Poetry is sometimes a common area where writers draw from the same sources; In other cases, writers go other ways, searching for their own voice or trying to achieve transcendence in texts. When I talk about transcendence, it’s not a personal thing, because fame or immediate recognition doesn’t serve much purpose; What the real poet aims for is a broader scope: to create a solid work that leaves its mark on history for generations. Because that long-distance race that is literature could only be understood in this way. Poetry, the greatest of arts, is not something temporary; perhaps it is the path we follow to reach happiness.
Javier Puig’s At a Glance, published by the publishing house Sapere Aude, is a collection of culturalist poetry in the broad sense of the word. Everyone who knows Javier knows two things: that he is a great writer and that he is a person who breathes culture without falling into pedantry. Puig absorbed books, cinema and music and created his own world, which he captured in his poems, stories, novels and criticism. The poetry collection opens with a poem titled “Clarice,” dedicated to Brazilian writer Clarice Lispector: “You returned to the bustle of your loneliness, / to the gloom that embraced you, / and to your intimate companionship. / You slowly let yourself live. / You breathe lazily / the disorder of your subtleties / and sharp words are born to you / that turn to you, / ask you what you do not know / and when you look at you, you miss them. We can say that the book is partly a tribute to the culture acquired over the years, or a compilation of Javier’s loves.
The collection of poems, divided into two separate sections titled Words on Your Painful Face and Mirrors of the Gaze, marks not only his cultural life but also his life and family, such as the poem “A Time Stamp”. .”, dedicated to the author’s father: “From the depths of my memory now emerge / prints faded by the fury of time.” / Long ago Sunday mornings, / The discovery of new landscapes / Which penetrated me forever. / My father’s action / ordinary forms of happiness. A single memory evokes the glow of nostalgia, creating a work in which the transience of memory is paramount. Puig knows how to combine culture and emotion with the spontaneity typical of an important writer like himself.
Javier Puig moved me. I would say that In the Look is a reflection of things we’ve all felt at one point or another. The most important thing in a poet’s work is that his poetry transcends man not because of fame, but because of the unity of common feelings and emotions. Poetry, or any work that seeks universality, is a means of bringing local consciousness to the global, for that is the only thing that can truly lead us to transcendence. Javier does not seek transcendence within himself, but his work moves towards it. Puig’s poetry tells us emotion in its purest form, there is no filter other than the heart or soul because that’s where his poetry was born. We are faced with a poet who challenges the reader in every poem. It appeals to your emotions and ensures the unity of consciences. Javier closes his collection of poems with a poem titled “Wounds” that summarizes this concept well: “Wherever you go, / wherever you listen, / the news of a wound comes to you, of the cramp it produces / to whom it jealously keeps him awake, / the repeated startle that is its own aggression.” , / excuse not to attack peace, / do not set the other on fire again…”