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Reversible Monuments
Reversible Monuments
Author: Susan Jill Levine, Geoff Hargreaves, Margaret Sayers Peden, Alastair Reid, Mónica de la Torre
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 Go...  more »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 Remainsby Francisco HernandezStrip 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.
ISBN-13: 9781556591594
ISBN-10: 1556591594
Pages: 520
Edition: 1
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Publisher: Copper Canyon Press
Book Type: Paperback
Members Wishing: 0
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