Ellos rompen sus picos, martillando el espejo,
Y al alejarme irónica, intocada y gloriosa,
Los cuervos negros vuelan hartos de carne rosa.
Amor de burla y frío
Mármol que el tedio barnizó de fuego
O lirio que el rubor vistió de rosa,
Siempre lo dé, Dios mío . . .
O rosario fecundo,
Collar vivo que encierra
La garganta del mundo.
Cadena de la tierra
Constelación caída.
O rosario imantado de serpientes,
Glisa hasta el fin entre mis dedos sabios,
Que en tu sonrisa de cincuenta dientes
Con un gran beso se prendió mi vida:
Una rosa de labios.
De Los astros del abismo (1924) / 190
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false beads
The black ravens suffer hunger for pink flesh;
In deceptive moonlight I reflect my sculpture,
They break their beaks, hammering the mirror,
And when walking away, ironic, untouched and glorious,
The black ravens fly, glutted with pink flesh.
Love of mockery and cold
Marble that tedium varnished with fire
O lily that blush adorned with rose,
May you always grant it, my God . . .
O fertile rosary,
Living necklace that encircles
The throat of the world.
Chain of land
Fallen constellation.
O rosary magnetized with serpents,
Slither till the end of time between my wise fingers,
That in your smile of fifty teeth
With a great kiss my life ignited:
A rose of lips.
From The Stars of the Abyss (1924) / 191
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Alejandro Cáceres is an associate professor of Spanish in the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures at Southern Illinois University Carbondale and a member of the Academia Uruguaya de Letras. Born in Montevideo, Uruguay, he has lived in the United States since 1977. His research on Agustini, ongoing since the early 1980s, has resulted in the publication of several articles; lectures at both the Library of Congress and the National Library of Uruguay; and, in 1999, a critical edition of Agustini’s complete poetry, in Spanish, which also included the most comprehensive study of criticism written on the poet. The 2nd revised and enlarged edition of this book appeared in August 2006, and the 3rd in February 2007. Presently, Professor Cáceres’s research is dedicated to the life and works of Cuban writer Reinaldo Arenas. The present volume constitutes the most comprehensive collection on Delmira Agustini ever published in English.
De Los astros del abismo (1924) / 192
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CAcere
Poetry
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“Selected Poetry of Delmira Agustini: Poetics of
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Eros provides a masterful introduction to the life and e
Selected
works of Delmira Agustini. Even more importantly,
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through its thoughtfully executed translations, the
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English-speaking public is afforded, for the first time,
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access to the complex and sophisticated poetry that
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Poetry of
turned Agustini into a celebrity during her lifetime
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and a role model for generations to come.”—Cathy
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L. Jrade, author of Modernismo, Modernity, and the
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Delmira
Development of Spanish American Literature
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This graceful translation and bilingual edition is
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the first to bring English readers a representative
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Agustini
sampling of the poetry Delmira Agustini published
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before her untimely death in 1914 at the age of
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twenty-seven. Translated by native Uruguayan
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Alejandro Cáceres and including work from each of
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Agustini’s four published books, this collection is a
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response to a resurgent interest not just in the poems
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but in the passionate and daring woman behind them.
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Alejandro Cáceres, an associate
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professor of Spanish in the
Department of Foreign Languages
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and Literatures at Southern
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Illinois University Carbondale,
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was born in Montevideo, Uruguay,
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and has lived in the United States
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since 1977. He is the editor of the definitive critical
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edition of the complete poems of Delmira Agustini,
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published in Uruguay by Ediciones de la Plaza.
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(Poetics of Eros
Edited and Translated by Alejandro Cáceres
With a Foreword by Willis Barnstone
of
ericam
Eros
A Bilingual Edition
Southern Illinois
Af
University Press
$15.95 USD
1915 University Press Drive
ISBN 0-8093-2868-2
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ISBN 978-0-8093-2868-0
Mail Code 6806
U
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nited S
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Carbondale, IL 62901
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www.siu.edu/~siupress
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Caceres-NIP-Poetics of Eros.indd1 1
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Document Outline
Foreword
Preface
Acknowledgments
Introduction
From The White Book (Fragile) (1907)
From Morning Songs (1910)
From The Empty Chalices (1913)
From The Stars of the Abyss (1924)
Author Bio
Selected Poetry of Delmira Agustini Page 15