A review by whatdotheyknowaboutfriends
The Black Heralds by César Vallejo

4.0

Great book, especially for a first effort. Vallejo's language is surrealistic, and leaps quickly between people, objects, and big ideas (Love, God, etc), but he also comes into each poem with a head of emotion that carries the thing through. Occasionally, these poems can feel disjointed, and this translation (Schaaf and Ross) seems pretty straight, keeping in all the Beloveds, and Blesseds, that can make the symbolism feel unsubtle, and the tone straight out of To His Coy Mistress. That said, I think the right way (for me anyway) to get the most out of this work is to just watch the motion. And Vallejo does opt for the occasional sentence fragment or oddly phrased line that does provide some fantastic motion.

My favorite poem:

This morning I went down
to the stones, oh the stones!
And I caused and cast
a pugilism of stones.

Our mother, if my footsteps
in the world cause pain,
it's that they are the fiery flashes
on an absurd break of day.

The stones do not offend; they
covet nothing. They only ask
love everyone, and they ask
love even Nothingness.

And if some of them go
away crestfallen, or become
ashamed, it's that
they are bound to do something human...

But there are always those who will hit
someone for the pure pleasure of it.
And so, the moon is a white stone
that flew off with a kick...

Our mother, this morning
I have run off with the ivy,
on seeing the blue caravan
of the stones,
of the stones,
of the stones...