![\"Angel](\"https:\/\/blogs.cervantes.es\/dublin\/files\/2013\/12\/Angel_Guinda-300x169.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Interview with \u00c1ngel Guinda held on the 22nd October 2012 at the D\u00e1maso Alonso Library of the\u00a0Instituto Cervantes in Dublin<\/a>\u00a0in association with his participation in the literary reading\u00a0\u201cUseful poetry: commented reading\u201d.<\/a><\/h4>\n\u00c1ngel Guinda (Zaragoza, 1948) is best known for his poetry. In the early eighties, he published his collected poetry in\u00a0Vida \u00e1vida<\/i>, where the rawness of his words and a self-destructive nature stood out. In 1987, \u00c1ngel moved to Madrid, which gave way to a more existentialist style of poetry with titles likeConocimiento del medio<\/i>,\u00a0La llegada del mal tiempo<\/i>\u00a0and\u00a0Biograf\u00eda de la muerte<\/i>. With the new Century, Guinda’s attempt to better communicate and connect with people, led to a more open\u00a0and unified style of poetry.\u00a0With\u00a0Claro interior<\/i>\u00a0and\u00a0Poemas para los dem\u00e1s,<\/i>\u00a0his work began to appeal to a wider audience.\u00a0In 2010, he received the Premio de las Letras Aragonesas prize. Since then, he has published three poetry collections:\u00a0Espectral<\/i>\u00a0(2011)\u00a0Caja de lava<\/i>\u00a0(2012) andRigor Vitae<\/i>\u00a0(2013).<\/p>\n
Carmen Sanjuli\u00e1n: \u2014\u00c1ngel, you’ve been writing for many years. Do you remember your first poem?<\/b><\/p>\n
\u00c1ngel Guinda:<\/b>\u00a0<\/span>\u2014I think my first poem was a ballad, when I was 12, to celebrate (I’m almost embarrassed to mention it) my stepsister’s First Communion.<\/p>\nCarmen Sanjuli\u00e1n: \u2014Embarrased? Why?<\/b><\/p>\n
\u00c1ngel Guinda:<\/b>\u00a0<\/span>\u2014Well, because of the way life has changed… They say, \u201cIf you’ve lived, you’ve seen it all\u201d. When I was young, I was an altar boy, I had to study Greek and Latin. I went to mass and was Christian, Catholic, Apostolic and Roman, until I reached 30, which is when I lost my faith.<\/p>\nCarmen Sanjuli\u00e1n: \u2014Things have changed a lot. You not only write poems, but also theorise about poetry and the role of the poet in society, which lead yout to publish poetic manifestos such as Poes\u00eda y subversi\u00f3n, Poes\u00eda \u00fatil, Poes\u00eda violenta, o El mundo del poeta. El poeta en el mundo. Why do you have this need to write, to reflect?<\/b><\/p>\n
\u00c1ngel Guinda:<\/b><\/span>\u00a0\u2014That\u00b4s a really interesting question. I began to theorise about poetry when I already had my own poetic style. I already knew where I wanted to go and roughly what voice I wanted to project. Then I started to ask myself the big questions, \u201cWhat is the word?\u201d I thought the word was about being alive, so I answered myself, \u201cThe word is a living thing\u201d. I was self-evident and I explained this to my students. \u201cWhat is a poet?\u201d I argued, \u201cBeing a poet is not a profession, its a possession\u201d. \u201cWhat is a poem?\u201d \u201cWhat is poetry? I mean, I started to ask myself the fundamental questions in order to reaffirm my style and my own voice.<\/p>\nCarmen Sanjuli\u00e1n: \u2014You wrote one of your manifestos at the Casa del Poeta in Trasmoz. You where the first guest and you began with a hunger strike. Has anything changed since then?<\/b><\/p>\n
\u00c1ngel Guinda:<\/b><\/span>\u00a0\u2014Very little, unfortunately. I remember that among the literary claims there was one in Euskadi that vindicated the poetry and the great Basque poets who hardly wrote anything in Basque, but in Spanish, like Blas de Otero or Gabriel Celaya – poets who did so much for the advent of freedom in Spain.<\/p>\nWhen I attended a tribute to Celaya, in the village where he was born, his widow, Amparo Gast\u00f3n, was there, and I witnessed tomatoes being thrown at them, at the widows of Blas de Otero, Sabina de la Cruz… I crumbled. It seemed a terrible injustice to me. Apparently now there is more respect for the poetry of Gabriel Celaya and Blas de Otero, especially after the truce was called.<\/p>\n
I also pushed, for example, for the opening of a Poet’s House in each of the autonomous communities of Spain, there\u00b4s still only one in Trasmoz, as the only centre for literary translation is in Tarazona. On top of this, I called for 0% VAT \u00a0on literature. Although almost nothing has been achieved since then, it had some impact at the time and I felt great support from my literary colleagues and readers in general.<\/p>\n
Carmen Sanjuli\u00e1n: \u2014Paradox is a distinguishing element in your poetry, but it\u00b4s also an element that distinguishes you in life.<\/b><\/p>\n
\u00c1ngel Guinda:<\/b><\/span>\u2014Yes, because as Cernuda said \u201cIt is not love that dies, but we ourselves\u201d… I am eternally in love with life and I believe in the immortality of love but then I admit that I married four times. This is an example of paradox in my life, but there are many more\u2026<\/p>\nCarmen Sanjuli\u00e1n: \u2014 Poets have been described as being cursed, is there such a thing as a poet who is blessed?<\/b><\/p>\n
\u00c1ngel Guinda:<\/b>\u00a0<\/span>\u2014I think I\u00b4m blessed. Even though \u00c1ngel Crespo coined the term \u201c\u00c1ngel Guinda, cursed poet\u201d in a study about.my poetry. As a poet, I\u00b4m blessed.<\/p>\nCarmen Sanjuli\u00e1n: \u2014How come?<\/b><\/p>\n
\u00c1ngel Guinda:<\/b>\u00a0<\/span>\u2014Because I think I’m a good person. I want to be, and I think I am, a good guy. If we interpret being cursed as voluntarily choosing to be on the fringes of society, with little power and influence, then I am<\/p>\nCarmen Sanjuli\u00e1n: \u2014You defend the idea of poetry as something useful. In what way has poetry helped you?<\/b><\/p>\n
\u00c1ngel Guinda:<\/b><\/span>\u00a0\u2014It has helped me in a lot of ways. It has helped me as a means of expression. For me, expressing yourself is part of being alive. When you have more and better ways of expressing yourself, you feel more alive.<\/p>\nI use poetry as a means of expression, of communication, of understanding and a way of looking at the world. Not only in terms of aesthetics but also in the way I face the world with a resilient attitude. Life is marvellous, that\u00b4s true, but life is very hard for everyone, it\u00b4s really challenging and feeling positive can be the contradiction to death.<\/p>\n
Carmen Sanjuli\u00e1n: \u2014This is one of the topics that you regularly visit.<\/b><\/p>\n
\u00c1ngel Guinda:<\/b>\u00a0<\/span>\u2014Sure – life, death, the passing of time that erodes everything…<\/p>\nCarmen Sanjuli\u00e1n: \u2014So you\u00b4re saying that poetry is useful. A few days ago I read that they\u00b4re thinking of making economics a compulsory subject in schools. Do you think they\u00b4ll ever make poetry compulsory?<\/b><\/p>\n
\u00c1ngel Guinda:<\/b>\u00a0<\/span>No, I don\u00b4t, unfortunately. It has nothing to do with looking out for our own interests, but unfortunately, no. I have given language and literature classes in secondary school and have tried to make my syllabus live up to the generation of 1936, which has helped me develop effective teaching tools to capture the students attention and try to motivate them. These include using song lyrics, including rap (students really like this), using the class as a translation workshop, using audiovisual aids…<\/p>\nPoetry is really interesting because it\u00b4s a cultural medium, like art or music, but it requires attention, dedication and a special method of teaching so that students, and especially adolescents, become interested in it.<\/p>\n
Carmen Sanjuli\u00e1n: \u2014 You\u00b4ve had a lot of success with your students though. David Francisco, a student of yours, directed the film \u00abLa diferencia\u00bb, based on your life. He mentioned in an interview that students regularly requested you, as you had a way of opening up their eyes to the world.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n
\u00c1ngel Guinda:<\/b><\/span>\u00a0\u2014It\u00b4s funny you mention that because three years before my retirement, I thought that nobody knew I was a poet.But then they began to check my books out of the library and soon they were discovered by the media.<\/p>\nCarmen Sanjuli\u00e1n: \u2014In Entrevista a m\u00ed mismo, a documentary also made by David Francisco, we see \u00c1ngel Guinda bare all. Was it difficult for you?<\/b><\/p>\n
\u00c1ngel Guinda:<\/b><\/span>\u00a0\u2014No it was quite easy actually, because I had a poem called \u201cEntrevista a m\u00ed mismo\u201d and I had the idea to develop different characters, so I dressed up as a journalist, and afterwards a poet, to become myself. It was very interesting.<\/p>\nCarmen Sanjuli\u00e1n: \u2014Do you distance yourself from labels or do you have any hidden weaknesses?<\/b><\/p>\n
\u00c1ngel Guinda:<\/b><\/span>\u00a0\u2014 Poetically speaking, I\u00b4ve always stood out. When I was younger and used childish language, people said that I always did my own thing. The critics said it\u2026Manuel Rico also mentioned it when he reviewed Caja de lava.<\/p>\nI’ve always been a poet who did my own thing and haven\u00b4t given into trends. Think of my very dear and admired colleague\u00b4s \u00a0so-called \u201cpoes\u00eda de la experiencia\u201d or \u201cpoes\u00eda de la diferencia\u201d, or \u201cdecadent aestheticism\u201c…<\/p>\n
But it’s true that for many years I admired two great poets of my generation – Pere Gimferrer and Leopoldo Mar\u00eda Panero, until about ten years ago.<\/p>\n
Carmen Sanjuli\u00e1n: \u2014Has anything changes since you received the \u201cLas Letras Aragonesas\u201d award in 2010?\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n
\u00c1ngel Guinda:<\/b>\u00a0<\/span>\u2014Yes, there has certainly been some changes. After leaving Aragon 23 years earlier, I was surprised to receive such an honour from my people in 2010. At first I was surprised, but then I felt honoured. I promised not to let them down, resolving to remain honest and demanding more from myself, in order to get the most out of this constant learning experience that is poetry. The apprenticeship where I learned my craft was with the great Catalan poet Salvador Espriu.<\/p>\nCarmen Sanjuli\u00e1n: \u2014You wrote a poem about Lavapi\u00e9s, the neighbourhood where you live, amongst other things. When you look for an image of \u00c1ngel Guinda, it\u00b4s almost impossible to find a picture of you without a cigarette in your hand. Have you ever written a poem about your constant companion?<\/b><\/p>\n
\u00c1ngel Guinda:<\/b><\/span>\u00a0\u2014Twenty years ago I wrote a poem I know by heart, unfortunately, and it goes like this:<\/p>\nI have smoked life<\/p>\n
as time has smoked me.<\/p>\n
Look at this larynx, this trachea,<\/p>\n
these bronchi and lungs<\/p>\n
gunned down by nicotine.<\/p>\n
I have smoked the underground fumes<\/p>\n
of the subway, of its platforms;<\/p>\n
Madrid air, dirty,<\/p>\n
like a betrayal of the most beautiful light;<\/p>\n
…<\/p>\n
And speaking of smoke…my latest project, Rigor vitae, which I\u00b4ve been working on compulsively for the last six months, features numerous crosses, a lot of smoke and countless shadows. Of course, smoke symbolises many things. Smoke prevents us from seeing the reality around us.<\/p>\n
Carmen Sanjuli\u00e1n: \u2014Is your latest project closer to Espectral or Caja de lava?<\/b><\/p>\n
\u00c1ngel Guinda:<\/b><\/span>\u00a0\u2014Espectral. People surprised me a lot by saying it was the best book I had written. The truth is that it was written in a state of euphoria, in a trance for nine months. It\u00b4s a book that amasses all a poet’s obsessions – with authenticity and with all his inner demons. The ghost of the mother who dies bleeding in childbirth, the ghost of infertility and not being able to have children, etc… But I’ve come to realise that the reality around me is more haunting than the phantom of a work of poetry. So much to say that my writing opposes reality and this is not what it\u00b4s about.<\/p>\nRigor vitae is closer to Espectral than the figurative poetry of Caja de lava .<\/p>\n
Carmen Sanjuli\u00e1n: \u2014I went to the launch of Caja de lava. So many comments were made about the title!<\/b><\/p>\n
\u00c1ngel Guinda:<\/b><\/span>\u00a0\u2014It has a very interesting story, at least for me, personally. When the book was in the works, it was called Caja d\u00e9bil (Fragile Box). But I’m a hypochondriac. Although I have the self-destructive instinct to smoke, I also have a fear of death. So I began to wonder if \u201cfragile box\u201d was really a metaphor for the rib cage, because this was so bad. So I tried to revitalise myself a little bit, inject more fire, more energy into my work, and so the title became Caja de lava (Box of Lava).<\/p>\nRecommended links<\/h4>\n\n- [V\u00eddeo]\u00a0Interview\u00a0<\/a>with \u00c1ngel Guinda at the Instituto Cervantes in Dublin by Carmen Sanjuli\u00e1n.<\/li>\n
- \u00c1ngel Guinda<\/a>\u00a0Official Website.<\/i><\/li>\n
- Interview with \u00c1ngel Guinda<\/a>\u00a0in\u00a0Poes\u00eda para todos<\/i>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
< List of interviews<\/a><\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u00c1ngel Guinda: Being a Poet is Not a Profession, It’s a Possession Interview with \u00c1ngel Guinda held on the 22nd October 2012 at the D\u00e1maso Alonso Library of the\u00a0Instituto Cervantes in Dublin\u00a0in association with his participation in the literary reading\u00a0\u201cUseful poetry: commented reading\u201d. \u00c1ngel Guinda (Zaragoza, 1948) is best known for his poetry. In […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[52,18,19,61,47],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cervantes.es\/dublin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10212"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cervantes.es\/dublin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cervantes.es\/dublin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cervantes.es\/dublin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cervantes.es\/dublin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10212"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cervantes.es\/dublin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10212\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11170,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cervantes.es\/dublin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10212\/revisions\/11170"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cervantes.es\/dublin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10212"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cervantes.es\/dublin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10212"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cervantes.es\/dublin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10212"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Carmen Sanjuli\u00e1n: \u2014Embarrased? Why?<\/b><\/p>\n
\u00c1ngel Guinda:<\/b>\u00a0<\/span>\u2014Well, because of the way life has changed… They say, \u201cIf you’ve lived, you’ve seen it all\u201d. When I was young, I was an altar boy, I had to study Greek and Latin. I went to mass and was Christian, Catholic, Apostolic and Roman, until I reached 30, which is when I lost my faith.<\/p>\n Carmen Sanjuli\u00e1n: \u2014Things have changed a lot. You not only write poems, but also theorise about poetry and the role of the poet in society, which lead yout to publish poetic manifestos such as Poes\u00eda y subversi\u00f3n, Poes\u00eda \u00fatil, Poes\u00eda violenta, o El mundo del poeta. El poeta en el mundo. Why do you have this need to write, to reflect?<\/b><\/p>\n \u00c1ngel Guinda:<\/b><\/span>\u00a0\u2014That\u00b4s a really interesting question. I began to theorise about poetry when I already had my own poetic style. I already knew where I wanted to go and roughly what voice I wanted to project. Then I started to ask myself the big questions, \u201cWhat is the word?\u201d I thought the word was about being alive, so I answered myself, \u201cThe word is a living thing\u201d. I was self-evident and I explained this to my students. \u201cWhat is a poet?\u201d I argued, \u201cBeing a poet is not a profession, its a possession\u201d. \u201cWhat is a poem?\u201d \u201cWhat is poetry? I mean, I started to ask myself the fundamental questions in order to reaffirm my style and my own voice.<\/p>\n Carmen Sanjuli\u00e1n: \u2014You wrote one of your manifestos at the Casa del Poeta in Trasmoz. You where the first guest and you began with a hunger strike. Has anything changed since then?<\/b><\/p>\n \u00c1ngel Guinda:<\/b><\/span>\u00a0\u2014Very little, unfortunately. I remember that among the literary claims there was one in Euskadi that vindicated the poetry and the great Basque poets who hardly wrote anything in Basque, but in Spanish, like Blas de Otero or Gabriel Celaya – poets who did so much for the advent of freedom in Spain.<\/p>\n When I attended a tribute to Celaya, in the village where he was born, his widow, Amparo Gast\u00f3n, was there, and I witnessed tomatoes being thrown at them, at the widows of Blas de Otero, Sabina de la Cruz… I crumbled. It seemed a terrible injustice to me. Apparently now there is more respect for the poetry of Gabriel Celaya and Blas de Otero, especially after the truce was called.<\/p>\n I also pushed, for example, for the opening of a Poet’s House in each of the autonomous communities of Spain, there\u00b4s still only one in Trasmoz, as the only centre for literary translation is in Tarazona. On top of this, I called for 0% VAT \u00a0on literature. Although almost nothing has been achieved since then, it had some impact at the time and I felt great support from my literary colleagues and readers in general.<\/p>\n Carmen Sanjuli\u00e1n: \u2014Paradox is a distinguishing element in your poetry, but it\u00b4s also an element that distinguishes you in life.<\/b><\/p>\n \u00c1ngel Guinda:<\/b><\/span>\u2014Yes, because as Cernuda said \u201cIt is not love that dies, but we ourselves\u201d… I am eternally in love with life and I believe in the immortality of love but then I admit that I married four times. This is an example of paradox in my life, but there are many more\u2026<\/p>\n Carmen Sanjuli\u00e1n: \u2014 Poets have been described as being cursed, is there such a thing as a poet who is blessed?<\/b><\/p>\n \u00c1ngel Guinda:<\/b>\u00a0<\/span>\u2014I think I\u00b4m blessed. Even though \u00c1ngel Crespo coined the term \u201c\u00c1ngel Guinda, cursed poet\u201d in a study about.my poetry. As a poet, I\u00b4m blessed.<\/p>\n Carmen Sanjuli\u00e1n: \u2014How come?<\/b><\/p>\n \u00c1ngel Guinda:<\/b>\u00a0<\/span>\u2014Because I think I’m a good person. I want to be, and I think I am, a good guy. If we interpret being cursed as voluntarily choosing to be on the fringes of society, with little power and influence, then I am<\/p>\n Carmen Sanjuli\u00e1n: \u2014You defend the idea of poetry as something useful. In what way has poetry helped you?<\/b><\/p>\n \u00c1ngel Guinda:<\/b><\/span>\u00a0\u2014It has helped me in a lot of ways. It has helped me as a means of expression. For me, expressing yourself is part of being alive. When you have more and better ways of expressing yourself, you feel more alive.<\/p>\n I use poetry as a means of expression, of communication, of understanding and a way of looking at the world. Not only in terms of aesthetics but also in the way I face the world with a resilient attitude. Life is marvellous, that\u00b4s true, but life is very hard for everyone, it\u00b4s really challenging and feeling positive can be the contradiction to death.<\/p>\n Carmen Sanjuli\u00e1n: \u2014This is one of the topics that you regularly visit.<\/b><\/p>\n \u00c1ngel Guinda:<\/b>\u00a0<\/span>\u2014Sure – life, death, the passing of time that erodes everything…<\/p>\n Carmen Sanjuli\u00e1n: \u2014So you\u00b4re saying that poetry is useful. A few days ago I read that they\u00b4re thinking of making economics a compulsory subject in schools. Do you think they\u00b4ll ever make poetry compulsory?<\/b><\/p>\n \u00c1ngel Guinda:<\/b>\u00a0<\/span>No, I don\u00b4t, unfortunately. It has nothing to do with looking out for our own interests, but unfortunately, no. I have given language and literature classes in secondary school and have tried to make my syllabus live up to the generation of 1936, which has helped me develop effective teaching tools to capture the students attention and try to motivate them. These include using song lyrics, including rap (students really like this), using the class as a translation workshop, using audiovisual aids…<\/p>\n Poetry is really interesting because it\u00b4s a cultural medium, like art or music, but it requires attention, dedication and a special method of teaching so that students, and especially adolescents, become interested in it.<\/p>\n Carmen Sanjuli\u00e1n: \u2014 You\u00b4ve had a lot of success with your students though. David Francisco, a student of yours, directed the film \u00abLa diferencia\u00bb, based on your life. He mentioned in an interview that students regularly requested you, as you had a way of opening up their eyes to the world.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n \u00c1ngel Guinda:<\/b><\/span>\u00a0\u2014It\u00b4s funny you mention that because three years before my retirement, I thought that nobody knew I was a poet.But then they began to check my books out of the library and soon they were discovered by the media.<\/p>\n Carmen Sanjuli\u00e1n: \u2014In Entrevista a m\u00ed mismo, a documentary also made by David Francisco, we see \u00c1ngel Guinda bare all. Was it difficult for you?<\/b><\/p>\n \u00c1ngel Guinda:<\/b><\/span>\u00a0\u2014No it was quite easy actually, because I had a poem called \u201cEntrevista a m\u00ed mismo\u201d and I had the idea to develop different characters, so I dressed up as a journalist, and afterwards a poet, to become myself. It was very interesting.<\/p>\n Carmen Sanjuli\u00e1n: \u2014Do you distance yourself from labels or do you have any hidden weaknesses?<\/b><\/p>\n \u00c1ngel Guinda:<\/b><\/span>\u00a0\u2014 Poetically speaking, I\u00b4ve always stood out. When I was younger and used childish language, people said that I always did my own thing. The critics said it\u2026Manuel Rico also mentioned it when he reviewed Caja de lava.<\/p>\n I’ve always been a poet who did my own thing and haven\u00b4t given into trends. Think of my very dear and admired colleague\u00b4s \u00a0so-called \u201cpoes\u00eda de la experiencia\u201d or \u201cpoes\u00eda de la diferencia\u201d, or \u201cdecadent aestheticism\u201c…<\/p>\n But it’s true that for many years I admired two great poets of my generation – Pere Gimferrer and Leopoldo Mar\u00eda Panero, until about ten years ago.<\/p>\n Carmen Sanjuli\u00e1n: \u2014Has anything changes since you received the \u201cLas Letras Aragonesas\u201d award in 2010?\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n \u00c1ngel Guinda:<\/b>\u00a0<\/span>\u2014Yes, there has certainly been some changes. After leaving Aragon 23 years earlier, I was surprised to receive such an honour from my people in 2010. At first I was surprised, but then I felt honoured. I promised not to let them down, resolving to remain honest and demanding more from myself, in order to get the most out of this constant learning experience that is poetry. The apprenticeship where I learned my craft was with the great Catalan poet Salvador Espriu.<\/p>\n Carmen Sanjuli\u00e1n: \u2014You wrote a poem about Lavapi\u00e9s, the neighbourhood where you live, amongst other things. When you look for an image of \u00c1ngel Guinda, it\u00b4s almost impossible to find a picture of you without a cigarette in your hand. Have you ever written a poem about your constant companion?<\/b><\/p>\n \u00c1ngel Guinda:<\/b><\/span>\u00a0\u2014Twenty years ago I wrote a poem I know by heart, unfortunately, and it goes like this:<\/p>\n I have smoked life<\/p>\n as time has smoked me.<\/p>\n Look at this larynx, this trachea,<\/p>\n these bronchi and lungs<\/p>\n gunned down by nicotine.<\/p>\n I have smoked the underground fumes<\/p>\n of the subway, of its platforms;<\/p>\n Madrid air, dirty,<\/p>\n like a betrayal of the most beautiful light;<\/p>\n …<\/p>\n And speaking of smoke…my latest project, Rigor vitae, which I\u00b4ve been working on compulsively for the last six months, features numerous crosses, a lot of smoke and countless shadows. Of course, smoke symbolises many things. Smoke prevents us from seeing the reality around us.<\/p>\n Carmen Sanjuli\u00e1n: \u2014Is your latest project closer to Espectral or Caja de lava?<\/b><\/p>\n \u00c1ngel Guinda:<\/b><\/span>\u00a0\u2014Espectral. People surprised me a lot by saying it was the best book I had written. The truth is that it was written in a state of euphoria, in a trance for nine months. It\u00b4s a book that amasses all a poet’s obsessions – with authenticity and with all his inner demons. The ghost of the mother who dies bleeding in childbirth, the ghost of infertility and not being able to have children, etc… But I’ve come to realise that the reality around me is more haunting than the phantom of a work of poetry. So much to say that my writing opposes reality and this is not what it\u00b4s about.<\/p>\n Rigor vitae is closer to Espectral than the figurative poetry of Caja de lava .<\/p>\n Carmen Sanjuli\u00e1n: \u2014I went to the launch of Caja de lava. So many comments were made about the title!<\/b><\/p>\n \u00c1ngel Guinda:<\/b><\/span>\u00a0\u2014It has a very interesting story, at least for me, personally. When the book was in the works, it was called Caja d\u00e9bil (Fragile Box). But I’m a hypochondriac. Although I have the self-destructive instinct to smoke, I also have a fear of death. So I began to wonder if \u201cfragile box\u201d was really a metaphor for the rib cage, because this was so bad. So I tried to revitalise myself a little bit, inject more fire, more energy into my work, and so the title became Caja de lava (Box of Lava).<\/p>\n \u00c1ngel Guinda: Being a Poet is Not a Profession, It’s a Possession Interview with \u00c1ngel Guinda held on the 22nd October 2012 at the D\u00e1maso Alonso Library of the\u00a0Instituto Cervantes in Dublin\u00a0in association with his participation in the literary reading\u00a0\u201cUseful poetry: commented reading\u201d. \u00c1ngel Guinda (Zaragoza, 1948) is best known for his poetry. In […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[52,18,19,61,47],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cervantes.es\/dublin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10212"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cervantes.es\/dublin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cervantes.es\/dublin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cervantes.es\/dublin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cervantes.es\/dublin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10212"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cervantes.es\/dublin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10212\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11170,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cervantes.es\/dublin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10212\/revisions\/11170"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cervantes.es\/dublin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10212"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cervantes.es\/dublin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10212"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cervantes.es\/dublin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10212"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Recommended links<\/h4>\n
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< List of interviews<\/a><\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"