Poet
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Malva Flores 1961-... country: Mexico language: Spanish |
is a poet, translator and publisher. She wrote short stories before devoting herself more and more to poetry. Flores does not write just to entertain; to her, poetry is ‘work’. In her view, form and language are the chief elements of a poem. In 1999 she received the Premio Nacional de Poesías Aguascalientes for her collection Casa Nomáda. ‘I was born in Mexico City, but later I travelled all over Mexico with my parents, and lived in several cities for shorter or longer periods. With my two younger sisters Milenka and Mélani I spent most of my childhood years in Xalapa, a coffee-growing region of Veracruz state. From my father, who made up stories for me every night, and my mother, who did not know any stories but who told me episodes from Mexico’s history, I inherited a love for literature. My first books, at least the books I remember best, were by Verne and Salgari, which I read every afternoon, as there was, fortunately, no television in those days. I have always felt more familiar with prose than with poetry. As a teenager I read a great deal of Russian and French literature. I was particularly fond of Zola and I remember drawing up a genealogy of the Rougon-Maquart family before embarking upon the more than twenty novels of the series. Accordingly, my first two publications were collections of stories (Agonía de falenas and Las otras comarcas), but they were not any good – full of pseudo-poetic monologue and with intricate plots. I realized that narrative prose was not the most suitable vehicle for what I had to say. Even so, this fascination with prose narrative has had its influence on my work, for I began to write long poems instead, in which I always try to tell some kind of story. I also, although somewhat belatedly, began to read poetry, encouraged by poet friends and my husband-to-be David Medina Portillo, my best, severest, and permanent critic. With him I started a small poetry publishing company, where I work. Among the poets who I think have been essential to my own poetic development are Garcilaso de la Vega, Quevedo, Eliot, Guillevic and the Mexicans José Gorostiza, Carlos Pellicer and Octavio Paz. My main objective in writing poetry is to remind people that the world is a place continuously to be marvelled at. On that sense of marvel, and the power of poetic language to transform reality, I base my belief that the human species may find some salvation in poetry, as it may in music. These are two of the few certainties I can pass on to my children, Valeria and Emiliano.’ Author: Malva Flores Translated by Ko Kooman Pasión de caza (1988); Ladera de las cosas vivas (1997); Casa Nómada (1999). Poets: |
