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Into the Mystic
The motif of the ouroboros appears in the ancient cultures of Egypt, India, Greece and Mexico, and was of particular interest to European alchemists in the early modern era. Conventionally it...
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Down Mexico Way
Over the next few days, the International Book Fair of Guadalajara will be taking place in Mexico. Guadalajara is noteworthy for actually inviting numbers of that marginal group in the production of...
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The Holy Coyote
What are the chances of bashing your head on the protuberant arm of the TV bracket twice in your hotel room in the space of ten minutes? The second time my head bled so profusely by the time I got to...
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The Kindly Ones
Well, I finished The Kindly Ones on the way here, actually at a little eatery called One Flew South in Atlanta airport, the only place that wasn’t a McDonalds or a Dunkin’ Donuts. The ending was a bit...
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Dog-throwing in Zapotlanejo and other rare feats
Blanco is renowned for his benevolent nature and willingness to engage in Good Works, especially the healthful encouragement of youth (or what employers insist on calling ‘community engagement’, or...
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Books and guns in Guadalajara
One of the great pleasures of the Guadalajara Feria del Libro is the spirit of festivity and celebration. Being a Latin affair, the partying is intense and persistent. Fortunately for his readers,...
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Bolaño and criticism
My last night in Mexico, after a quiet dinner with a friend, I dreamed a strange and involved kind of dream that, when I awoke, left an aftereffect of mystery and sadness. Bolaño was there; my friend...
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Jaguars, snakes, rabbits
Jaguar duality If you travel, Blanco thinks, if you just travel, go from place to place, walk around, you should never get bored and you should never lack for things to do or write about, if this...
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Mexican history, pasties, & the fall of Europe
Perhaps nowhere on earth is the contiguity of past and present more strikingly evident than in Mexico. An ancient wall, cracked from an earthquake, stands before a pair of ascending high rise...
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The unicorns and the ghost in the wall
Leonora Carrington. The unicorns and the ghost in the wall I try to imagine what they are thinking, and realise that not even they know this; that perhaps they are not capable of thought. Either...
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Poems for staying at home (Day 3)
Today’s poem for staying at home is ‘Time of Crisis’, by the Mexican poet Fabio Morábito. Morabito’s poetry, infused with a wry and occasionally coruscating humour, is especially suited to the weird...
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Poems for staying at home (Day 13)
Today’s poem concerns a house, any house – though this one happens to be in Mexico – in which someone is born, but no longer lives. We all have a house to which we return in dreams. We may be...
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Poems for staying at home (Day 30)
After the weekend, this cow rummages through the debris left by the visiting humans; the remains of campfires, plastic carrier bags, bottles and beer cans. We know, we’ve seen it. Poor cow. Fabio...
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Poems for staying at home (Day 31)
As we find ourselves in June, two bumblebees, observed by the Mexican poet Pura López Colomé, hover over ‘rose coloured leaves / from a flower that is not a rose.’ And the Anthurium, Undaunted Two...
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Poems for staying at home (Day 32)
Today’s poem: a perfect study in stillness, by the Mexican poet Coral Bracho. Goats In the whiteness and its nucleus of light the goats stand stock-still. Gently the rock holds them in its palm;...
View ArticlePoems for staying at home (Day 38)
This great and terrible poem of witness is now ten years old. The poem has become a symbol of resistance to state and narco gang violence and has in turn brought death threats to its author, María...
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Poems for staying at home (Day 39)
In these dark times many people are unable to bury their dead, or even attend to their dying relatives. Fabio Morábito’s devastating poem captures the irony of grief and loss through the eyes of one...
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