirdly English. He is called upon to speak for our family in times of prayer and gratitude. His words carry heavy sounds and meaning and there is nothing more comforting than listening to my father speak our Indigenous tongue.
My village greatly needs a collection of Indigenous language books for our youth. Tewa is slowly dying out and our children need resources to rekindle it. This is a project I plan to undertake.
Kamella is the first .W.o.W. featured author from Yellow Arrow Journal, Vol. VII, No. 1, UpSpring with her poem “short leather.” She was born in northern New Mexico in 1991 and resides on her Tewa ancestral lands in Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo with her three children.
She graduated in May 2022 from the Institute of American Indian Arts with her BFA in creative writing as a first-generation college graduate for her family.
She writes for her Tewa people and for the grandmothers before her.
Find her on Instagram @kamella_renee19.