University of Pittsburgh PressChicagoPostmodernPoetry.Com
Book Reviews
Sin Puertas Visibles by Jen Hofer
ISBN 0-8229-5798-01
University of Pittsburgh Press
Translations by Jen Hofer of the following poets:
Cristina Rivera Garza
Carla Faesler
Angelica Tornero
Ana Belen Lopez
Silvia Eugenia Castillero
Monica Nepote
Dana Gelinas
Maria Rivera
Ofelia Perez Sepulveda
Dolores Dorantes
Laura Solorzano.
By Ray Bianchi, Editor Chicagopostmodernpoetry.com
Great books define writers for the rest of their lives, St Jerome will always be viewed as the author of the Latin Vulgate Bible, Henry Miller will always be author of Tropic of Cancer and for Neruda it will always be Canto General. This is also the case with Sin Puertas Visibles, masterfully translated and created by Jen Hofer. In order to do this book justice the structure of this review will first review Ms Hofer’s obra, her artistry, her skill and her project and then we will review each of the able and fine poets translated in this work.
Passion for Mexico and its strong colors and strong smells and tastes comes through in this entire work. Jen Hofer has done a masterful job of not just translating these poems but removing the heart and soul of them and transliterating it into an English that captures the spirit of the poems. An example of this artistry; from Ofelia Perez Sepulveda “ She is of the continent, around her everything is light and I observe her atop the slab in the image of her body” this is not only a translation it is great poetry in its own right and should be consumed whole and ruminated upon. The use of language and vibrant translation skills come through this entire work. Poems that are wonderful mouthfuls in Spanish come forth as strong works in English as well avoiding the habit of many American translators to ‘sweeten up’ Spanish verse in translation. Translators in the future will have to measure up to Ms Hofer’s skill and heart in this way.
The focus on gender is very strong in this book Sin Puertas Visibles does show most of the concerns of the translator/author. In the Latin American context class and race are also important areas of oppression . It might have been interesting to address these larger issues of race/indigenous and class issues as well as gender in this anthology. This is the only area where this anthology is wanting and it gives Ms Hofer the ground for another book which we hope will be forthcoming.
The Poets chosen for this work are all well educated and are masters at their craft as well as artists. In order to do them justice each of their work will be profiled here;
" The Third World was a roofless house” this haunting line pulls together the fine work of Cristina Rivera Garza. The first poem from Ms Rivera-Garza in this book is Third World. Third World is a poem in the great Latin American tradition of Neruda, Cardinal, and Andrade of writing a political poem as a kind of scream, ‘gritar’ in Spanish. This poem works on many levels but the fact that it was written by a woman and is so prophetic makes this a unique poem from a region of the world where woman are too often portrayed as either pious or sexy but almost never seen as prophetic figures of protest.
Carla Faesler is a poet of interest, first off that she comes from the Mexico’s large European origin community which is usually overlooked by Americans. Her poems dealing with the gods and rituals of Mexico are insightful and open doors to concepts that perhaps we had not considered in the past. Her poem Carniceria “an ear a snout a smile” is the best description of something that people who have lived in Latin America are used to the sight of meat being sold covered in flies. There is no antiseptic plastic wrap in this poem, no it is right in front of you and it is hard and it cuts into your flesh as we cut into an animals.
Angelica Tornero’s poems are long meditations; the key to this work is secret vulnerability. Her work pulls you into its world and you have to go even though the pain of the work is sometimes too much. I needed to stop and rest during the reading of this work as the flood of images and powerful critique ripped open wounds that had long healed. Ms Tornero’s work is full and hard and takes time but the benefits are many.
Ana Belen Lopez, short lines, rich language akin to strong lemons this is what Ms Lopez brings out in her work. Only Ms Lopez could make the word “ Tinacos” (water tanks) stand alone and have it be the pivot of the poem. Ms Lopez’s work has a feel of the work of William Carlos Williams or ee cummings without the self-importance we can only hope that more of her work is translated into English.
Silvia Eugenia Castillero, short, potent prose poems so unlike most of what is published in Latin America. Poems about toads and hares and other simple normal issues are made transparent here. Ms Castillero’s work is like the color of flat rocks in a river with light and dull reflection fusing to create something new and better for the reader of this work.
Monica Nepote, “the blood leaks from this woman
In an avalanche of afternoons on the grass”
Bursts of energy and language like this above fills the work of Monica Nepote. Her work is full of a cutting satire and language that makes for read that demands allot of the reader. Ms Nepote says that poetry is a substitute for prayer but her work is really a substitute for the Passion.
Dana Gelinas’ work appears at first to be traditional, stanza based and in the best Latin American tradition lyrical. Her work so influenced by Russian writing brings us to meditations and language changes that we do not expect and opens up things that were not there before. “Crepusculo” or “twilight” one of her poems is a great reflection of this form. But also Crepusculo is a title of a great poem by Neruda and the fact that she can stand in that light and write this poem with such power is a testament to her skill.
Maria Rivera, “poetry is the liturgy through which the world is possible” only in a Catholic country could the aforementioned be the beginning of a poets life task. Some of these poems are almost Concrete Poems like Augusto Dos Campos, others are lyric sonnet like verses that could be in a neo-formalist magazine and just when you think you have succeeded in understanding her work you then have to change again your opinions because this work is so dense and so well crafted.
Ofelia Perez Sepulveda; ‘the city moans” as do the rest of us at this work. Ms Sepulveda’s poetry is almost like a sexual encounter with lines and concepts broken leaving us wanting more but wanting to stop and ask what could possibly happen next? The sexual imagery in these poems has a kind of Muralists sense that is open and raw and not expected.
Dolores Dorantes, it is obvious that Ms Hofer wanted us to be exhausted when we reached the end of this book and so she put the most challenging ‘poetesses’ at the end. Ms Dorantes is an expert at using the ‘white’ of the page to set out her work almost in a symbolistic way. Then she hits us with an ‘audible razor’ of new language. I found Ms Dorantes’ work very challenging and that I needed to rest and go read something less challenging like Olson’s Maximus poems to clear my head before I returned to her work.
Laura Solórzano, ‘risk is imperative’ Ms Solórzano’s work is filled with things that open doors for us a reader of poetry. ‘like unexpected panes of glass’ Ms Solórzano’s work reflects, refracts and changes colors so effectively that you do not know what is or what is not? Her work is full of open, ripped and raw places that are great, reflective pieces of the small art of poetry, the way Shakespeare creates a small scene and opens us up for bigger risks.
On the whole Sin Puertas Visibles has joined its great sister anthologies as a challenge to be emulated. Like Luigi Ballerini’s The Promised Land, Italian Poetry after 1975 (Sun and Moon) and Nothing the Sun Could Not Explain, Brazilian Poetry (Sun and Moon) by Michael Palmer and Regis Bonvicino, Sin Puertas Visibles is a masterwork that should challenge us all to open our poetic horizons to the continent where we live and to listen to voices that are muted because of the fact that we spend too much time listening to ourselves.
