Julio Cortazar
To Be Read in the Interrogative
Have you seen
have you truly seen
the snow the stars the felt steps of the breeze
Have you touched
really have you touched
the plate the bread the face of that woman you love so much
Have you lived
like a blow to the head
the flash the gasp the fall the flight
Have you known
known in every pore of your skin
how your eyes your hands your sex your soft heart
must be thrown away
must be wept away
must be invented all over again
~
from Save Twilight
(City Lights 1997)
selected poems
trans. Stephen Kessler
BORN IN BRUSSELS TO ARGENTINIAN PARENTS IN 1914 JULIO CORTAZAR WAS RAISED IN ARGENTINA BEFORE MOVING TO PARIS IN 1951, WHERE HE PASSED AWAY IN 1984. BETWEEN THEN & THEN HE MANAGED TO BE STRIKINGLY HANDSOME, DARING IN LIFE AND THE NOW CLASSICS HE WROTE, INCLUDING HOPSCOTCH, BLOW UP AND OTHER STORIES, 62: A MODEL KIT, ALL FIRES THE FIRE AND MUCH MORE. NOT ONE OF HIS TITLES WILL LEAD YOU WRONG.
photo : citylights.com
