Poetry
Los poemas de la ofensa
Not translated into English
Jaime Jaramillo Escobar · 1968
Synopsis
Poems in long free verse, written in spoken language, that address someone and call out to them. A man tells of his village in Antioquia, the mine, the funerals, what the priests used to say. He insults polite society, mocks poetry that is doing well for itself, celebrates bodies and animals, and returns again and again to childhood. The titles are whole sentences and the poems do not rhyme.
Context
Completed as early as 1963, the collection was awarded in 1967 the prize that the Nadaists had named after a boxer, and appeared the following year in Bogotá, from Tercer Mundo. Its author wanted to put his own name on it: the publisher refused, since many people knew who the pseudonym was and no one who the man was. Forty-four poems, written with the force of the biblical verse, which broke with the subjects and forms of national poetry. The movement, born in Medellín in 1958, was known for its provocative acts against the church and the established writers.
Who it is for
Long but easy poems, in the spoken Spanish of Colombia. No French translation.
Prizes and reception
Prize at the Nadaist competition in 1967, and the title that anthologies choose when they must select a text from the movement.