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And a very fine book it is, Mark. I have to say though that, while I 
lived for nigh on 2 years in Mexico City, I came across hardly any of 
the terrific poets represented in Reversible Monuments. David Huerta 
was one that sticks in my mind, but no more than one or two others. It 
is a matter of great regret now, but at the time  I didn't have the 
time to engage with the scene there even though I would have wanted to.

Mexican poetry post-Paz seems to me not to be all that well known 
anywhere, and there's no good anthology of younger poets in Mexico 
itself  that I know of. I note that a recent large Spanish anthology of 
hispanophone poetry (*Insulas Extrañas*. Antología de poesía en lengua 
española 1950-2000. Galaxia Gutenberg, Barcelona, 2002) hopelessly 
under-represented Mexico (& over-represented Spain, but that's another 
story); there's also not a single book of Aridjis' poems in print in 
Spain, which seems instructive.

Tony


On Saturday, August 2, 2003, at 06:12  pm, Mark Weiss wrote:

> And of course my own Across the Line / Al otro lado: The Poetry of Baja
> California (San Diego: Junction Press, 2002), which I edited with Harry
> Polkinhorn.
>
> Rebecca's list of anthologies, and all the hard work many of us have 
> been
> doing, notwithstanding, except in border regions Mexican poetry 
> post-Paz is
> largely unknown in the US, and even San Diegans rarely are aware of 
> what's
> happening culturally in Mexico, 15 miles from my house in the center. 
> This
> despite the active promotion of cross-border awareness by our otherwise
> very conservative newspapers. When major cultural events happen in 
> Tijuana
> or Mexicali I'm usually the only gringo in evidence.
>
> It is shockingly true that very little British poetry makes its way 
> into
> the awareness of US poets. I've been particularly lucky--introduced to
> Bunting's work 30 years ago, and exposed to the poets that Jerry 
> Rothenberg
> and the local university have brought to San Diego. Even so, it's 
> largely
> this list that's opened the field for me. Go into bookstores that have 
> a
> special interest in poetry and the pickings are pretty slim.
>
> Mark