{"id":450,"date":"2009-08-11T16:08:41","date_gmt":"2009-08-11T16:08:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mahmag.org\/nucleus-import\/?p=450"},"modified":"2009-08-11T16:08:41","modified_gmt":"2009-08-11T16:08:41","slug":"alejandro-mendez","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mahmag.org\/archive-english\/alejandro-mendez\/","title":{"rendered":"Alejandro Mendez"},"content":{"rendered":"
Alejandro Mendez<\/div>\n

\nAlejandro Mendez was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1965.<\/p>\n

41 years<\/p>\n

I will stop myself there
\nto make a toast with the
\nstrange
\ngolem
\nof lightAlejandro Mendez was born in Buenos Aires in 1965. He has published several books of poetry including \u201cMedley\u201d (2003), \u201cTsunami\u201d (2005), and \u201cChicos \u00edndigos\u201d (Indigo Boys) (2007). He is currently the coordinator of Las elecciones afectivas\/Las afinidades electivas (Affectionate Choices\/Chosen Affinities). This has been likened to a facebook type site of Latin American poetry where a network of poets are linked by their own affinities without hierarchies or censorship. All poets are united through links categorized by country as well as the relationship between poets that recommend each other. Mr. Mendez describes the site accordingly, \u201cOne post, one poet, their picture, their poetry and a list of likes and affinities that give connection to new poets and new posts; a snowball, an unstoppable train, a loop, a sand dune.\u201d With regard to his own poetry, Mr. Mendez said the following, \u201cI want my poetry to be a coalescence of the five senses all at the same time.\u201d For those readers that are interested in Spanish poetry please feel free to visit the site at https:\/\/lasafinidadeselectivas.blogspot.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n

The following is a translation of a poem that appears in his book of poetry \u201cMedley\u201d.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cHannelore Kohl, 68 years old, the wife of the ex-chancellor of Germany Helmut Kohl, committed suicide and was found yesterday in the apartment in which she lived in Ludwigshafen (in the west of Germany). Hannelore was sick due to an allergy she had to light, which only permitted her to leave at night. Due to her unfortunate state of health, she decided to voluntarily end her own life\u201d, an announcement from Kohl’s office stated. The couple had just celebrated their 41st anniversary.<\/i><\/p>\n

\nThe poems of Hannelore Kohl<\/b><\/p>\n

I<\/p>\n

Sleepwalking I stumble
\nover the doormat,
\ngnawed by the
\nAfghan
\n-a gift from Chirac-<\/p>\n

outside the shouts
\nbecome deceivingly
\nmixed up with
\nthe strict fragrance
\nof the vegetable stew
\nprepared by Clara,
\nborn in the Black Forest,
\n\u201cLa Selva Negra\u201d
\nas she likes to say
\nto my small bilingual
\ngrandson. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe have built a wall around
\nthe house for you
\nHannelore\u201d
\nShe repeats it to me
\nlike that
\neveryday
\nthe good in Helmut,
\neaten away by the
\nhigh flown politics
\nof Europe and
\ntheir palatial schemes.<\/p>\n

I wander through the
\nhouse
\nhassled by the
\nlight,
\nor rather,
\nby the leaks.<\/p>\n

The light is unpredictable,
\nseeping through everywhere.<\/p>\n

Yesterday we had to
\ncover up the first aid cupboard
\nthere was a small
\ncrack
\nthrough which the
\nLudwigshafen sun seeped through
\na summer sun
\ndirect and fatal
\nsuch as my
\nherr doktor
\nusually tells me.<\/p>\n

\nII<\/p>\n

Figurehead
\nand black glasses.<\/p>\n

Lethal puzzle
\nspreads the litany
\nof the light’s
\nstabbing pain.<\/p>\n

Taking refuge in the
\nanti-missile shelter,
\nI remember past wars
\nand warnings of the future.<\/p>\n

Even against the
\nmaxim of the lucky priest.<\/p>\n

fast
\nfast<\/p>\n

more silence,
\nmore darkness.<\/p>\n

III<\/p>\n

Suspended
\nthe incessant
\nsynesthetic
\nmurmur,<\/p>\n

tosses from above
\nthe vision
\nclouded
\nby feeble conjectures.<\/p>\n

This tunnel
\nthat is my house,
\nthese eyes that
\ninvestigate the
\nchromatic subtlety of
\nthe night
\n-her only repose-
\nthis madness,
\nthat flashes
\nbefore the deadly
\narrival
\nof
\ndawn.<\/p>\n

IV<\/p>\n

I expel
\nchromatic memories<\/p>\n

tactile and nocturnal
\nthat’s how he likes
\nme.<\/p>\n

V<\/p>\n

41 years<\/p>\n

I will stop myself there
\nto make a toast with the
\nstrange
\ngolem
\nof light<\/p>\n

Anniversary
\nfor the improvised
\nblind<\/p>\n

I’ve already died
\nfor the radiant
\nday,<\/p>\n

I live on in
\nthe night owl
\ncadaver
\nof the roses.<\/p>\n

\n*Poem translated from the Spanish by Andr\u00e9s Alfaro<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Alejandro Mendez was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1965. 41 years I will stop myself there to make a toast with the strange golem of light<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":548,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mahmag.org\/archive-english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/450"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mahmag.org\/archive-english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mahmag.org\/archive-english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mahmag.org\/archive-english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/548"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mahmag.org\/archive-english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=450"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mahmag.org\/archive-english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/450\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mahmag.org\/archive-english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=450"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mahmag.org\/archive-english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=450"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mahmag.org\/archive-english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=450"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}