Light from a Nearby Window: Contemporary Mexican Poetry [Spanish]

Light from a Nearby Window introduces a new generation of poets who have become a driving force in Mexican literature today.

Until quite recently, contemporary Mexican poetry has been little-known and virtually unavailable to English-speaking readers. This bilingual anthology includes twenty-one poets--twelve men and nine women--all of who have received national and international recognition. In poems about sexuality and spirituality, politics and marginalization, history and tradition, urban and rural life, they write about the unique experience of being Mexican at the end of the millennium.

Juvenal Acosta was born in Mexico City in 1961. He studied economics in Mexico City, and philosophy in Michoac aacute;n, where he lived, miraculously, as a poet. He is the author of the award-winning Diciendo unas palabras negras and Paper of Live Flesh. He lives in Berkeley, California.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: Spanish
• ISBN: 087286281X
• ISBN13: 9780872862814
• Release Date: January 1994
• Publisher: City Lights Books
• Length: 240 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.5" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

A Clean, Well-lighted Window

This much needed anthology of contemporary Mexican poetry, published back in 1993, offers English language readers a glimpse of some significant and interesting poets from Mexico. Editor Juvenal Acosta selected twenty-one poets for inclusion in this bilingual edition. As is inevitably the case, some will lament absences (personally, I wish Blanca Luz Pulido had been included) and others will wonder at some of the inclusions, but that is the nature of these collections. Overall, Acosta presents a balanced overview of contemporary verse from Mexico, focusing on those poets who are now (2002), in many cases, in their peak years of creativity. As the editor points out in his brief introduction, "In 'Light from a Nearby Window' I have tried to bring together poets who are not only some of the best in Mexico, but are also among my literary heroes. Many of them have been my companions, through their poems, during my elf-imposed exile in the United States." Many of the poets included here have continued to have success in terms of recognition from publishers and award givers, so time seems to be lending weight to Acosta's judgement and taste. For example, the youngest poet in the anthology, María Baranda, had published only two collections at the time this book came out; since then she has published four additional works. Among those included, I feel a special affinity for the work of Antonio Deltoro, Isabel Quiñonez, and Ricardo Castillo. The former two are introspective and disquieting. Deltoro's "La casa vendida" is a minor stroke of genius. Ricardo Castillo's voice stands out for its irreverence and humor. His "Oda a las ganas" ("Ode to the urge") is delightful, evocative enough to just make you want to put down your book and take a big leak. A brief note on the translations, which were provided by a group of eleven translators, some of whom are noted poets in their own right. Most are excellent and some are inspired; a few, unfortunately, are simply incompetent.