I’m so happy to have been introduced to the work of Dulce María Loynaz (1902-1997) through Absolute Solitude*, a selection of her prose poems translated by James O’Connor.
Though her early work was well received in her native Cuba and abroad (including by writers like Gabriela Mistral and Juan Ramón Jiménez), after the Cuban Revolution Loynaz stopped writing poetry (her books were banned for decades), leaving her work to be rediscovered by a new generation when she won the prestigious Premio Miguel de Cervantes in 1992. You can read more about the poet, her struggles, and her legacy in this piece by translator James O’Connor.
Most of Absolute Solitude is taken up with a large selection from Loynaz’s book Poems Without Names (Poemas sin nombre), originally published in Spain in 1953. These prose poems are brief; almost all are less than a page in length, and most are shorter than a paragraph. (The one-line poems are almost aphoristic.) The Spanish originals and English translations appear on opposite pages.
The poems are intensely personal, and yet encompass universal themes: the agonies of love, the pleasures and terrors of solitude, wrestling with the divine. I was reminded, at different times, of Rumi, Emily Dickinson, Leonard Cohen, and Gabriela Mistral; while I often find contemporary prose poems difficult—too obscure, I suppose—these I found to be transporting.
Here are a few of my favorites.
For me, the blank space on the page following each poem was an invitation to pause and think carefully about what I’d just read. I loved this jewel of a collection.
What poems are you reading this week?
* I received a copy of this book from the publisher for review purposes, which did not affect the content of my review.
Rosemary and Reading Glasses 
I don’t have a lot of experience with prose poems. They tend to be my least favorite in mixed-style collections. However, I do really like the ones you’ve posted here, especially “tenderness grown weary/weariness grown tender” (I have to think some more about what that means!).
I recently finished Craig Raine’s excellent How Snow Falls.
I’ll look for that one!
This sounds like a must read after visiting Havana. Thanks!
Oh, definitely! And apparently her house is now a museum of some sort.
I love what you shared. Especially the first one – that is a legitimate fear! And, the last one. Okay, all of them are my favourite. 🙂
I’m so glad you liked them!
I just love all of your poetry book reviews! I just started Lucretius’s On the Nature of the Universe, translated by Ronald Melville. I’m going slowly as I’m trying to brush up on my very dusty Latin.
Thank you so much! And Lucretius–what an undertaking!
Wow1 I have not heard of this poet before but I loved every one of the pieces your shared. Will definitely be on the lookout for this one!
I’m so glad! The book is out from a small press (Archipelago) so it might be tricky to find, but I hope you do!
My library has it! Now I have to figure out when I might be able to fit it into my reading pile
Yay! It is pretty short, though the poems are worth lingering over.
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