Aguilar Sobre Huerta 2

Efrain Huerta and the New School of Mexican Poets
Author(s): Ricardo Aguilar Melantzón

Source: Latin American Literary Review, Vol. 11, No. 22 (Spring, 1983), pp. 41-55
Published by: Latin American Literary Review
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EFRAIN HUERTA AND THE NEW SCHOOL OF
MEXICAN POETS
RICARDO AGUILAR MELANTZ?N
INTRODUCTION
It is now widely recognized that the Mexican poet, Efra?n Huerta, has
'
become a guiding light for many young Mexican poets. Huerta's influence
is important in that an unprecedented trend is emerging in Mexican
literature, particularly in poetry. This trend is unprecedented not only in
number, as stated by the Assembly of Young Mexican Poets (Asamblea de
poetas j?venes de M?xico) led by Gabriel Zaid,2 but also in its potential for
publication.
The purpose of this article is to point out characteristics of Efra?n
Huerta that make him stand out in twentieth century Mexican poetry and to
include the historical and political causes that led to his being banned and,
later, discovered and praised by those who have recently begun to create
their own literature.
I would like to make it clear that, though this article may seem to be a
derivative study, it is not intended as such. Rather, I intend to concentrate
on a moment of literary history which I deem to be important in that it em
phasizes an event that will necessarily set the pace for the development of
Mexican poetry. I feel this study is important in that at another time,
another Mexican poet, Enrique Gonz?lez Martinez, also significantly
changed the course of Mexican literature.
I will then proceed to point out characteristics of the poetry of some
young Mexican poets that reflect Huerta's influence. Although their works
are not directly derivative, they do indeed reflect his tone.
Efra?n Huerta was seventeen years old in 1931 when he moved from
Silao, Guanajuato, to Mexico City to complete his secondary education.
According to Jes?s Arrellano, literary critic and a colleague of Huerta's, in
1933 they both entered Law School at la Universidad Nacional Aut?noma
de M?xico. Octavio Paz, who was a year ahead at the same University, had
already published his first journal, Barandal [Balustrade], and was refusing
to publish the work of some of his younger colleagues. When Absoluto
amor [Absolute Love] (out of print) was published, Huerta decided to
devote his energy full time to poetry and to support himself by writing for
newspapers. In 1936, he and Paz took over Taller [Workshop] from Rafael
Solana and replaced the then defunct Contempor?neos [Contemporaries].
During this period, Huerta worked on his poetry, immersed himself in the
avant-garde movement, and strengthened his poetic skills. He published
41

42 Latin American Literary Review
and became known through Taller. Suddenly, and for no apparent reason,
Huerta disassociated himself from Taller. At one point, no one wanted to
say why this had happened. Even Huerta held off telling me. Later, in a
conversation, he confessed, ?It had to do with a confrontation with Octavio
Paz.? Through my research I was able to deduce what had happened when
Huerta wrote me, ?You ask good questions about the man O.P. Iwill try to
see if this month I can tell you some things that happened between
him?who isGod?and me?who ismerely the poor Devil.?31 was also able
to deduce the reason for the conflict from what he said in ?Oda al
nalgaismo,? which is in direct opposition to the poetic line that Paz follow
ed:
Claro est? que soy hijo de una paloma azul/ y un macho saurio
de dorado sexo I nalga?sta hasta la m?dula de los huesos (dije
huesos)/ hasta lamarchita desesperaci?n/ hasta los h?gados/ as?
me tienes a tus pies rendido/ peque?amente de ladito como el
oficiante/ de los fracasos rey amargo/ pero no lo dig?is/ no
dig?is/ que he agotado mi tesoro . . . tampoco ... No voy al
para?so ni al infierno/ yo voy directamente al nalgatorio . . .Los
?ngeles no tienen espalda/ no no que no la tienen pero a cam
bio/ qu? trasero de nubes/ qu? dos liras de melod?as qu?
melod?as/ qu? dulc?simamente qu? nalga?simamente/
?cristalinas de az?car mermelada divina?/ se poseen en el
vuelo de una guarda a otra guarda/ ?ngel m?o de mi guarda/ hoy
me tocas/ pero/ amigos: tu?rzanle el cuello al ?ngel/ de
enga?oso trasero/ porque al fin. . ./ sabedlo nalga?stas proceres
y mendigos/ por abajo/ nadie/ tendr? derecho a lo superfluo/
por arriba/ mientras alguien carezca de lo estricto/ por
abajo.../
/It is clear that I am the son of a blue dove/ and a male reptile
with a golden sexual member/ buttockist to the bone (I said
bones)/ unto withered desperation/ through to the liver/ Here I
am spent at your feet/ in a small way and to the side, like the
acolyte/ bitter king of failures/ but do not say it/ do not say/
that I have spent my treasure. . . that would be too much. . .I
am not going to paradise nor hell/ I am going directly to but
tocktory. . .Angels have no rear/ no, no they don't have it but
instead/ what cloudly buttocks/ what a pair of melodious lyres,
what melodies/ how very sweetly, how very buttockly/
?crystalline, of divine sugared marmalade?/ they copulate in
the flight from a watch to another/ oh my own guardian angel/
today you are mine/ but/ friends: twist the neck of the angel/ of
deceiving bottocks/ for at the end. . ./ know ye exalted and
mendicant bottockists/ from beneath/ no one/ will have right to

Efra?n Huerta and the New School of Mexican Poets 43
the superfluous/ from above/ while there is someone in need of

the strictly necessary/ from beneath. . ./
From that moment on, Paz never mentioned Huerta in his articles or
anthologies unless it was absolutely necessary to do so. According to
Mueller Berg,5 Paz rejected those who demanded ?absolute blind obedience
to orthodox political doctrines? and he committed himself to what Gabriel
Celaya defined as: ?Poetry as a luxury for the uncommitted . . .poetry that
claimed no Party, tainted by no Party . . . .?'
In 1944 he published Los hombres del alba [Men of the Dawn]. This
book of poems is important in that he attempted to reflect, through several
themes, the reality of Mexico City. As Solana stated in his prologue:
?Efra?n Huerta's poems must disagreeably affect and disturb (the reader) in
the same way a listener used to Schubert's ?Serenata? would be affected by
a sudden encounter with Stravinski's ?Consecration of Spring. . . .?7From
this point on, one notes the poet's concern with social issues, with the
frustration of those who attempt to change or improve their lot. Carlos
Monsivais in his Poes?a mexicana del siglo XX [Twentieth Century Mexican
Poetry] tells us that Efra?n Huerta was a poet of the City and used it as the
leit motif of his poetry. The best of Huerta as a political and erotic poet
emanated from the City. He became a poet who clearly and objectively
reflected the evils of the City. Jes?s Arellano went even further by pointing
out the close link between Huerta's poetry and that of the young poets:
hoy como ayer funda su grandeza po?tica en la desagradabili

dad. Pero ahora no est? aislada, ya tenemos un contexto para
leerla, pertenece a una corriente central de nuestra escritura
po?tica que como es indudable, Huerta contribuy? a

fundar . . . .'
/today as yesterday (Huerta's) greatness is based on writing

disagreeable poetry. But it no longer stands alone, we now have
a context in which to read it, it belongs to a central current of
our poetic writing, which, undoubtedly, Huerta helped to
found. . .]
It is understandable, then, that Paz could not hear Huerta, for Huerta
represented all that Paz loathed. Huerta defined himself as a poet commit
ted to reality, as a Stalinist, and accepted Breton's Second Manifesto in
which he retracts the premise of the 1924 Manifesto: the predominance of
thought over aesthetic or moral concerns. He then immersed himself in the
revolutionary struggle.9 It is not surprising then, that for Paz, poetry en
compasses freedom and the search for paradise. He does not permit us to
give in to reality and forces us to overcome harsh reality and turn it into
Paradise.

It is important to note that throughout his professional life Paz has

identified himself with the conservative interests of Mexican politics while
Huerta was in constant conflict with them.10 It is not surprising then, that in
a country where the government censors the opposition, Octovio Paz
emerges as the great Maecenas with a large following; as the great Thinker
who gets published by the country's best publishing houses and whom
everyone reads; as the Mexican writer accepted by everyone for better or for
worse, since he is above criticism; as the Mexican writer who, for his
magnificent cultural contribution to the country, is awarded important
government positions such as Ambassador to India. Efra?n Huerta, on the
other hand, continued to work as a movie critic, as a writer of political ar
ticles, etc., and he wrote and published without help or recognition. It is
logical, then, that he published his own work and had limited editions.
Efra?n Huerta was true to his principles. The following verses of his poem
?Mi pa?s, Oh mi pa?s!? /?My Country, Oh My Country!?/ confirms this
idea:
Todo el pa?s amortajado, todo,

todo el pa?s envilecido,
todo eso, hermanos m?os,
?no vale mil millones de d?lares en pr?stamo?
?Gracias, Becerro de Oro! ?Gracias, FBI!
?Gracias, mil gracias, DEAR MISTER PRESIDENT!
Gracias, honorables banqueros, honestor
industriales,
generosos monopolistas, dulces especuladores;
gracias, laboriosos latifundistas,
mil veces gracias, gloriosos vendepatrias,
gracias gente de orden.
Demos a todos. . .
gracias
Pobre pa?s de pobres. Pobre pa?s de ricos.77
/The entire country shrouded, all of it,

the whole country debased,
All that, my brothers,
?Isn't it worth a thousand million dollar loan?
?Thank you, Golden Calf! ?Thank you, FBI!
?Thanks, thanks a million, DEAR MISTER PRESIDENT!
Thank you, honorable bankers, honest
men of industry,
generous monopolists, sweet speculators;
thank you, laborious landlords,
a thousand times thank you, glorious sellouts,
thank you people in charge of order.
Let us all give thanks. . .

Poor country of indigents. Poor country of the wealthy./
In 1945, the French Government awarded him academic honors. Mex

ico ignored him. In 1950, Huerta published La rosa primitiva [The
Primitive Rose], followed by Estrella en alto [Star in the Heights] and Los
poemas de viaje [Trip Poems]. From 1957 to 1961, he released a limited edi
tion of Cuadernos de cocodrilo [Crocodile Notebooks] printed on shiny
paper and tied with colored ribbons. He gave them to his friends. Today it is
extremely difficult to obtain a copy. Finally, in 1968 Joaqu?n Mortiz
published Poes?a 1935-1968 [Poetry 1935-1968], a volume of all his work
over the past thirty-three years. It is significant that this book was published
that year, also was a time when young people turned to the left. The
political impact of this generation is still felt today. Thus, the inevitable
happened. Everyone started to read his work and young people were able to
identify with his concerns. Jos? Joaqu?n Blanco writes in his Cr?nica de la
poes?a mexicana [Chronicle of Mexican Poetry]:
Huerta se convirti? de pronto en el poeta m?s admirado e in

fluyente entre los j?venes; se ve?a en ?l, en cuanto personaje, al
Neruda mexicano y en cuanto a la obra, sus palabras eran im
prescindibles para expresar la crisis.72
/Suddenly Huerta became the most admired and influential poet

among young people; as a representative figure he was looked
upon as the Mexican Neruda and in reference to his work, his
words were considered indispensable in order to express the
crisis/
?Avenida Ju?rez? is one of these poems. It deals with anger, anti

imperialism, rage, evil intentions, prophecy, etc. In this poem, the pro
totype of the completely humiliated Mexican is portrayed, a victim of U.S.
incursion, not last century's but today's, a victim of envy, greed, and
betrayal by his fellow countrymen, and trampled by every interest other
than his own.
During the following years, Efra?n Huerta published Poemas pro
hibidos y de amor [Banned Poems and Love Poems] 1973,1} that include
?Los sovi?ticos? /?The Soviets?/; and short humorous poems; and more
recently, Los er?ticos y otros poemas [Erotic and Other Poems]', ?Circuito
interior? /?Interior Circuit?/; 500 poeminimos [Five Hundred Minimal
Poems]; Textos profanos [Profane Texts]; ?Estampida de poeminimos?
/?Minimal Poem Stampede?/ and Transa po?tica [Poetic Maneuver].14
These books were all published within the last six years. During this period,
he also received the Premio, he also received the Premio Nacional de
Literatura /National Literary Prize/, the Premio Villaurrutia /Villaurrutia
Prize/, the Quetzalc?atl de Plata /Silver Quetzalcoatl/, and he was laurelled

publicly by the Government. The downfall of the Mexican cult tradition,

headed by Octavio Paz, the culture of high ideals and concepts with a
capital ?C,? began with Efra?n Huerta. From this point on, important
changes took place in the motifs, themes and concerns of Mexican poetry.
These changes were modeled after Huerta, but it was not until 1968 that he
was taken most seriously. This was due to young poets' reading of his
poetry. There was a feeling that the myths surrounding elitist vision were
soon to vanish. Toward the end of the fifties and beginning of the sixties,
one could no longer speak of ?otherness? nor of the ?mirror game? without
falling into kafkian absurdity. Reminiscent of Jos? Mart?, a return to con
cerns of the People's plight as the world's conscience came about. As a
result, there came the acknowledgement of serious socio-economic prob
lems and the alarming contradiction between rural areas and urban areas of
the country. The structural ties between the Mexican bourgeoisie and im
perialism and the dependent nature of the country became apparent.
THE TRANSITION PERIOD
The poets of ?La espiga amotinada? /?The Mutinous Stock?/ emerge:

Ba?elos, Shelley, Zepeda, Oliva, Labastida. Social themes abound in this
poetry as a manifestation of their personal interests. These themes capture
the mood surrounding strikes and repression (railway and electrician
strikes).1S A literary renewal is also attempted. During the sixties, there was
support for the demonstrations against the Vietnam war and in favor of the
Cuban Revolution. A cycle of military repression arose in the country's
universities backed by the reactionary Government of Gustavo Diaz Ordaz.
The middle classes, fed up with the institutionalized ideology of the Mex
ican Revolution and the hundreds of myths surrounding ?that which is
Mexican?, demanded modernization, another cultural avenue other than
that provided by the Government. Unfortunately these changes tended to
rely on foreign culture sources: the ?beat? generation, rock and roll, ?new?
literature from post-war Europe. Even so, a group of poets appeared,
diverse in its concerns as well as its tendencies. This group took on a rather
cult-like appearance and was united in that it took critical and experimental
approaches toward the poetic process. Included in the group were: Becerra,
Gardu?o, Fern?ndez, Ayala, and Aura. Carvajal D?vila comments on the
nature of this poetry:
La iron?a y la pluralidad estil?stica constituir?n sus rasgos com

unes. Su inestabilidad contrastante disuelve en crisis. Su voz es
oxidable, mutable seg?n sus necesidades . . . comprobamos las
de las vividas ... el contacto y su
repercusiones experiencias
confrontamiento de culturas: las tribulaciones literarias,
. . . ,16
art?sticas, pol?ticas

/Irony and stylistic plurality constituted their common features.

Their contrasting instability dissolves in crisis. Their voice is
subject to rusting, mutable according to their needs. . .We
verify the repercussions of experiences lived. . . their contact
with and their confronting of cultures: literary, artistic and
political tribulations. . ./
The tendency to recreate the modern world, historical reality, is prevalent.

The poets recapture and broaden the concept of freedom of expression.
They had to write about everything that happened inMexico, whether good
or bad, not fabricate myths.
Alejandro Aura may be considered as the closest follower of Huerta.
In ?Rondas por tres caminos para un amigo viejo? /?Roamings Along
Three Paths for and Old Friend?/ (a eulogy, since Aura referes to Huerta in
the past tense, as if he were already dead), he expresses his great affection
for Huerta and the importance of his work. He did not admit to being com
pletely indebted to Huerta, but in reading between the lines it is easy to see
that he was, as is illustrated by the following selection:
Efra?n Huerta,
agua del mar,
botella vieja,
eras mi camarada . . .
amigo
pero digo, paisano,
yo era el ?ltimo Cristo de tu especie.
Te hiciste polvo
para que todos te respire, Huerta,
para que andes en la tarde
con tus millones de palomas blancas,
con tus azaleas camina que camina,
con tu novia urbana de y geograf?a ....
piedra
Luego moriste a golpes pol?ticos y hembrunos;
borracho y descamisado fuiste a dar con tu osamenta
preciosa
en los duros de la soledad . . . ,17
p?talos
/Efrain Huerta,
sea water,
old bottle,
you were friend comrade. . .
my
but look, buddy,
I was the last Christ of your kind (continues on p. 8)
You became dust
so that everyone can breathe you, Huerta,
so you can walk in the evening

with your million white doves,

with your azaleas step by step,
with your urban fianc?e of stone and geography. . .
Then you died from political and womanly blows;
drunk and shirtless your precious skeleton
fell on the hard petals of solitude. . ./
It follows that Aura ended the poem by telling us that Huerta died recog
nized only by him, since this poem was published in 1967 and the r??valua
tion of his work by young poets did not take place until the publication of
"
Poes?a 1935-1968.
Aura's poetry obviously follows Huerta's lead in the d?mystification of
the written word, in his mundane point of view, in his use of street
language. In ?Cinco veces a flor? /?Five Times the Flower?/, he almost
?poeminimizes?:
Alto a la destrucci?n
un momento.
Propongo un pacto general:

que se cultiven flores,
no jardines
[A halt to the destruction

one moment.
I propose a general truce:
that flowers, not gardens, be cultivated/
or
. . .alguien dej? una flor de papel sobre mi mesa,

es linda y morada y verde, gracias.
Esper? una flor toda la vida,
y hoy, martes raspado de melancol?a
no s? de d?nde me ha llegado.
Pinche florecita de papel,
te quiero.79
/. . .someone left a paper flower on my table

it's pretty and purple and green, thanks.
I waited for a flower all my life,
and today, a Tuesday scraped by melancholy
I don't know where it has come from.
dinky little paper flower,
I love you./

In ?Balada del principe rojo? /?Ballad of the Red Prince/, Aura seems to
have become the Efra?n of ?Avenida Ju?rez? /?Juarez Avenue?/. Both
poems confront the destruction of the Mexican world at the hands of a
mysterious power and both express hope of life hereafter. The images are
different, the tone and violence, the same.
Aura writes: ?Las tunas estaban blancas/ en los nopales/ y el polvo no
se mov?a/ ... los cactos estaban blancos/ como muchachas descoloridas./ .
. .No hab?a p?jaros en las jaulas/ y nada que hiciera ruido/ ni los jilgueros/
ni los jilgueros.?20
/The prickly pears were white/ on the cacti/ and the dust did not
move/. . .the cacti were white/ like pale girls. / . . .There were no
birds in the cages/ nor anything that made noise/ nor the
goldfinches/ Nor the goldfinches./
Huertawrites: ?Todo arde lentamente/ como en un ancho cemeterio./

Todo parece morir, agonizar,/ todo parece polvo mil veces pisado./ La
patria es polvo y carne viva, la patria/ debe ser, y no es, la patria/ se la ar
rancan a uno del coraz?n/ y el coraz?n se lo pisan sin ninguna piedad.?27
/Everything burns slowly/as if in a wide cementery. / Everything

seems to die, to agonize,/ everything seems like dust trod upon
one thousand times./ The motherland is dust and living flesh,
the country/ should be but is not the motherland/ it is torn out
of our hearts / and our heart is trod upon mercilessly/.
Jos? Emilio Pacheco should also be mentioned. Pacheco, though

always independent in his poetry, political leanings and imagery, reads
Huerta and at times seems to emulate him. ?Manuscritos de Tlaltelolco?
/?Tlaltelolco Manuscripts?/ and ?Preguntas sobre los cerdos e impreca
ciones de los mismos? /?Questions About Pigs and Imprecations on the
Same?/ are two examples in which this occurs.22
The slaughter of 1968 takes place. It is a time of rage, of violence, of
poetry for no other reason than rhetorical barbarity. Blanco states:
Huerta suddenly became the most admired and influential poet

among the young generation. He was considered a Mexican
Neruda and with regard to his work his words were indispensible
for expressing the crisis . . . once scorned, now adorned, Efra?n
Huerta's poetry fills an important gap in Mexican poetry. He
has included the urban realities of oppression and misery; has
replaced the bucolic with rage; imposed the everyday and pas
sionate life of poets, made it real, if a bit self satisfied and
idealized.23

It would be impossible to point out the similarities between Huerta and

all the young poets since, as Zaid stated in the Assembly of Young Mexican
Poets, too many write, too many publish and there are even too many who
are good.2' I do not intend to avoid mentioning them, rather to justify the
small selection of young poets I have chosen. The following poets, however,
do stand out: Jos? Joaqu?n Blanco in Cr?nica de la poes?a mexicana
[Chronicle of Mexican Poetry]', Rogelio Carvajal D?vila in ?Poetas mex
icanas recientes? /?Recent Mexican Poets?/. V?ctor Manuel C?rdenas in
?Poetas j?venes? /?Young Poets?/; ?M?s poetas j?venes? /?More Young
Poets?/; ?Poetas j?venes: Mej?a?; Sandro Cohen in Palabra Nueva [New
Word] and the following, not because they are among the best, but because
they are representative of his style: Jaime Reyes, Ricardo Castillo, Jos? de
Jes?s Sanpedro, and Vicente Quirarte.
Before analyzing the latter group, I wish to state that among the
selected five hundred or so in Zaid's and Cohen's anthologies, many are
just part of the cult and do not seem to reflect the trends I refer to. Even
David Huerta, Efra?n's son, has developed a very different style. His poetry
is rich in imagery, word plays and baroque language. Thus we find that
there are many styles and trends, ranging from the hackneyed to the in
novative and refreshing. I feel that the poets dealt with in this article reflect
the latter and are closest to Huerta's style.
Jaime Reyes (Mexico, 1947)2* immerses himself in the use of
neologisms (not only unique to Huerta and distinctive in that he attempts to
retain colloquial jargon through his poetry) not to tarnish the poetry by us
ing this jargon for shock effect but out of necessity, since the rage he feels
requires their use. His poetry is noted for its strong and violent rhythm. His
desperation is evidenced in ?Desde la rama m?s alta de esta gloria? /?From
Heaven's Highest Branch?/. He suggests that existence in this cruel world
can only lead to suicide, to destruction, since everything is false and expres
sion can only be rendered in biting sarcasm and screams of unleashed fury:
Quiero decir, digo, quiero decir que este casa y estos libros
valen madres, quiero decir, c?mo lo que tengo nada sirve.
Digo, quiero decir que soy el monosabio y el titiritero de la
muerte,
y que cumplo perfectamente con todo y de nada puedo
evadirme:
doy los centavos y la sangre y las fuerzas,
y el cansancio y las nalgas y la sangre
a mis hijos y a los periodistas y a todos . . .
. . . (uno siente miedo del trato de la gente
de su corrosiva lesbiandad, del asfixiante cari?o,
y, bueno, uno no sabe, es cierto,
pero todo esto es, todo esto vale, todo esto va ir
a chingar a su madre).27

/I want to say, that is, I want to say that this house and these
books
aren't worth a goddam, that is, everything I have isn't worth
anything.
That is, I want to say that I am death's only wizard and
buffoon,
and that I do everything I should and that I can't get out of
doing anything:
I give my money and my blood and my strength,
and my weariness and my ass and my blood
to my children and to the newsmen and to everybody. . .
. . .(one feels afraid of having anything to do with people
of their corrosive lesbianity, of the asphyxiating love,
and, well, one doesn't know, that's true,
but all of this is, all this is worth, all of this is going to go
fuck itself)./
I have already mentioned that it is no coincidence that this unleashed fury

be expressed, since Huerta's poetry is marked by strong statements and
similar desperation as can be seen in his verses to the mounted police.2*
When one reads ?Las nalgas? /?The Buttocks?/ by Ricardo Castilo
(Guadalajara, 1954) one is faced with an erotic poem filled with cheer
fulness, most sensual in the description of the female hemispheres. The
following selection is reminiscent.of ?Ju?rez-Loreto?: ?Pero es indudable
que las nalgas de una mujer/ son incomparablemente mejores que las de
un/ hombre. . . .?29/But it is undoubtable that a woman's buttocks/ are in
better than a/man's. .
comparably .?/
Both of these poems rouse a number of images and pleasurable sensa
tions that, according to Castillo, ?are more important that God and the Sun
combined. . . .?He distorts the vulgar reality of ?madams?
by attributing
to them economic qualities: ?son un art?culo de primera necesidad que no
afecta/ la inflaci?n? /?They are a staple which does not affect inflation?/.
He most capably manipulates his particularly good sense of humor. In ?El
que no es cabr?n no es hombre? /?He who is not a son of a bitch is not a
man?/, he writes ?La Suerte le dio el martillazo a su cochinito, sac? sus
ahorros/ y acab? de mandarme a chingar a mi madre./ Si ser? pende
jo. .. .? /?Luck gave its piggy bank a blow with a hammer, took out its sav
ings/ and finished screwing me over./ If I'm not dumb. . . .?/Even when
his poem deals with a worn-out subject, such as failure to succeed in the
hostile and impersonal city, he keeps his good sense of humor: ?La ciudad
no da lamano, no abre las piernas, tira patadas como/ monito de futbolito.
...? /?The City doesn't give a helping hand, doesn't open its legs, it kicks
like/ a football player in a pinball machine?/; and he ends with: ?Y qu? pin
che embuste,/ qu? momento para estar chingando a mi madre./ S?
ser?pendejo, s?me faltar? much?simo para cabr?n? /?What a fucking lie,/

what a time to be screwing myself./ If I'm not dumb as, as if I still had a
long way to be a son of a bitch?/ in order to merge with the City.
His sexual humor can also be seen in the imaginative ?Tarjeta de
Navidad?5/ /?Christmas Card?/. Huerta, of course, relies on his sense of
humor constantly to offset his frustration. Key examples are: ?Cuas,?
?Neohuertismos,? and ?Laringotomia? /?Larynxectomy?/.32 Blanco feels
that Castillo is the most representative example of this generation55 since he
was able to embody the collective sensitivity of the generation. I concur with
him, since besides the above mentioned, he also embodies the literary trend
this article deals with.
Jos? de Jes?s Sanpedro (Zacatecas, 1950; Premio Nacional de Poes?a,
1975)5'is similar to Reyes and Castillo in expressing desperation. His choice
of words and the way he places them on the page led Cohen to label his style
as ?individual baroquism.? Sanpedro experiments with poetry. In ?Otro
poema inconcluso? /?Another Unfinished Poem?/,55 for example,
Sanpedro combined many apparently unrelated images into a whole. When
one first reads this poem it feels disconnected, choppy, and strained.
However, on successive readings one discovers relationships between con
cepts, not clear, but ambiguous in its syntax:
'finitud'
la gata absurda un sereno cara de rat?n ir?nico
duelo inerme oigo en guardia delante de una
puerta
?tal vez rojo afuera un viejo violinista danza (creo)
gruta samurai vuelve a casa
mas leve equivoca y rabia y chilla a pesar de t?
recuerdo tuyo y no puedo mentir
nada aqu? o ?donde?56
/'finiteness'
the absurd cat a serene ironic mouseface
dead pain I listen attentively before a
door
?maybe red outside an old violinist dances (I think)
samurai cavern returns home
but lightly mistakes and rages and cries in spite of you
memory of you and I cannot lie
nothing here or where?/
The first three lines can be read several ways. One way would be, for exam
ple, ?oigo un sereno ir?nico delante de una puerta la gata absurda cara de
rat?n en guardia duelo? /?I hear an ironic town crier in front of a door, the
absurd mousefaced cat, attentively/ hurt?/, etc. Much of Huerta's poetry is
baroque and experimental, for example, ?Tajin.?57 But the best examples

can be found in his ?poeminimums.? Compare Sanpedro: ?Associated

Press Comenta La Noticia Del Nacimiento De Karl Marx Prusia Renana
(1818)? /?Associated Press Comments on the News of Karl Marx's Birth in
Renan, Prussia?/ ?Y pensar/ que todo/ iba muy bien? /?And to think/ that
everything/ was going so well?/. Political satire is evidenced in Huerta's
?Desconcierto? /?Confusion?/: ?A mis/ Viejos? Maestros/ De Marxismo/
No los puedo/ Entender:/ Unos/ Est?n/ En la c?rcel/ Otros est?n En el/
Poder.?5* /?I cannot understand/ my old Marxist teachers/ some are in
power/ others are in jail?/.
Vicente Quirarte (Mexico, 1954)J*gives us the city, the subways, buses,
prostitutes, etc. It is a city that pains him; the city where major historic
events take place. From ?Calle nuestra? /?Our Street?/: ?Pero no nos que
jamos, ciudad, amor m?o? . . . por aqu? entraron tambi?n Zapata y sus
soldados/ . . . desayunaron, saquearn, bebieron, amaron/ meseras del
Jockey Club y todo Plateros. . . .?40
/?But we aren't complaining, city, my love/. . .Zapata and his

soldiers also came in through here/. . .they had breakfast, they
looted, they drank, they loved/ waitresses from the Jockey Club
and all Plateros Street. . .?/
In ?Elogio de la calle? /?Street Eulogy?/, he says, ?Sobre el rio oscuro de la

calle/ ver hojas danzar con la basura del oto?o, / arrebatan a m?sicos ciegos
sus . . estamos para diablos.?41
guitarras/. aqu?, ciudad, qu?
/?On the dark river of the street/ to see leaves dance with the
autumn trash,/ they grab the guitars from blind musicians/
. . .we are here, city, what the devil for??/
This is the same city Huerta describes in ?Declaraci?n de amor? /?Declara

tion of Love?/ and ?Declaraci?n de odio? /?Declaration of Hate?/. He
describes the city:
Amplia y dolor osa ciudad donde caben los perros,

la miseria y los homosexuales,
las prostitutas y la famosa melancol?a de los poetas . . ,42
. . .Como te das, mujer de mil abrazos,
a nosotros tus t?midos amantes. . . ,43
/ample and painful city where the dogs,

indigence and homosexuals,
prostitutes and the famous poet's melancholy fit. . .
. . .How you give yourself, woman of a thousand embraces,
to us timid lovers. . ./
your

C?rdenas supports the same theory, writing: ?Quirarte definitely fits in the
genre touched by Huerta and the Classics.?44
We could easily continue discussing Carlos Oliva, Carlos Santib??ez,
Javier Ramirez, and others. We would find in each of them, as Zaid stated:
?That there is talent is obvious, but there is also craft. . . .?'5 In each of
them we would discover a new perspective of present-day Mexico, and the
very avoidance of the City; but mostly we would find what Gustavo Sainz
told me: ?If Huerta has influenced young Mexican poets, it could only be so
in that he is the most widely read of all Mexican poets.?46 It is not true that I
am a favorable critic, rather than that from the moment I read Huerta Iwas
affected in the same way.
In conclusion, the influence of the cultist school of Mexican poetry led
by Octavio Paz for more than forty years has waned because it stagnated, as
did Modern Aestheticism. A new age of Mexican poetry is emerging. It
takes a clearer look at contemporary Mexico and its real problems; at its
cultural and linguistic reality. It is poetry filled with anguish and protest and
it is not without poetic standards and limits but it attempts to shape the new
image, an image novel and refreshing, through humor and an authentic
voice, a voice that experiments with poetry and criticism. It is indisputable
that Efra?n Huerta plays an important role in this trend, despite his being
banned for more than thirty years.
The University of Texas at El Paso
NOTES
1. Jos? Joaqu?n Blanco, Cr?nica de la poes?a mexicana. Culiac?n: Universidad Aut?noma

de Sinaloa, 1979, p. 220: ?Huerta se convirti? de pronto en el poeta m?s admirado e influyente
entre los j?venes; se ve?a en ?l, en cuanto a personaje, al Neruda mexicano, y en cuanto a obra,
sus palabras eran imprescindibles para expresar la crisis.?

2. Gabriel Zaid, Asamblea de poetas j?venes de M?xico [Assembly of Young Mexican
Poets]. M?xico: Siglo XXI Editores, 1980, pp. 22-23.

3. Ricardo Aguilar, La poes?a de Efra?n Huerta [Efra?n Huerta's Poetry], doctoral disserta
tion, The University of New Mexico, 1976, p. 137.
4. Efra?n Huerta, ?Manifiesto nalga?sta? /?Buttockist Manifesto?/, Xilote, a?o 8, 38-39,
pp. 20-24.
5. Octavio Paz, Poes?a en movimiento [Poetry inMovement]. M?xico: Siglo XXI Editores
1966, p. 20.
6. Klaus M?ller-Berg, ?La poes?a de Octavio Paz en los a?os treinta? /?The Poetry of Oc
tavio Paz in the 1930s?/, Revista Iberoamericana, 74, p. 133.

7. Efra?n Huerta, Poes?a 1935-1968. M?xico: Joaqu?n Mortiz, 1968, p. 49.
8. Aguilar, p. 10.
9. Ibid., p. 12.

10. Sandro Cohen, Palabra nueva. M?xico: Premia Editora, S.A., 1981, p. 9.
11. Efra?n Huerta, Poemas prohibidos y de amor. M?xico: Siglo XXI Editores, 1973, p. 148.
12. Blanco, p. 220.
13. Huerta, Poemas prohibidos . . ., p. 111.
14. Publication dates for the following books by Huerta are: Los er?ticos y otros poemas,
1974; Circuito interior, 1977; 500 poeminimos, 1978; Textos profanos, 1978; Estampida de
poeminimos, 1980; Trans po?tica, 1980. Also, the Fondo de Cultura Popular has recently
published a book of poems entitled Amor patria m?a.

15. Rogelio Carvajal D?vila, ?Poemas mexicanos recientes,? Plural, 8:89, pp. 46-48.
16. Ibid., p. 48.
17. Alejandro Aura, Poes?a joven de M?xico, [Young Poetry of Mexico]. M?xico: Siglo XXI
Editores, 1967, 17-19.
18. Huerta, Poes?a . . ., pp. 21-22.
19. Aura, p. 21.
20. Ibid., p. 29.
21. Huerta, Poes?a . . ., p. 180.
22. Jose Emilio Pacheco, Tarde o temprano [One Way or Another]. M?xico: Fondo de
Cultura Econ?mica, 1980, pp. 65-72, 99.
23. Blanco, pp. 220-221.
24. Zaid, pp. 18-19.
25. Cohen, pp. 15-29; Blanco, pp. 237-260; Carvajal, pp. 48-49; Victor Manuel C?rdenas,
?Poetas j?venes: Mejia,? Plural, XVIII:116, pp. 72-73.
26. Cohen, p. 133.
27. Ibid., pp. 134-135.
28. Huerta, Poemas prohibidos . . ., pp. 142-145.
29. Zaid, p. 139.
30. Cohen, p. 285.
31. Ibid., p. 286.
32. Efra?n Huerta, Estampida de poeminimos. M?xico: Premia Editora, S.A., 1980, pp. 44,
73, 88.
33. Blanco, p. 259.
34. Cohen, p. 205.
35. Jos? de Jes?s Sanpedro, Un (ejemplo) salto de gato pinto [A (Example) Leap of a Spotted
Cat]. M?xico: Joaqu?n Mortiz, 1976, p. 71.
36. Ibid., p. 28.
37. Huerta, Poes?a. . ., pp. 183-189.
38. Efra?n Huerta, Los er?ticos y otros poemas. M?xico: Joaqu?n Mortiz, 1974.
39. Cohen, p. 210.
40. Ibid., p. 290.
41. Ibid., p. 292.
42. Huerta, Poes?a. . ., p. 80.
43. Ibid., p. 85.

44. C?rdenas, p. 81.
45. Zaid, p. 21.
46. Conversation with Mexican novelist Gustavo Sainz on Monday, October 2, 1981.


Aguilar Sobre Huerta 2

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Efrain Huerta and the New School of Mexican Poets

Author(s): Ricardo Aguilar Melantzón

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RICARDO AGUILAR MELANTZ?N

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the superfluous/ from above/ while there is someone in need of

hoy como ayer funda su grandeza po?tica en la desagradabili

po?tica que como es indudable, Huerta contribuy? a

/today as yesterday (Huerta's) greatness is based on writing

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It is important to note that throughout his professional life Paz has

Todo el pa?s amortajado, todo,

/The entire country shrouded, all of it,

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Poor country of indigents. Poor country of the wealthy./

In 1945, the French Government awarded him academic honors. Mex

Huerta se convirti? de pronto en el poeta m?s admirado e in

prescindibles para expresar la crisis.72

/Suddenly Huerta became the most admired and influential poet

?Avenida Ju?rez? is one of these poems. It deals with anger, anti

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publicly by the Government. The downfall of the Mexican cult tradition,

THE TRANSITION PERIOD

The poets of ?La espiga amotinada? /?The Mutinous Stock?/ emerge:

La iron?a y la pluralidad estil?stica constituir?n sus rasgos com

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/Irony and stylistic plurality constituted their common features.

The tendency to recreate the modern world, historical reality, is prevalent.

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with your million white doves,

Propongo un pacto general:

[A halt to the destruction

. . .alguien dej? una flor de papel sobre mi mesa,

/. . .someone left a paper flower on my table

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Huertawrites: ?Todo arde lentamente/ como en un ancho cemeterio./

/Everything burns slowly/as if in a wide cementery. / Everything

Jos? Emilio Pacheco should also be mentioned. Pacheco, though

Huerta suddenly became the most admired and influential poet

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It would be impossible to point out the similarities between Huerta and

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I have already mentioned that it is no coincidence that this unleashed fury

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can be found in his ?poeminimums.? Compare Sanpedro: ?Associated

/?But we aren't complaining, city, my love/. . .Zapata and his

In ?Elogio de la calle? /?Street Eulogy?/, he says, ?Sobre el rio oscuro de la

This is the same city Huerta describes in ?Declaraci?n de amor? /?Declara

Amplia y dolor osa ciudad donde caben los perros,

/ample and painful city where the dogs,

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The University of Texas at El Paso

1. Jos? Joaqu?n Blanco, Cr?nica de la poes?a mexicana. Culiac?n: Universidad Aut?noma

sus palabras eran imprescindibles para expresar la crisis.?

Poets]. M?xico: Siglo XXI Editores, 1980, pp. 22-23.

tion, The University of New Mexico, 1976, p. 137.

4. Efra?n Huerta, ?Manifiesto nalga?sta? /?Buttockist Manifesto?/, Xilote, a?o 8, 38-39,

tavio Paz in the 1930s?/, Revista Iberoamericana, 74, p. 133.

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published a book of poems entitled Amor patria m?a.

43. Ibid., p. 85.

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