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Two poems by Nicanor Parra

Acacias
Strolling many years ago

Down a street taken over by acacias in bloom

I found out from a friend who knows everything

That you had just gotten married.

I told him that I really

Had nothing to do with it.

I never loved you

— You know that better than I do —

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Yet each time the acacias bloom

— Can you believe it? —

I get the very same feeling I had

When they hit me point-blank

With the heartbreaking news

That you had married someone else.
— translated by David Unger

I Take Back Everything I’ve Said
Before I go

I’m supposed to get a last wish:

Generous reader

burn this book

It’s not at all what I wanted to say

Though it was written in blood

It’s not what I wanted to say.

No lot could be sadder than mine

I was defeated by my own shadow:

My words took vengeance on me.

Forgive me, reader, good reader

If I cannot leave you

With a warm embrace, I leave you

With a forced and sad smile.

Maybe that’s all I am

But listen to my last word:

I take back everything I’ve said.

With the greatest bitterness in the world

I take back everything I’ve said.
— translated by Miller Williams

Nicanor Parra, who was a professor of theoretical physics at the University of Chile in Santiago, is one of Latin America’s most notable and innovative poets. Describing himself as an “antipoet,” he writes in a wry, colloquial, and accessible mode that eschews the rhetorical inflation and florid gestures associated in the popular mind with verse. His sister Violeta was one of Chile’s most renowned folk singers. Born in 1914, Parra is now in his mid-90s. These poems are from Antipoems: New and Selected, edited by David Unger and published by New Directions. “Acacias” copyright © 1973 by David Unger, and “I Take Back Everything I’ve Said” copyright © 1972 by Nicanor Parra and Miller Williams. The poems are reprinted by permission of New Directions Publishing Corp.

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Acacias
Strolling many years ago

Down a street taken over by acacias in bloom

I found out from a friend who knows everything

That you had just gotten married.

I told him that I really

Had nothing to do with it.

I never loved you

— You know that better than I do —

Sponsored
Sponsored

Yet each time the acacias bloom

— Can you believe it? —

I get the very same feeling I had

When they hit me point-blank

With the heartbreaking news

That you had married someone else.
— translated by David Unger

I Take Back Everything I’ve Said
Before I go

I’m supposed to get a last wish:

Generous reader

burn this book

It’s not at all what I wanted to say

Though it was written in blood

It’s not what I wanted to say.

No lot could be sadder than mine

I was defeated by my own shadow:

My words took vengeance on me.

Forgive me, reader, good reader

If I cannot leave you

With a warm embrace, I leave you

With a forced and sad smile.

Maybe that’s all I am

But listen to my last word:

I take back everything I’ve said.

With the greatest bitterness in the world

I take back everything I’ve said.
— translated by Miller Williams

Nicanor Parra, who was a professor of theoretical physics at the University of Chile in Santiago, is one of Latin America’s most notable and innovative poets. Describing himself as an “antipoet,” he writes in a wry, colloquial, and accessible mode that eschews the rhetorical inflation and florid gestures associated in the popular mind with verse. His sister Violeta was one of Chile’s most renowned folk singers. Born in 1914, Parra is now in his mid-90s. These poems are from Antipoems: New and Selected, edited by David Unger and published by New Directions. “Acacias” copyright © 1973 by David Unger, and “I Take Back Everything I’ve Said” copyright © 1972 by Nicanor Parra and Miller Williams. The poems are reprinted by permission of New Directions Publishing Corp.

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4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
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