Woes of the True Policeman

Best movie companion: Elizabeth Bishop, Berrigan, Ted Hughes, José Emilio Pacheco.

Best in the kitchen: Coronel Urtecho (but Amalfitano reminded them of Pablo de Rokha and read him and there was no argument).

Most fun: Borges and Nicanor Parra. Others: Richard Brautigan, Gary Snyder.

Most clearsighted: Martín Adán.

Least desirable as a literature professor: Charles Olson.

Most desirable as a literature professor, though only in short bursts: Ezra Pound.

Most desirable as a literature professor for all eternity: Borges.

Greatest sufferer: Vallejo, Pavese.

Best deathbed companion after Ernesto Cardenal: William Carlos Williams.

Most full of life: Violeta Parra, Alfonsina Storni (though Amalfitano pointed out that both had killed themselves), Dario Bellezza.

Most rational way of life: Emily Dickinson and Cavafy (though Amalfitano pointed out that — according to conventional wisdom — both were failures).

Most elegant: Tablada.

Best Hollywood gangster: Antonin Artaud.

Best New York gangster: Kenneth Patchen.

Best Medellín gangster: Álvaro Mutis.

Best Hong Kong gangster: Robert Lowell (applause), Pere Gimferrer.

Best Miami gangster: Vicente Huidobro.

Best Mexican gangster: Renato Leduc.

Laziest: Daniel Biga. Or, according to some, Oquendo de Amat.

Best masked man: Salvador Novo.

Biggest nervous wreck: Roque Dalton. Also: Diane Di Prima, Pasolini, Enrique Lihn.

Best drinking buddy: several names were mentioned, among them Cintio Vitier, Oliverio Girondo, Nicolas Born, Jacques Prévert, and Mark Strand, who was said to be an expert in martial arts.

Worst drinking buddy: Mayakovsky and Orlando Guillén.

Most fearless dancer with American death: Macedonio Fernández.

Most homegrown, most Mexican: Ramón López Velarde and Efraín Huerta. Other opinions: Maples Arce, Enrique González Martínez, Alfonso Reyes, Carlos Pellicer, fair-haired Villaurrutia, Octavio Paz, of course, and the female author of Rincones románticos (1992), whose name no one could remember.

Questionnaire

Question: Why would you want Amado Nervo as a houseguest?

Answer: Because he was a good man, industrious and resourceful, the kind of person who helps set the table and wash the dishes. I’m sure he wouldn’t even hesitate to sweep the floor, though I wouldn’t let him. He would watch TV shows with me and discuss them afterward, he would listen to my troubles, he would never let things get blown out of proportion: he would always have the right thing to say, the appropriate levelheaded response to any problem. If there were some disaster — an earthquake, a civil war, a nuclear accident — he wouldn’t flee like a rat or collapse in hysterics, he would help me pack the bags, he would keep an eye on the children so that they didn’t run off in fear or for fun or get lost, he would always be calm, his head firmly on his shoulders, but most of all he would always be true to his word, to the decisive gesture expected of him.

Readings

Poems by Amado Nervo (Los jardines interiores; En voz baja; Elevación; Perlas negras; Serenidad; La amada inmóvil). Laurence Sterne, A Sentimental Journey (Colección Austral, Espasa Calpe). Matsuo Basho, Narrow Road to the Interior (Hiperión).

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