From the publisher
A Tree Within (Arbor Adentro), the first collection of new poems by the great Mexican author Octavio Paz since his Return (Vuelta) of 1975, was originally published as the final section of The Collected Poems of Octavio Paz, 1957-1987. Among these later poems is a series of works dedicated to such artists as Miró, Balthus, Duchamp, Rauschenberg, Tàpies, Alechinsky, Monet and Matta, as well as a number of epigrammatic and Chinese-like lyrics. Two remarkable long poems – “I Speak of the City,” a Whitmanesque apocalyptic evocation of the contemporary urban nightmare, and “Letter of Testimony,” a meditation on love and death – are emblematic of the mature poet in a prophetic voice.

Contents:

• Sheaf
  • Between what I see and what I say
  • Example
  • Wind and night
  • On the wing (I)
  • Quartet
  • Distich and variations
  • Insomniac
  • Riddle
  • Proof
  • On the wing (2)
  • By the stream
  • Wind, water, stone
  • This side
  • Interval
  • Between going and staying
  • Brotherhood
• The open hand
  • I speak of the city
  • This and this and this
  • 1930: Scenic views
  • Although it is night
  • Fire by friction
  • Toast
  • The revolving house
  • Impreface
  • Kostas Papaioannou (1925-1981)
• A sun more alive
  • To talk
  • A waking
  • Little variation
  • Epitaph for no stone
  • Preparatory exercise
  • The face and the wind
• Seen and said
  • A fable of Joan Miró
  • The dulcinea of Marcel Duchamp
  • 10 lines for Anoni Tàpies
  • Sight and touch
  • A wind called Bob Rauschenberg
  • Central Park
  • Place
  • Four poplars
  • The house of glances
• A tree within
  • A tree within
  • January First
  • Before the beginning
  • The dryad war
  • A song out of tune
  • Return
  • Pillars
  • As one listens to the rain
  • Night, day, night
  • Letter of testimony
• Author’s Notes