Víctor Terán has been described as the most ‘personal’ poet of the Zapotec Isthmus of Oaxaca, Mexico. His poems, highly lyrical and imagistic, explore two deep passions: the electricity that passes between bodies in love, and Terán's fierce devotion to the Indigenous land and language of his birth. This carefully curated selection of poems, drawing from the whole of Terán’s poetic oeuvre, is translated into English by his long-time translator and interlocutor, the poet Shook, working from Spanish bridge-translations made by the author.
The Poetry Translation Centre’s World Poet Series showcases the most exciting living poets from Africa, Asia, the Middle East and Latin America.
‘These are stunning, halting, lilting poems of flesh and flower, of boulder and bone. Vivid and meditative, I hummed among their hills, they hummed in mine.’ – Inua Ellams
‘These beautiful, subtle, sumptuous translations set alongside the original work make for a feast for the ears and the eyes alike.’ – Adam O'Riordan
‘In Víctor Terán's poetry, the elements of nature are sentient, almost mischievous, and share blood ties with the people of Juchitán, the poet's birthplace and the father of the hurricane wind, the mother of the sun. The north wind raises its whip, trees laugh, the day gets fed up, the afternoon eats its meal, the clamour of winged ants announce the rains, the world opens up her thighs, while a white flower spurns no one. And within this universe, poems of love and resistance share in the ritual and celebrations, suffused with light and devotion: 'the lit tulip of your lips'; 'breath of god, / breath that lights and snuffs out / the candle flame / that is life.' In Shook's luminous translations, the emotions of longing open up their eyes in the night, alive and breathing as the moon: 'Delirious moon, like a colander / that dreams of overflowing with water.'’ – Juana Adcock
A propos de l’auteur
Víctor Terán is the most personal poet of the Zapotec Isthmus of Oaxaca, México. He was born in Juchitán de Zaragoza in 1958. His work has been published extensively in magazines and anthologies throughout Mexico. Since 2000, he has also appeared in anthologies in Italy and the United States (Reversible Monuments, Copper Canyon: 2002; Words of the True Peoples, U Texas P: 2005).
A three-time recipient of the national fellowship for writers of indigenous languages, his first book, Diixda; Xieeña (Barefoot Words) was republished in 1997 by Ediciones Bi’cu’ Nisa. His books of poetry include Sica ti Gubidxa Cubi (Like a New Sun; Editorial Diana: 1994) and Ca Guichi Xtí’ Guendaranaxhii (The Spines of Love; Editorial Praxis: 2003). Terán works as a media education teacher at the secondary level, on the Oaxacan Isthmus.
In 2009 his poetry in translation has appeared or is forthcoming in Hayden’s Ferry Review, Oxford Magazine, Poetry, and World Literature Today.
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