Synopses & Reviews
Poetry. Latino/Latina Studies. Bilingual Edition. Translated from the Spanish by Jorge García-Gómez. Introduction by Gary Kern. THE POET IS A LITTLE GOD collects three small books of poetry, El espejo de agua, Poemas arcticos and Ecuatorial, plus a lecture on poetry by the famous avant-garde Chilean poet.
Ars Poetica
Let the verse be as a key
Opening a thousand doors.
A leaf falls; something is flying by;
Let whatever your eyes gaze upon be created,
And the soul of the hearer remain shivering.
Invent new worlds and watch over your word;
The adjective, when not a life-giver, kills.
We are in the cycle of nerves.
Like a memory
The muscle hangs in the museums;
Nevertheless, we have no less strength:
True vigor
Dwells in the head.
Why do you sing the rose, oh Poets!
Make it blossom in the poem;
Only for us
Live all things under the Sun.
The Poet is a little God.
About the Author
Vicente Huidobro (1893-1948) was a high-spirited Chilean poet, playwright and novelist who hobnobbed with the Paris avant-garde in the early twentieth century. As the founder of Creacionismo ("Creationism"), he refused to observe the laws of physics and strove to compete with nature in creative imagery. His portrait was drawn by Picasso, and two of his poems were set to music by Edgar Varese.