At The Left of The Heart: Poetry Anthology Homage to Roque Dalton
AméricasPoetSociety and CazaPoesía / AVEditor imprint presents:
At The Left of The Heart: Poetry Anthology Homage to Roque Dalton
“Roque Dalton, born in San Salvador on May 14 of
1935, sacrificed himself beyond what anyone could have imagined before the 10th
of May 1975. It was complete surrender to a cause taken on from the time he was
very young: to submerge himself in the liberation of his people, so oppressed
and at the same time so heroic.
He got himself into the wrong guerrilla movement:
that of adventurers who sought power for the sake of power… Those infiltrators,
who in the final analysis served the imperialist capitalist system, did not hesitate
to kill him. They judged the positions of Dalton unacceptable and punishable
for a prolonged people’s political movement. Moreover, they did not support his
poetry, so free, so powerful.
We owe a debt to the poet, still outstanding for
those of us who follow his example, writing for the people, with him and in
him. That is why we continue to recognize Roque as the foremost seed of a
revolution of actions and of words that have flowed like a most potent spring… We
continue publishing because of him, for him, for ourselves, for the working
class sectors of America and of the world.
We take pleasure in celebrating the big brother in
his eighty-fourth May of flowering without respite: we continue to applaud his
poetry, his passion for freedom, his eroticism, his bohemian life, his smile
paradoxically refreshing even since the depths of his death. Friend-brother
Roque Dalton: we continue to speak your name in our names”. —Excerpts from the introduction.
Published by AméricasPoetSociety, collection AVEditor, 2019. ISBN: 978-1-936293-12-4. Bilingual. $10 plus shipping $13
SAMPLE POEM AND TRANSLATION
ROQUE ANTONIO DALTON GARCÍA
ACTA
En
nombre de quienes lavan ropa ajena
(y
expulsan de la blancura la mugre ajena).
En
nombre de quienes cuidan hijos ajenos
(y
venden su fuerza de trabajo
en
forma de amor maternal y humillaciones).
En
nombre de quienes habitan en vivienda ajena
(que
ya no es vientre amable sino una tumba o cárcel).
En
nombre de quienes comen mendrugos ajenos
(y
aún los mastican con sentimiento de ladrón).
En
nombre de quienes viven en un país ajeno
(las
casas y las fábricas y los comercios
y
las calles y las ciudades y los pueblos
y
los ríos y los lagos y los volcanes y los montes
son
siempre de otros
y
por eso está allí la policía y la guardia
cuidándolos
contra nosotros).
En
nombre de quienes lo único que tienen
es
hambre explotación enfermedades
sed
de justicia y de agua
persecuciones
condenas
soledad
abandono opresión muerte.
Yo
acuso a la propiedad privada
de
privarnos de todo.
ROQUE ANTONIO DALTON GARCÍA
Translated by JACK HIRSCHMAN
ACT
In the
name of those washing others’ clothes
(and
cleaning others’ filth from the whiteness)
In the
name of those caring for others’ children
(and
selling their labor power
in the
form of maternal love and humiliations)
In the
name of those living in another’s house
(which
isn’t even a kind belly but a tomb or a jail)
In the
name of those eating others’ crumbs
(and
chewing them still with the feeling of a thief
In the
name of those living on others’ land
(the
houses and factories and shops
streets
cities and towns
rivers
lakes volcanoes and mountains
always
belong to others
and that’s
why the cops and the guards are there
guarding
them against us)
In the
name of those who have nothing but
hunger
exploitation disease
a thirst
for justice and water
persecutions
and condemnations
loneliness
abandonment oppression and death
I accuse
private property
of depriving
us of everything.
CONTENIDO / CONTENTS
8 Roque Antonio Dalton García Acta/Act. Translated to English by Jack Hirschman
Barbara Paschke Translator
10 Cristina Crestanello: Un Hombre de Fuego y Luna / A Man of Fire and Moonlight
12 Reynaldo Conrado Lazo: La Muerte del Poeta / Death of The Poet
14 Luis Melgar Brizuela: Roque Dalton: El Príncipe De Bruces / Roque Dalton: Prince of Falling Flat.
18 Rafael Mendoza: Décimas A Roque Dalton / Décimas For Roque Dalton
22 Mario Castrillo: Queda Ahora Tu Voz / Your Voice Now Remains
26 Eduardo Salvador Cárcamo: A Roque / To Roque
30 Silvia Ethel Matus: Releyendo Taberna y Otros Lugares / Rereading Tavern and Other Places
32 Emilio Pineda Arévalo: Muerte Universal / Universal Death
36 Carlos Ernesto García: A Propósito de Praga / Speaking of Prague
Jack Hirschman Translator
38 Miguel Ángel Chinchilla: A Roque / To Roque
40 Jorge Canales: Dialéctica / Dialectic
42 Edgar Alfaro Chaverri: Cuando Supe Que Habías Muerto / When I Found Out You’d Died
44 Edgar Iván Hernández: En La Pólvora de Su Poesía / In The Gunpowder of His Poetry
46 Vidal Garay: Roque / Roque
48 Dora Magaña: Roque En Rojo / Roque In Red
50 Luis Antonio Chávez: La Muerte Solo Es Terrible / Death Alone Is Terrible
Judith Ayn Bernhard Translator
54 Miguel Ángel Pérez Ramos: Mirando Sin Ver / Looking Without Seeing
58 Amapola —Josefina Sibrián: Pájaro / Bird
60 Romeo Molina: A Roque / A To Roque
62 Manuel Barrera Ibarra: Julio Delfos Marín Clandestinamente Ha Vuelto a “La Royal” / Julio Delfos Marín Has Secretly Returned to “La Royal”
64 Kenny Rodríguez: Hoy / Today
66 Héctor Dennis López: Los Locos Seguimos Vivos / We Madmen Live On
68 Erick Tomasino: De Por Qué El Amor / The Why of Love
74 Antonio Cienfuegos: Retórica del Llagado / Rhetoric of The Wounded
John Curl Translator
78 Luis Borja: Exilio / Exile
80 Carlos Godoy: Quinto Poema De Amor / Fifth Love Poem
82 Kenia Patricia López: No Apagues La Luz / Don’t Turn off The Light
84 Remberto Ramirez: Carta / Letter
88 Kike Zepeda: Una Vez Me Preguntaron Por Roque / Once They Asked Me About Roque
92 Alberto Alexander Jirón: Flamenco Ofrenda: Dos Sonetos Por Roque / Offering: Two Sonnets For Roque
96 Lenin Valle: Entre Roque y La Trova / Between Roque and Trova Music
98 Josué Andrés Moz: De Roque y Sus Catalizadores / About Roque and His Catalysts
102 Ricardo Ventura: A Roque Dalton por su “Aspirina del Tamaño del Sol” / To Roque Dalton for His “Aspirin The Size of The Sun” Translated to English By Antonieta Villamil.
Biographies
CRISTINA CRESTANELLO. San
Fernando, Argentina. First prize in Poetry in the International Homage to Julio
Cortázar Competition (2003). Published El
Ángel dice que si (1994); Antología
de Poesía y Prosa (1995), Cada Lunes
(1997), El Hueco en el Árbol (1998), Antología Nueva Literatura (2003).
REYNALDO CONRADO LAZO. Apastepeque, 1932. Doctor and writer. He
has published the poetry collections
Bitácora en Gris, Torbellinos de Amor,
and El Laberinto de la Cordura.
LUIS MELGAR BRIZUELA. Suchitoto, 1943. Member of the Literary Group Piedra y Cielo, of
the Community of Salvadoran Writers, CES, and the Association of Writers of
Central America, ADECA. First prize in poetry in the Fifth Central American
Flower Games, Nicaragua, 2006 with Siete Historias de Cuscatlán.
RAFAEL MENDOZA. San Salvador, 1943. For his literary work, he has received many
awards, among them that of the Central American literary competition of the
Association of Law Students. He was part of the collectives la Cebolla Purpura
and Cinco Negritos.
MARIO CASTRILLO. San Salvador, 1950. Writer and art critic. Licensed journalist.
He has published Los Niños de mi Pueblo
Tienen Tristes los Ojos (1972), Brebaje
Amargo (1972), Poesía Guerrillera
(Ed. People’s Army of Liberation San Salvador, 1981), and Pequeños Animales Luminosos (1995).
EDUARDO SALVADOR CÁRCAMO. San
Salvador, 1950. Librarian. He worked with Luis Enrique Mejía Godoy in the
Department of Activities and Cultural Promotion of the UNA-Heredia and gave a
pair of recitals, including his friend and companion Adrián Goizueta as
soloist.
SILVIA ETHEL
MATUS. Nejapa, 1950. She has published three books
of poetry: En la dimensión del tránsito,
1996, Insumisa Primavera, 2002, and Partisana del Amor, 2012.
EMILIO PINEDA ARÉVALO. Zacatecoluca, 1954. Professor of Literature, writer, and founding poet of the group Writers of Zacatecoluca for Peace. He earned second prize in short stories in 1995 with his work El Reservista y otros Cuentos, published in 2000; he also published Entre Fantasmas Ronda el Amor (2005) and Al Otro Lado de los Santuarios (2014).
EMILIO PINEDA ARÉVALO. Zacatecoluca, 1954. Professor of Literature, writer, and founding poet of the group Writers of Zacatecoluca for Peace. He earned second prize in short stories in 1995 with his work El Reservista y otros Cuentos, published in 2000; he also published Entre Fantasmas Ronda el Amor (2005) and Al Otro Lado de los Santuarios (2014).
MIGUEL ÁNGEL CHINCHILLA. Born in San Salvador, 1956. Poet, narrator essayist, playwright and journalist. Founding member of the Cinco Negritos literary group and of the Community of Salvadorean Writers (CES).
JORGE CANALES. Born in Santa Ana, 1957. A teacher in the University of El
Salvador since 1991. He’s published 10 books of poetry since 1999, received the
El Salvadorean Writer of the Year Award in 2012 and, internationally, his poems
have been published Spain, Iran, Mexico, Nicaragua, Venezuela, and Argentina.
EDGAR ALFARO
CHAVERRI. Born in San Salvador in 1958. He was a
member of the Xibalba Literary Workshop. Winner of various poetry competitions.
He has published 19 books of poetry and one of prose, has represented El
Salvador in Central American festivals, and his poems have been translated into
Greek.
VIDAL GARAY. Born in Suchitoto in 1959.
A poet and storyteller, he was a graduate in Social Work. He has won
innumerable prizes for his poetry at both national and international levels.
CARLOS ERNESTO
GARCÍA. Born in Santa Tecla in 1960. He is an author of many books,
especially poetry, and in recent years his poems have been taken up in theater,
in painting, and in song. They have been translated into English, Chinese,
French, Italian, Catalan, and Albanian. Since 1980 he has lived in Barcelona,
Spain.
DORA MAGAÑA. Born in San Salvador in 1961, she is
dedicated to giving written proof of her experiences in order to recover the
memory of her comrades fallen in the ‘70s and ‘80s in El Salvador and
Guatemala. Her book Con Los Mismos Ojos
was published in Los Angeles by AVEditor.
LUIS ANTONIO CHÁVEZ. Born in 1961, he has published eleven books
of poetry since 1991; Los Hijos de Trueno,
published in 2003, was co-authored with poet Alex Canizalez. His 2010 book, Para endulzar tu nombre, was presented
in Nicaragua.
EDGAR IVÁN HERNÁNDEZ. Brn in Cuscatlán in 1965. A poet and short story writer, he has
been a member of the following Literary Workshops: Xibalba, Talega, and
Patriaexacta. He won the short story and poetry---first and second place
prizes, respectively--- at the age of 21 in Zacatecoluca for the IX Juegos
Florales Salvadoreños.
MIGUEL ÁNGEL PÉREZ RAMOS. San Miguel, 1966. Poet and visual artist. He graduated in Architecture from La
Universidad de El Salvador and has a degree in Drawing and Oil Painting from La
Academia de Artes Armando Solís.
AMAPOLA —JOSEFINA SIBRIÁN DE RODRÍGUEZ-. Chalatenango,
1966. Poet and university professor. She has published two books of poems, Tres Sueños (2000) and Dialisépalo en Vuelo (2015).
ROMEO MOLINA. Usulután, 1967. Poet, storyteller, financier, and journalist. He
has published ten books of stories.
MANUEL BARRERA IBARRA. Born in 1968, he was a member of the Literary Workshop
“Xibalbá.” First place in the Primavera de los Poetas, (Poets’ Spring) Radio
Francia International in 2007, Homenaje a René Char. He has published Memorias del Paleolítico, 1999 and Mitómano Suelto, 2004.
KENNY RODRÍGUEZ. Born in Quezaltepeque, 1969. Attorney, poet.
Publications include: Libro Secreto.
December 2011, volume 10 of the collection Amaranthus. Cárcel de Mujeres, 2011, an anthology of the Fortalecimiento de la
Identidad del Municipio de Quezaltepeque concerning art and culture. Fundación
Quino Caso/MINED.
HECTOR DENNIS
LOPEZ. Tonacatepeque, 1981, was raised in a region
full of dust, poverty, the sound of gunfire and love. Attorney specializing in
International Commerce. He writes poems, stories, and short novels. As Roque
said, “In addition, I have to pay the
light bill...”
ERICK TOMASINO. San Salvador, 1982. Writer. He studied psychology at La Universidad de
El Salvador. He has written the books Reverso
del Arcoíris (THC Editores, 2013), La
llaga desnuda (THC Editores, 2014), Diálogos
con la mujer murciélago (THC Editores, 2014).
ANTONIO CIENFUEGOS. San Salvador, 1982. Poet. He has lived most of his life in Mexico, dedicated to translation
and teaching. He has been published in various local and national magazines.
LUIS BORJA. Ahuachapán, 1985. Graduated in Arts from the University of El
Salvador. Founding member of Poetry Workshop del Parque (Ahuachapán). In 2014
he won second prize of the Poetry Prize Jaime
Gil de Biedma. He also won the Poesía Universitaria contest, Santa Ana
(2006), awarded by the Catholic University of El Salvador (UNICAES).
CARLOS GODOY. Quezaltepeque, 1986. Sociologist, member of the Experimental
Poetry Workshop of Quezaltepeque at the Quino Caso Foundation.
KENIA PATRICIA
LÓPEZ. Soyapango, 1987. Graduate, Bachelor of Legal
Sciences at the University of El Salvador. Since 2005 he has been a member of
the Literary Workshop Serpientemplumada. His texts are published in Retornos, poetry anthology of the
Literary Workshop Serpientemplumada (2008), and in Una madrugada del siglo XXI: poesía joven salvadoreña.
REMBERTO RAMÍREZ. San Salvador, 1987. Bachelor of Arts
graduate from the University of El Salvador, he was part of the creative
writing workshop of the Culture Unit
Roberto Armijo at the Technological University. Some of his writings were
published in La huesera colectiva.
Currently he is working in free verse poetry and nursery rhymes.
KIKE ZEPEDA. Santa Ana, 1990. Poet, a founding member of the Artistic
Collective Chalchuapaneco “Ala de Colibrí.” His poems have been published in the
anthology of poets Invisibles
(Colombia 2013). In October 2014 he participated in the Festival of Young
Poetry “Amilcar Colocho,” and currently he is studying for a BA in
Sociocultural Anthropology at the UES.
ALBERTO ALEXANDER JIRÓN FLAMENCO. Chalatenango, 1991. In 2012 he won first place in the University Poetry Contest “Tu
Mundo en Versos” with the collection Huésped
transitorio de las dos residencias. He has been included in the anthologies
Invisibles and Versos en el aire III.
LENIN VALLE. 1993. Estudia Economía.
JOSHUA ANDRÉS MOZ. San
Salvador, 1994. Founder and current member of the cultural collective
Metafilia. He has shared his work in recitals across the country, as well as
radio programs. He was a judge in the poetry contest “Chalatenango escucha mi
voz,” and is waiting to present his first collection, Amores, sarcasmos y otras metáforas.
RICARDO VENTURA. Born in El Salvador in 1956. He lives in Los
Angeles and he has published in numerous reviews and anthologies like Poesía Féstival: Migración del Canto, Poetas
de Los Ángeles Sin Permisos Ni Fronteras, among others, and prepares his
Opera Prima.
The Translators
The Translators
BARBARA
PASCHKE is a noted translator of Spanish and
French. She was one of the founders of the Roque
Dalton Cultural Brigade in the 1980s (which is still active), and edited
Jack Hirschman’s translation of Dalton’s Clandestine Poems.
JACK
HIRSCHMAN is the emeritus Fourth Poet Laureate
of the City of San Francisco (2006-2009 and a co-founder of the World Poetry
Movement in Medellin, Colombia.
JUDITH
AYN BERNHARD is the poet of Prisoners of Culture
and a translator of the poems of Cuban poet Alex Pausides.
JOHN
CURL is the poet of Revolutionary
Alchemy and the translator of Aztec, Mayan and Incan poetry in his
definitive Ancient American Poets.
ANTONIETA
VILLAMIL is a bilingual poet
with over 11 published books of poetry in Spanish. Autodidact. Ghost editor.
Her first book in English: The Empire For
One Poem will be out in National Poetry Month, April of 2019. www.antonietavillamil.blogspot.com
