Where Words Like Monarchs Fly

John Walker is a professor of Spanish studies at Queen’s University.

As its felicitous title suggests, this cross-generational anthology of
contemporary Mexican poetry in translation is meant to capture some of
the magic produced in transliterating the beauties of one poetic
language to another. Like the beautiful monarch butterflies that make
the long annual flight from Michoacбn in Mexico to Ontario, Canada,
these verses fly between countries.

Edited by George McWhirter, no mean poet himself, this compact volume
is the work of the Literary Translation group at the University of
British Columbia’s Creative Writing unit. Three generations of Mexican
poets are represented in the anthology, which includes a brief prologue
by McWhirter as well as biographical sketches of the poets and their UBC
translators. One can discern, throughout the anthology, the influence of
the Nobel Prize winner Octavio Paz, mentor to all Mexican poets.

The first, and best-known, generation (1930–40) is represented by the
wit and humor of Gabriel Zaid, who is also a well-known literary critic
and political commentator, and by the ironic vision and innovative form
and technique of José Emilio Pacheco (“Dr. Pangloss in reverse,” as
Paz described him), whose teaching career at UBC and Toronto is recalled
by poems like “The Georgia Strait” and “Goodbye, Canada.” The
second generation (1940–50) is represented by Homero Aridjis, a former
ambassador famous for his evocations of Mexico’s past, and by Elsa
Cross and Elva Macнas. In the third generation (1950–60), we find
emerging writers such as Carmen Boullosa, Victor Manuel Mendiola,
Francisco Hinojosa, Myriam Moscona, and Verуnica Volkow.

We are indebted to George McWhirter and all the UBC translators for
this rare gift.