This will be my third and last post on Chilean poet Nicanor Parra, a former mathematician who is famous as Latin America’s straight-talking alternative to flowery verse. Parra recently turned 100 and is still doing well, an impressive feat for any being.
After most of his recitals he would say “I take back everything I’ve said.” Below is a poem that summarizes the poet’s (anti) attitude.
I Take Back Everything I’ve Said
Before I go
I’m supposed to get a last wish:
Generous reader
burn this book
It’s not at all what I wanted to say
Though it was written in blood
It’s not what I wanted to say.
No lot could be sadder than mine
I was defeated by my own shadow:
My words took vengeance on me.
Forgive me, reader, good reader
If I cannot leave you
With a warm embrace, I leave you
With a forced and sad smile.
Maybe that’s all I am
But listen to my last word:
I take back everything I’ve said.
With the greatest bitterness in the world
I take back everything I’ve said.
— translated by Miller Williams
ZETEO 