Poems From/de Infernal: Romantic

Abstract

These poems came about when, living in a house in Xalapa, Mexico, without a stereo and no guitar or piano to speak of, I had to invent my own music. Love is infernal, not eternal. The image of the beloved that betrays you, always an image that is both iconic and sacrilegious, an internal and infernal ecstasy that the bolero gives life to. I only realised afterwards that I had written an update of this Caribbean-Mexican genre, a mi manera. So it seemed suitable that they should be in Spanish and English (the latter my first language), exorcising both los demonios de la mirada amada y los demonios de la lengua. These pieces come from a collection of erotic poetry accompanied by interpretive images that will be released by an art press in Spain in 2009. Infernal/romantic is one half of a collaborative project between myself, the Madrid-based Chilean poet, Violeta Medina, and several artists. The collection speaks to desires that are clearly other and demonic.

Keywords

• Poetry