Editorial: July 2006

But on to July where you’ll find a very diverse collection of poets. 

Colombia features three very different poets from different backgrounds: Porfirio Barba Jacob, Horacio Benavides and María Clemencia Sánchez. It’s refreshing to read a female Colombian poet, her subject matter is worldly, yet her meaning often elusive. In the intriguing, ‘Helen Keller and 15th’ she writes:

Those who agreed to meet again
at the crossing of Helen Keller and 15th
at five in the afternoon, Lisbon time,
never met.

Who had agreed to meet? Why Lisbon time in New York? Was the meeting place significant? Do write in if you have any suggestions.

Horacia Benavides came from an earlier generation, yet his style is fresh, clean and modern. “Look at me leaving like a goblin,/ with my feet pointing backwards” he writes in ‘As He Who Says Goodbye Many Times’ (the title should give you a clue). His writing is very different from that of Barba Jacob, poems written in the form of songs with choruses, a traditional framework and classical references. There is also a useful general introduction to the poets by Nicolás Suescún.

Irene Staunton from Zimbabwe introduces Albert Nyathi, a very popular performance poet both at home and in the West. You'll find a colourful picture of him performing. Irene includes a discussion of the poet’s work including her own qualms that his fame in the West may be attributed to his stereotypical Ndebele regalia. Some of the material from this month's issue has been delayed due to the frequent daily power cuts in Zimbabwe which have made contact very difficult. Further poems and material will be included as soon as possible.

From Japan we have Hiroshi Kawasaki, 1930-2004. He was one of the founders of ‘Kai’ [meaning oar or paddle], a group of around ten poets including Shuntaro Tanikawa and Makoto Ooka, a major force in the post-war scene. Kawasaki’s poems seem to take place in another world, a place light by bright sunlight, always natural, perhaps mythical perhaps imaginary.

Only what was glistening under the sun existed
No letters or words existed
Sheep and dandelion leaves were one and the same
(‘Life’)

Our Portuguese editor, Richard Zenith is a  Fernando Pessoa scholar, editor, researcher and translator, an expert in other words. Besides translating Pessoa and writing and lecturing on his work and person, he curates editions of his work in Portuguese and has become through much practice, an expert in deciphering his notoriously hard-to-read script. Perhaps the greatest Portuguese poet of all time, and certainly one of the major poets of the twentieth-century, Fernando Pessoa didn’t just write under his own name but created several other personalities which he called ‘heteronyms’. The fame of these heternonyms also crossed continents, if you return to the new Colombian poets you'll see that Horacio Benavides has written a poem entited, 'Ricardo Reis has returned to Lisbon'! 

If you’re going on holiday this month there should be plenty here to keep you informed and entertained.