War correspondence

War correspondence, Manuel Alonso, Alicante, Aguaclara, 2008

This volume of poetry by Manuel Alonso, with whom he was awarded Mollà Paco Petrer City Council in 2008, becomes a good example to understand the author’s poetry published in previous volumes that I have read. A book consistent with some of the thoughts that we often read in his blog, The Pearl, and Papers and Poems we read in a critical view against mediocrity. Alonso rebels against the enormous power of the media and the hypocrisy of politicians who steal freedom to individuals. The poet denounces the injustices, both present in the media, which lies within the framework of actions against women or against immigrants. However, we can find some resignation stop lines like “but, too, are the recipients of the lies, / as a string, draw it, generation after generation.” (P. 18).

Also noteworthy is the desire to record or fellow poets that are taken into account when of poetic composition. Thus the poems begins with “A poet is not a war correspondent,” dedicated to the late Manuel Garcia i Grau, referring to his book The City of anger, or, later, in “Europe, a peninsula that will multiply of peninsulas “on The Rape of Europe again by Alpera Lluís. In parallel, we see a desire to highlight the importance of memories, the time before “The past does exist” (p. 21). We can discern “Miniatures,” Small Gems, The way of haiku, that by the way of judgments and opinions, offer the nakedness of the poet’s reflection, aimed at various times singers such as Victor Jara and Raimon, or writers like Vasily Grossman.

Time is not to be hanged. Diary of the early nineties

Time is not to be hanged. Diary of the early nineties, Manuel Alonso, Rafelbunyol, the Moorish quarter, 2008

This is the second diary I read by Manuel Alonso. With an obvious simplicity, the poet (writer and essayist) reviews the years from 1990 to 1994 through their own eyes. A resulting text, as I had the same author, the selection of the diary he has of those years. We found the thoughtful voice of the status of the writer that in his thirties wants to confirm his career. There are doubts, hesitations, sufferings of those who want to pursue writing and finding, through knowledge and conversation with other greatest writers, a comfort to their dedication.

The heterogeneity of the structure of the diary, there are recurring themes as suffering for the passage of time and the desire to recover the past in the present moment. The title selected for this second diary is, therefore, a success. Another element is fairly stated: “I have the feeling of living in a provisional status.” (P. 30). We also found a reflection on gender in moving this book: “It is clear that much of the literature and art revolves around me. What we can not pretend that the entire universe is rotating in orbit around a single I do. “(p. 20).

On the other hand, the reader interested in the portrait of the literary movement, especially poetic-nineties, both in Valencia and Alicante, with references to the creation of the magazine or Tuacte aljamiado. Thus, as the necessary references to co-commitment, as Vicente Peña, Ramon Guillem, Merce Claramunt, and many others mentioned in the diary. There are also references to the family, the immediate surroundings, to the language, customs and festivals. Ultimately, treatment literaturized the writer’s life in a few key years in his training.

The Spell

The Spell, Isabel-clara Simó, Barcelona, Ed.62, 2009

The first book of poems by Isabel-Clara Simó is not the first public offering of her poetry. Earlier we have read, for example, the poems that accompanied Antoni Miro’s paintings in the sample of 1995 “ABCDARI AZ”. At that time we already know one of the continuous Simon’s poetry, irony, sarcasm, sharp vision of reality. That is The Spell, a book of narrative poems, as well the author warns in the “Preface”, addressing a more immediate reality. We can understand the previous words of the writer as a kind of captatio benevolentiae in line with those who made the Caterina Albert, but no further, we need to talk, often seen in a personal or autobiographical text, the author of sincerity. Although Simon said “I do not, therefore, be a poet,” the reader can find a series of rhyming poems free with a natural rhythm that catches him incessantly. In the book we find the concerns and preoccupations of a writer who has brought a sense of civic and reflective of our society and our culture in every genre that has been engaged, since the prose, drama and now, poetry. Thus, we highlight the updated story of Jesus Christ in a national key in “The crucified” ( “It was very lean / live in a country / colonized [...] Then they went and killed me, / as a terrorist.” (P. 14-15). and captivating, like the article Isabel Clara signed in Avui a day not far distant, but far enough to objectify, the disappearance of Xavier Simó Dalfó … ( “Your death and mine “p.. 22-23). And the tender and enthusiastic poem addressed to Ovidi Montllor (”Animals “, pp. 27-29). It is obvious that the narrative won over, especially in two of the three chapters or paragraphs with which the author has grouped the poems: “Epic” and “Dramatic”. The compositions of the third-second in the book, “Lyric”, become authentic declarations of principles, as we read in “I do not I am you, “our father, one of his best poems:” If you want to be my friend, / learns to love / what is outside / of yourself.”(p. 47). A book to enjoy and reflect, like most of the books of Simó.

But we have the word

.. But we have the word. Poetic Anthology III Liceo de Benidorm, Benidorm Liceo Poetic (July Pavanetti selection and Annabel Villar), Benidorm, 2009