Tag Archives: Poetry

More Selections From “Ten”

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ten emilio perez miguel

Although “Ten” was the second book I published, it was actually written before the first one that did come out, “Once”. Both titles were published by Rumbo Editorial – “Once” in 2009, and “Ten” in 2010.

When interviewed in the media, I am invariably asked why did I publish them out of order.

The simple answer is that “Ten” is a book that has no palliatives, whereas “Once” (owing to its free structure and multiple endings) is a book from which something positive can effectively be construed.

I think that the two compositions I have included below exemplify that. They come from the two final sections of the book, “Vicinity” and “Distance”. These turn “Ten” into “an exorcism and an outright damnation”, as I say in the preface.

I think these two compositions pay a clear debt to albums like “The Who By Numbers”, “All The Best Cowboys Have Chinese Eyes” and also an album I greatly like from an artist that (generally) I’m not  really that fond of: “Blood On The Tracks” by Bob Dylan.

So, without further preambles… “I Hurt You” and “You Lie”.

I Hurt You

I leave you because I don’t want to desert you
I decompose you because I love you intact
I say nothing because I love how you react –
I hurt you because I didn’t want to hurt you

I lead you because I don’t want to divert you
I tug at your heart because I love you unmoved
I love the absence of all you never removed –
I hurt you because I didn’t want to hurt you

And you longed for morn-like brilliance when I longed for the night
And I longed for occurrences when you longed for respite

I prod you because I don’t want to convert you
I motivate you because I love you inert
I love the deep silence whenever you assert –
I hurt you because I didn’t want to hurt you

I leave you because I don’t want to desert you
I decompose you because I love you intact
I say nothing because I love how you react –
I hurt you because I didn’t want to hurt you
Continue reading →

Javier Etchemendi’s Speech – Launch Event For The Book “Ten”

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(Hagan click aquí para leer este artículo en español)

This is the dissertation Uruguayan poet Javier Etchemendi delighted us with when “Ten” was officially released (Friday 19th of November, 2010).

Ten Emilio Perez Mguel

Numbers Also Go To Heaven

A closed universe vibrates in the writing of Emilio Pérez. A place that we can only stare at from the sidelines, knowing that there is an important part of him that will always remain out of reach.

The reader might ask himself, what good is a universe like that for? And that would be tantamount to asking what good is mystery for. The answer is obvious: for losing yourself in it, and coming out modified and strange, knowing something did happen and that such a something attracts us like danger and love do, in an unconscious way.

A mystery is not there to be elucidated. By its mere nature, a mystery is no longer a mystery when we fathom it out, when it becomes a certainty within a safe place. If the veil separating what we know from what we want to know becomes broken, then the mystery itself is broken for good.

A book is a door. I know that very well, for I am a guarder of the gates to the other world. And every once in a while, I let words pass from one side to the other. And since I know about words, I can honestly tell you that in “Ten” the author matters very little. Rather, it begins to matter very little once the door has been opened. Some might say, “But it is a book written in English”. And I can reply: do kisses, tears, desperation and redemption have a language? Emilio sets down his titles like glowing stones that we can follow to the other shore, where the golden pot can be found. “Nobody Feels All The Time”, “The Dark Side Of The Road”, “Broken”, “Cry”, “After The Fire The Fire”. Continue reading →

A Couple More Poems From “Ten”

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ten emilio perez miguel

Today I’d like to share a couple more poems from “Ten” with you. As I am sure you know, “Ten” is the book that I have just issued with the support of my long-standing friends from Rumbo Editorial.

The prequel to “Once“, “Ten” is split in six different parts that make up a single chapter. The poems I have included below come from the central part of the book. This is named “The Giver And Taker Of Life”, and it takes the shape of a passing day that ends up becoming a song.

I hope you like them! As usual, I look forwards to your every comment!

Flugelhorns

I count every single step from the end
Towards the outskirts of the beginning
You were the battle never worth winning
And the episode no-one should append –
Now the juxtaposition is thinning

Flugelhorns playing
Across an empty building, down an empty street
Amid a wasted dream, through nighttimes incomplete
Flugelhorns straying
Like the truth I loathe but I cling to nonetheless
Within my spent heart, like the thoughts I don’t possess
Like a guilty antiphon –
Why did you leave me alone?

I count every single mile from the end
Towards the remnants of the commencement
You were my one chance, my one investment
And the bitterest share and dividend –
Now you transcend my deepest resentment

Flugelhorns playing
Across an empty building, down an empty street
Amid a wasted dream, through nighttimes incomplete
Flugelhorns straying
Like the truth I loathe but I cling to nonetheless
Within my spent heart, like the thoughts I don’t possess
Like a guilty antiphon –
Why did you leave me alone?

Flugelhorns baying
Across an empty effect, down an empty cause
Amid a wasted dream, through immaculate flaws
Flugelhorns slaying
Like the immanence I refuse but I reckon
Within my spent heart, like the hopes I won’t beckon
Like the love I never shone –
Why did I leave you alone? Continue reading →

Some Poems From “Ten”

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My Second Book Of Lyric Poetry, “Ten” Is Being Released One Year To The Date In Which I Published “Once”.

My Second Book Of Lyric Poetry, “Ten” Is Being Released One Year To The Date In Which I Published “Once”.

Tomorrow I am releasing my second book of lyric poetry. It is named “Ten”, and it is entirely in English.

It is the companion book to “Once”, the book I published around this time last year. The events described in “Ten” take place one year before the ones set down in “Once”.

Expect plenty more posts about these two books. In the meantime, I would like to share some poems from “Ten” with you.

Enjoy!

Dance Across The Moonlight

There’s a cessation in my heart I seem to eternize
And there’s an eternity I can never realize
And I move across the silence that keeps me company
And you dance across the moonlight arisen in the sea

And I close my eyes to see you

There’s a question in my heart I seem to perpetuate
And there’s a perpetuation I can never abate
And I move across the silence winged by celerity
And you dance across the moonlight arisen in the sea

And I close my eyes to see you

There’s a disunity in my heart I seem to prolong
And there’s a prolongation I can never bear along
And I move across the silence that binds you close to me
And you dance across the moonlight arisen in the sea

And I close my eyes to see you

Here

Chasing meretricious rainbows I came in here
Knowing there was no promise to reclaim in here
Embosoming the shame in here
Within my devotion
Just like an emotion

That I never bothered to restrain or impede
And what you never expressed was all I would heed

Chasing deleterious dreams I strolled in here
Knowing I would regret it all I bowled in here
Treasuring the fool’s gold in here
Reinforced by the thrill
Of pleonasms shrill

That I never bothered to restrain or impede
And what you never expressed was all I would heed

And I simply thought of you without thinking twice
And what you never gave was all that would suffice Continue reading →

Another Couple Of Poems From “Once”

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These are a couple of poems from the second chapter of “Once”, the one titled “Dos Idiotas y Un Idiota” [Two Idiots and One Idiot]. It is the chapter in which the train of thought begins following dual pathways.

You can read more poems from “Once” right here and here. And for information on the launch event of the book, look here and here.

I hope you like these poems. If there is anything you want to tell me, use the “Comments” box which is situated at the bottom.

Rocío Y Ella

Comenzaremos por el punto
neutro del trasunto
de una misma comparecencia,
porque estos bifrontismos
son los mismos
imprevistos
entrevistos
hundidos en mi conciencia.

Y el empeño
que no domeño
y que se rehúsa a evanecerse
ha dejado de ser cíclico,
y esto que no puede hacerse
ni más grande ni más pequeño
ahora es algo recíproco.

Parece que el parecido
será restringido
entre este y nuestro estado,
mas las voces que prometen
arremeten
de profeso
sobre eso
que se ha supeditado.

Y el empeño
que no domeño
y que se rehúsa a evanecerse
ha dejado de ser cíclico
y esto que no puede hacerse
ni más grande ni más pequeño
ahora es algo recíproco…

Ella En Colores

Ella en colores más tenues
pacta otro significado.
Otra clase de inflexión.
Otra suerte de complexión
y otro valor ultimado.

Ella en colores más tenues
me acompaña por defecto
y por mi propia elección.
Y perfila mi convicción
como un camino directo,

como un patrón que sin verlo
crea y daña sin deberlo.
Y es demasiado difícil
saberlo o no sin saberlo.

Ella en colores más tenues
que trata de obviar mi pincel.
Eternamente probable
cual sueño inacabable
que yo deposito en tu piel.

Ella en colores más tenues
no espera ni un momento:
llega al punto exacto
y en un único acto
torna lo estático lento

torna su mente en su mente
casi automáticamente,
y es demasiado difícil
quererla o no simplemente. Continue reading →

Some Poems From “Once”

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I would like to share some more poems from “Once” with you. Remember, you can read another pair here and learn more about the book here and here.

Please have your say in the “Comments” section below. I would love to have your insight on these compositions.

Corazones De Arena

La razón ahora brilla como una luz menos plena
y todo lo que siento es como un engarce
de palabras no dichas que no podrán pronunciarse
y dibujo corazones en corazones de arena.

Mi alma está vacía por haber estado tan llena
y aún busco matices en estos cuadernos
aún busco recuerdos consumados y eternos
dibujando corazones en corazones de arena.

La voz de lo incontrastable es como una sirena
del alma; me llama, la sigo, jamás percibo:
ya no hay retorno a un punto que no concibo
al dibujar corazones en corazones de arena.

Y tu presencia me abre como quien abre una vena
porque no puedo pedirte lo que ya te pedí
ni que me devuelvas los momentos que nunca te di
dibujando corazones en corazones de arena.

El Puente De Un Suspiro

Si tus ojos son el puerto,
y el cielo que respiro
es el sueño en que despierto
¿Es eso el final del viaje,
o es el puente de un suspiro
que me acerca hacia ti?

Y si el tiempo es un momento
quiero que dure por siempre.
Si sentir es lo que siento
con la voz con que te miro
en el puente de un suspiro
que me acerca hacia ti.

Si pintarte es un color
conduciendo al retiro
que me lleva a tu interior,
¿es eso una partida,
o es el puente de un suspiro
que me acerca hacia ti?

Y si el tiempo es un momento,
quiero que dure por siempre.
Si sentir es lo que siento
con la voz conque te miro
en el puente de un suspiro
me siento cerca de ti. Continue reading →

Photos From The Launch Event For “Once”

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(Hagan click aquí para leer este artículo en español)

A promise is a promise, there you have the pictures from the launch event for “Once”.

To begin with, publisher Carmen Galusso introduces the ones sitting at the table. Then she talks about the way we worked together up to that date.

Foto Once 1

Secondly, literature teacher Fabián Severo offers up an excellent critical speech. It is the first time that I listen to a qualified person commenting on my book, and I am enthralled as I see which verses and lines he highlights. You can read his full speech here.

Foto Once 2

Continue reading →

Fotos del Lanzamiento de “Once”

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Lo prometido es deuda, finalmente les traigo las fotos del lanzamiento de “Once”.

En primer lugar, la editora Carmen Galusso presenta a los integrantes de la mesa y cuenta el proceso de trabajo que culmina en la edición del libro.
Foto Once 1

Luego, el profesor de literatura Fabián Severo nos ofrece una excelente disertación. Es la primera vez que escucho una opinión crítica sobre mi libro, y me resulta muy interesante ver que estrofas y versos resalta. Pueden leer su disertación aquí.

Foto Once 2 Continue reading →

Fabian Severo’s Speech – Launch Event For The Book “Once”

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(Hagan click aquí para leer este artículo en español)

I would like to share with you the speech that Fabián Severo gave at the launch event for my book, “Once”. Fabián is a literature teacher and a writer. He has recently been involved in the launch of a book written with secondary school children named “Fruto Del Desierto” [The Fruit Of The Desert], and a second volume named “Huellas de viento en la arena” [Traces Of The Wind In The Sand] has just been completed.

I thank him warmly for being there that day, and for the speech he gave.

His blog is found here:

http://yiribibe.blogspot.com

With Fabián Severo (Left) And Publisher Carmen Galusso (Right).

With Fabián Severo (Left) And Publisher Carmen Galusso (Right).

“It is a great joy to take part of the launch of a book of poems because I feel that poetry is the one literary genre that gives readers the biggest interpretative freedom. It brings us the maximum of feelings, emotions and ideas in a minimum of words.

Those who teach at institutes of education have always tried to make us believe language is noting but an instrument, and they taught us its functions. Ivonne Bordelois once wrote “we are forgetting that a language is above all a pleasure – a sacred pleasure – and probably the highest form of love and knowledge”. Language itself is free, democratic, sympathetic and revolutionary. Free and democratic because it reaches everybody at no cost. Sympathetic because it us a meeting point – a whole community shares it. And revolutionary because through it norms are trespassed and innovations arise. “And it is poets – along with children –the ones who notice the ample and secret possibilities that a language brings, and they either toy with it or become its toys.”

Emilio Pérez Miguel defines in a beautiful line one of the roles a poet plays out: “dar vos a lo que otro siente” [voice what other feels]. When one reads “Once”, in some of his poems, verses and quotes one is bound to find a feeling, a reflection or an idea that belongs to him.

Emilio Pérez has managed to surprise with this book. He has managed to trespass some frontiers. He has modified the conventional structure of books – there is no foreword, there is no index, after the introduction we go straight into the second chapter and we stay there, strolling through poems that change from one day to the other, that combine two titles, that pose questions that are answers. We read definitions, concepts, footnotes. Continue reading →

Disertación de Fabián Severo – Presentación Del Libro “Once”

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(Click here for the English version of this post)

Quisera compartir con ustedes la disertación brindada por Fabián Severo en la presentación de mi libro, “Once”. Fabián es profesor de literatura y escritor. Recientemente ha publicado un libro escrito por sus alumnos titulado “Fruto del desierto”, y un segundo volumen llamado “Huellas de viento en la arena” ha sido completado en estos días.

Le agradezco de corazón que me acompañara en ese día tan importante, y por las palabras que nos brindó a todos.

Este es su blog:

http://yiribibe.blogspot.com

Con Fabián (A La Izquierda) Y La Editora Carmen Galusso En La Presentación Del Libro.

Con Fabián (A La Izquierda) Y La Editora Carmen Galusso En La Presentación Del Libro.

“Es una dicha participar en una presentación de un libro de poemas porque considero que la poesía es, dentro de los géneros literarios, el que más libertad de interpretación brinda al lector. Máximo de emociones, máximo de sentimientos, máximo de ideas, en un mínimo de palabras.

En las instituciones educativas intentaron hacernos creer que el Lenguaje era un instrumento, y nos enseñaron sus funciones. Dice Ivonne Bordelois: “Nos olvidamos de que el lenguaje es ante todo un placer, un placer sagrado; una forma, acaso la más elevada, de amor y de conocimiento”. El lenguaje es un bien gratuito, democrático, solidario y revolucionario. Democrático y gratuito, porque llega a todos de forma gratuita, solidario porque es un lugar de encuentro, lo comparte toda una comunidad y revolucionario porque a través de él, se transgrede la norma y se realizan innovaciones.  “Y son los poetas -junto con los niños- los que primero advierten las posibilidades más amplias y secretas del lenguaje y juegan o se dejan jugar con ellas.”

Emilio Pérez Miguel define en un hermoso verso una de las funciones del poeta cuando dice: “…dar vos a lo que otro siente.” Cuando uno lee “Once”, en alguno de sus poemas, de sus versos, de sus citas, encontrará algún sentimiento, alguna reflexión, alguna idea que le pertenece.

Emilio Pérez ha logrado sorprender con este libro, ha logrado transgredir algunas fronteras. Ha modificado la estructura, no hay prólogo, no hay índice, de la introducción pasamos al segundo capítulo y en él nos quedamos, paseando por poemas que cambian de días, que combinan dos títulos, que plantean preguntas que son repuestas, leemos definiciones, conceptos, notas al dorso. Continue reading →