Three Poems
One icy winter afternoon in Boston
Jon and I were walking off our whiskey,
stalking angels through the Combat Zone
and proud that everything we did was risky.
The streets were empty and our steps echoed
off the buildings in the quiet snow.
Jon could eat as much as me, and smoke
and drink as much and talk as much or more.
My mother was a whore, he said, my father
was a man I never met. My star
is rising, he said, my star will never
set. I am more beautiful with every scar…
By Curt Hopkins.
3:AM Brasil: Viva South America!
Having travelled around the continent he ends up in Venezuela, the home of both Bolivar and Chávez. Throughout his stay Chávez appears as a distant figure, first on his TV show in a motel and then at the inauguration of a new bridge. During his observation on the latter Balch provides a rich account of the local atmosphere and colourful characters he encounters during the long and hot wait for El Presidente. But one is also struck by the physical (if not emotional) separation between Chavez and his supporters and the absence of any direct engagement between this new liberator and the people.
In the first of two reviews, Guy Burton considers the literary depiction of Latin America’s political identity.