“Complete Poetry” appeared, the book that brings together the work of Guillermo Etchebehere

Guillermo Etchebeherethe most transcendent poet that the Cañuelas party has produced, was the author Pulse of the Eartha (1940), man’s day (1943), The seed of the wind (1947) and The permanent light (1956). These four books, together with the transcription of some lectures and poems that appeared in literary magazines, appear for the first time together in an anthology.

“Complete Poetry”, The necessary and fair tribute to the Cañuelense poet was an initiative of the cultural ranch The Uncalitos that they share Susana Frasseren and Pablo Garavaglia; from the literary cafe Silence and Voices; and the director of the Sarmiento Library, Juan Manuel Rizzi, responsible for a compilation that required several years of searching.

The edition of 100 copies is by Dock Editions is now available in the Library and on the publisher’s platform. The Municipality of Cañuelas contributed part of the printing costs and the rest was covered by contributions from those who made an advance purchase plus anonymous donations. The promoters of the project are in talks with the National Library to make an official presentation in that area.

Etchebehere was born in Cañuelas on June 18, 1917 within a family of Basque grocers and farmers. He completed his primary studies at School No.1. His introduction to literature took place in the town’s popular library and through his admired Carlos Vega. At the age of 19, he settled in the city of Buenos Aires to work in Bunge & Born where I would meet the playwright Carlos Gorostiza, his friend and confidant.

Author of a lyrical work that was nourished by the rural landscape and the work of Buenos Aires men, with a militant profile without leaving aside a fine sensitivity, he was a member of the poetic movement called “Generation of ’40” and the Lilulí group (name taken from the book of the same name by Romain Rolland).

The renowned Argentine poet Jorge Calvetti defined Etchebehere as “one of our most real and transcendent values” highlighting its human and literary quality compared to other contemporaries whose works lacked personality. “Many poems deserve to be signed by ghosts, they are so far from life.”

“The heightened lyricism, the attachment to the land and childhood – in Etchebehere not idyllic – It also includes the social, the other as a brother who suffers. Maybe that’s why Atahualpa Yupanqui, “To whom Etchebehere promisingly received his book, barely knowing it, after the poet’s death he made several of his verses his own, setting three verses to music in two milongas: “La mano de mi rumor” and “Memoria para el olvido”, included in the album El canto del viento (1980)” highlights Juan Manuel Rizzi in the biographical note that opens the anthology.

“The Basque” died on June 2, 1978 victim of an abdominal aortic aneurysm caused by his addiction to tobacco. His remains rest in the municipal cemetery of Cañuelas next to those of his father, William Primitive.

In the prologue, Susana Frasseren He remembers that he came into contact with Etchebehere’s poems in his early adolescence: “I saw the livestock farms, the crops, the groves, the people working in the fields, the nostalgia of those who immigrated, the early death, the infinite departure of loved ones, injustice in the world, I heard the birds singing, I felt the aroma and the wind in the eucalyptus trees that named the field that gave me deep metaphors.” And he highlighted that although part of his work refers to the small payment“his poetry is universal.”

In Cañuelas, his work remains forgotten, despite the efforts made by the language teachers. Graciela Raffo and Susana Ponce de León from Indavereawho, contrary to the official program, used to include Etchebehere among the poets in their classes, making him a little better known among several generations of students who learned to uncover metaphors with his poem “Birds” or were moved by the depth of “My Basque Grandparents.” ”.

“Complete poetry” It is a new invitation to explore its landscapes.

BIRDS

Noon rides
above the traveling clouds.
Under the green tears
of an old willow tree that dreams,
the fatigue of two oxen
ruminates the thirsty hours.
The birds — the backwaters
siesta musicals—
They carry the sun in their beaks
and on the wings honeysuckle
to decorate with the night
the sackcloth of the stars.
Far away, the sky is tilting
about the thirst of the earth.
Between two rows of pine trees,
splashing in the ditches
and throwing their voices to the wind
—celestial troop of arrows—
the children run, releasing
flocks of fresh laughter
and searching with his desires
and with its deep awake
a soft bed of feathers
for stone death.
When the night sowed
blue silence along the paths
the youngest of children,
the smallest smile,
left the round of games
and went away with the fireflies
carrying a muffled trill
by the treacherous slings.
Next to a tree with the trunk
devoured by ivy,
made a nest of grass
for the dead lark;
and about the frustrated flight
of the two bloody wings
put a white poppy
and a silk caress.
The moon found embraced
in a corner of the garden,
the sadness of a death
with the childhood of a poet.

Written by: Germán Hergenrether