In the style of Amado Nervo

by Sergio Ortiz

I must defend José Lezama Lima
from the hate in the trenches.
Defend him from scandal
and derision, censorship and censors
transient sensations
and conclusive impressions

Defend Lezema Lima from astonishment
and kicks-in-the-ass
from the disinterested and the neurotic
harsh infamies
and clumsy diagnosis

Defend him with a howl 
and the hubbub of the mills
from the walls, the embarrassments
and heavenly places
from blasphemy and Academia

To defend him from hate is a certainty
defend him from neighbors and quarrels
lavish time machines
drought and relativism
optimistic literati

To defend José Lezama Lima is a right
defend him from God and from the hell
of majuscules and luck
stiff-necks and influxes
of the azure

and hatred

 

 

Sergio Ortiz is a retired English literature professor and bilingual poet. His recent credits include Spanish audio poems in GATO MALO Editing, an important Spanish Caribbean publication, Maleta Ilegal, a South American journal, Indolent Books, HIV Here and Now. His poems are also forthcoming in Breath and Shadows.

 

Edited for Unlikely by Jonathan Penton, Editor-in-Chief
Last revised on Thursday, September 14, 2017 - 21:37