Poets of Bodie: Elijah Mendoza

Elijah Rene Mendoza, a graduate of Vanderbilt University and the University of California, Riverside, was born and raised in Waco, Texas. His work has appeared in Askew Poetry Journal, Acentos Review, Rio Grande Review, and is forthcoming in the New Mexico Poetry Review. He is the former poetry editor of CRATE literary journal. Some of his favorite authors are Richard Ford, W.B. Yeats, Jared Diamond, and Barbara Fields. Currently he teaches in the English Department at Baylor University, reads for 5th Wednesday Journal, and edits The Houston Literary Review.

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I was born and raised here in Waco, Texas. I’m not sure if I’d call it home exactly, but it’s nice to be in a familiar place again. I’m primarily a formal poet though I often write in free verse. I’m passionate about social history and inequality, the Dallas Cowboys, prize fighting, the craft of writing in all genres, and self improvement. I have a particular interest in violence in Hispanic culture and also write about place.

I think the Bodie project is interesting because I typically write in first person and enjoy persona poems. I also have an active and continuing interest in history. I genuinely enjoy research and study, so writing about Bodie should give me the opportunity to do both.