“Angels in the Sun”: Five Questions for Ruben Quesada
Dr. Ruben Quesada is a poet who was born in 1976 in Los Angeles, California and currently resides in Chicago, Illinois. He is an instructor at Cedar Crest College and an affiliate faculty member at Antioch University. He has written multiple books, including Brutal Companion, which won a Barrow Street Poetry Prize, 2023 Editors’ Choice, Next Extinct Mammal, Jane/La Segua, and Revelations. He has also served as the editor of Latinx Poetics: Essays on the Art of Poetry, which is an IPPY Gold Medal Award-winning anthology.
His poem “Angels in the Sun,” selected for the 2018 volume of Best American Poetry is my entry point into his work. Its brevity and elegant wording were what first drew my attention; it also contains a plethora of poetic language and techniques, and it manages to combine them in a beautiful and cohesive way. I later looked at a few of Dr. Quesada’s other poems. There was a lot of diversity among them in both style and subject matter, but they all seemed connected. This was why I wanted to make him the subject of my interview.
In your poem “Angels in the Sun,” there appears to be religious references, however a large portion of the poem reads as if it is not talking about some religious context. How did you intend for this poem to be read, with a religious focus, without one, or with a bit of both, and why did you choose this?
“Angels in the Sun” delves into both religious imagery and the exploration of a broader, abstract spiritual journey. I create a balance between the two, where religious references—such as angels and crucifixion imagery—intertwine with the broader experience of transcendence, wonder, and the unknown. The poem suggests the possibility of an encounter with something divine or celestial. Further, even after my mother who flew to the United States, in the summer of 1976 from San Jose, Costa Rica, continued to raise my two older sisters and I as Christians. We attended Sunday school and completed the required Sacraments of Initiation. I did not. This experience makes the spiritual or religious components less rigid and more open to interpretation. I chose this approach because I believe the concept of the divine or otherworldly can feel both intimate and distant simultaneously, much like poetry itself.
Also, in your poem, “Angels in the Sun”, there is the line “blue halo of emerald mountains;/extraordinary, ordinary”. This line creates a vivid and powerful image for me. When you wrote this poem, what did you intend this lines effect to be and why?
This line is intended to evoke a sense of the majestic within the everyday, capturing how we can experience the extraordinary within what may seem ordinary.When I imagine the scenes I depict in my poems, they are as real as anything. The image of a “blue halo” suggests something ethereal or divine, but it’s linked to “emerald mountains,” a very physical, earthly image. I wanted the reader to pause and reflect on how beauty, mystery, and wonder exist in both the mundane and the magnificent. In a sense, it’s about the coalescence of two worlds: the spiritual or cosmic and the earthly. The juxtaposition of “extraordinary” and “ordinary” was intentional to highlight how interconnected these two realms are.
I have noticed a lot of your works have included a Latinx component. How has this culture impacted your works?
My Latin American heritage has influenced how I shape the themes of identity and belonging in my writing. I understand the dualities that come with being part of multiple worlds—class, geographically, culturally, and spiritually. My poetry tries to navigate imagery and language, allowing my cultural background to sharpen the lens of my poetry. At times, my work will incorporate references to history, folklore, or even just the lived experience of negotiating conflict.
Which of your poems best expresses what poetry is to you and why?
Well, “Angels in the Sun” encapsulates much of what poetry means to me because it brings together themes of transcendence, beauty, and ambiguity. Poetry, to me, is about creating space for multiple conversations and emotions to coexist, which I believe this poem does. It’s a form of communication that transcends the literal and the logical, moving into a space of contemplation and feeling. Poetry is a way of experiencing the world more deeply, of questioning what lies beyond what we know. “Angels in the Sun” engages with these ideas by exploring the boundaries between the earthly and the celestial, the real and the imagined.
What do you want readers to take away from this poem, your poetry in general, and poetry as a whole?
I want readers to find beauty in unexpected places and to consider different ways of seeing the world. From “Angels in the Sun,” I hope readers leave with a sense of wonder and reflection about the intersection of the known and the unknown, the spiritual and the physical. My poetry often aims to encourage readers to think beyond their immediate reality and consider what lies just outside of their perception, whether that’s in the form of beauty, mystery, or even uncertainty.
For my poetry in general, I hope readers feel invited to explore emotions and experiences in ways that are personal but also connected to larger, universal themes. For poetry as a whole, I believe it has the power to transform how we see the world, how we connect with others, and how we understand ourselves. I want readers to engage with poetry not just intellectually but emotionally and spiritually.