Clean Slate: New and Selected Poems

by Daisy Zamora, Margaret Randall (Translator), Elinor Randall (Translator)

To be a woman in revolutionary Nicaragua meant to take an active role in reshaping a country. Daisy Zamora came out of that experience as a poet who found her own voice in the context of extraordinary popular struggle. Her Clean Slate: New & Selected Poems is a collection that embodies a spirit of personal and political liberation. These 110 poems include works written between 1968 and 1993.

Genres: Poetry

193 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 1988

Reviews

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

"El Final"
Y tenazmente seguimos buscando los recovecos
adivinando señas queriendo llegar primero al
final del cuento cuando lo verdadero lo único
lo cierto es que no hay no existe no lo sabremos nunca.

"The End"
Tenacious, we keep on searching corners
reading signs wanting to be the first
to reach the end of the the story when
what's real what's true what we know
is there is no end it doesn't exist
we will never get there.

Poem from CLEAN SLATE: New and Selected Poems by Daisy Zamora, translated from the Spanish by Margaret Randall and Elinor Randall, 1993.

#ReadtheWorld21 📍Nicaragua
#womenintranslation

Interesting note about the translators of this Zamora collection, Margaret and Elinor Randall. They're a mother-daughter translation team!
As described in the introduction of the book, Elinor (the mother) did the first draft Spanish-to-English translation, while Margaret, the daughter, "finessed" into the poetic form. They worked with Daisy Zamora on each poem and received her approval before publication in the early 1990s.

[Steven Godin · Rating 3 out of 5]

***1/2

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

More naturalistic and overtly political than I usually read, but worth the time. Zamora is the only Nicaraguan poet I've ever read, to my knowledge. I appreciated having the original text right beside the translation.

[Lorraine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book of poetry written by a poet involved in the revolution in Nicaragua. The themes of war, exile, and loss are powerful and disturbing and resonate strongly these many decades after the poems were written.

[Cody Stetzel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Probably some of the best revolutionary poetry I've read, yet.