martes, 11 de junio de 2013

Preface to "Scylla and Charybdis" by James Knight

Mina Polen’s Scylla and Charybdis is one of the most extraordinary poem cycles I have read in recent years. It expresses something essential about Mexico, its people, its politics, its darkly dazzling dreams, using ancient myths to illuminate a complex contemporary world.

The synthesis of the real and the imaginary in Mina’s work locates her in a vibrant Latin American tradition that has produced the likes of Octavio Paz and Alejandra Pizarnik. Her work is surrealist in the hallucinatory power of its words, images, patterns. Nothing feels contrived, nothing is forced. Her imagination interacts with Mexico, transforms it, reveals it, makes us see it afresh.

As the title suggests, this book is full of monsters. Not toothless literary creations that melt at dawn, but the real monsters ravaging Mexico: capitalism, drugs, crime, a corrupt government, impotence, apathy. Despite this, the word “hope” rises from the pages, forms strange clouds. Every reader will see something different in those misty shapes.


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You can buy Mina’s book here.
Text and image are the copyright of James Knight. All rights reserved.

martes, 4 de junio de 2013

Scylla / Charybdis



Scylla wants your broken hope

your broken bones your broken blood

Scylla eats your body parts

your sex your youth your coming sons

Scylla loves your golden blood

your brain your thought your solid mould

Scylla longs to be your King

your queer your dear your fucking Queen

Scylla hears your step your breath

is underneath your wrecked health

Scylla feeds your stupid pride

steals your wife your fetid life

Scylla fucks your fragile mind

your feeble kind what lies behind

Scylla strives to carry on

to vibe your womb to squeeze your lung

Scylla steals your future gone

your fractured bone your fear undone

Scylla drinks your holy thirst

your lowly gasp your wholly peace

Scylla hates your languid tears

your liquid fears your lucid years



Scylla gutless.

Image by James Knight.


Charybdis whirls

and you see pearls
Charybdis speaks
and you feel weak
Charybdis lures
and you sense cures
Charybdis shows
and you feel throes
Charybdis dances
and you see chances
Charybdis shines
and you hear rhymes
Charybdis strips
and your head flips
Charybdis kisses
and your heart hisses
Charybdis lies
and you eat flies
Charybdis hides
and you drown in tides
Charybdis sings
and your trust springs

Charybdis scuttles.
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These are two poems belonging to the series of poems published as "Scylla and Charybdis". The book can be bought here and the preface of it can be read here.