Tuesday, January 8, 2008

this is what I mean when I say excellent anthology

3 comments:

Lyle Daggett said...

"Volcan" is a great anthology, for sure. I first found the book in the early '80's not long after it was published, and have gone back to it often over the years.

I wrote a little about the book in a blogpost sometime back, here, if you care to check it out.

Lee Herrick said...

Lyle, thank you for the comment here and for linking your blogpost. I encourage others to take the time to go read it. I found the book some time around the year I took one of my trips to Central America. This particular summer, my wife and I were in El Salvador. As you know, the culture, politics, and poetry are nearly inextricable, which makes for a rather exhilirating travel experience. Once, in Juayua, I saw a poster for a poetry reading from years back, featuring Margarita Luna Robles, poet and performer, wife of Juan Felipe Hererra, the incredible poet who also happens to translate some of the poems in Volcan. I thought this was a rather nice set of converging moments. Anyway, yes, this anthology is important and a great example of the political and historical poems that emerge from such unrest. It was wonderful to meet locals of all ages and backgrounds and to be able to have a conversation about poetry. Many have a favorite poet like Americans have a favorite football team or singer. Now that I am making odd connections, I just remembered, too, that was the summer (in El Salvador) when I began this blog.

OBermeo said...

thanks for this. i will be sure to pick it up soon.