Not since 1959 when Octavio Paz and Samuel Beckett published An
Anthology of Mexican Poetry, has there been a collection which so
thoroughly examines the poetry of the country known for being too far
from God and too close to the United States. Yet, as Elliott Weinberger
writes in his introduction,
Americans know everything about God, but next to nothing about
Mexico--few know that Mexico-particularly when compared to the United
States-is a kind of paradise for poets.
Reversible Monuments introduces this paradise to American readers. It
includes major international writers like Alberto Blanco, Pura Lopez
Colome, and David Huerta, as well as exciting younger poets, and poets
whose work, while well-known in the Spanish-speaking world has not yet
seen publication in English. The twenty-five poets represented are as
diverse as their American counterparts: They are urban, educated,
younger, well travelled, aware of their literary heritage, and include
Buddhists, feminists, Jewish poets, experimental poets, darkly brooding
poets, and playfully entertaining poets.
Until the Poem Remains
by Francisco Hernandez
Strip away all the flesh
until the poem remains
with the sonorous darkness of bone.
And smooth the bone, polish it, sharpen it
until it becomes such a fine needle,
that it pierces the tongue without pain
though blood chokes the throat.
Reversible Monuments includes a healthy bilingual selection by each
poet, features an introduction by Elliott Weinberger, and gathers the
work of esteemed translators alongside that of younger translators. It
also includes biographies of the poets, notes on the poetry, and an
extensive bibliography of contemporary Mexican poetry.
