The Poems in Che’s Green Notebook
The Observer reports that the Mexican publishers, Planeta, are to publish the contents of Che Guevara’s green notebook, which was found among his belongings when he was shot by the CIA in 1967. The notebook has since been kept locked away by the Bolivian military.
The notebook contains 69 poems by Pablo Neruda (Chile), Nicolás GuillĂ©n (Cuba), CĂ©sar Vallejo (Peru) and LeĂłn Felipe (Spain). The poems are written out in Guevara’s own hand.
The publication has been edited by the Mexican writer, Paco Ignacio Taibo II.
The following is a poem by CĂ©sar Vallejo:
The Black Heralds
There are blows in life, so powerful . . . I don’t know!
Blows as from the hatred of God; as if, facing them,
the undertow of everything suffered
welled up in the soul . . . I don’t know!They are few; but they are . . . They open dark trenches
in the fiercest face and in the strongest back.
Perhaps they are the colts of barbaric Attilas;
or the black heralds sent to us by Death.They are the deep falls of the Christs of the soul,
of some adored faith blasphemed by Destiny.
Those bloodstained blows are the crackling of
bread burning up at the oven door.And man . . . Poor . . . poor! He turns his eyes, as
when a slap on the shoulder summons us;
turns his crazed eyes, and everything lived
wells up, like a pool of guilt, in his look.There are blows in life, so powerful . . . I don’t know!
*
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When is Planeta publishing this note book ?
Best wishes Rhiannon
jb says: I believe it was published last month (September).
where can I purchase it from looked on amazon, but cant find it ?
Thanks Rhiannon
still looking for a translation of the leon felipe poem che reads to sugar workers to the effect man is a stupid but hard working child in the movie abt che
brecht poems enheartening, aren’t they?
u.s. produces very little political poetry- maybe gary snyder poetry here mostly useless
can any one help?- my email is mozela9@surfglobal.net
[…] Guevara, alaturi de Pablo Neruda, Nicolás GuillĂ©n, CĂ©sar Vallejo, Julio Cortázar s.a. – vezi aici si aici). Despre Don […]
great poem of a great man
I found Che’s green notebook on amazon.com but it is in Spanish. Is there anywhere i can find an English copy?
Peet
i have found the book in bengali translation
The Black Heralds
There are blows in life, so powerful . . . I don’t know!
Blows as from the hatred of God; as if, facing them,
“This is My Favourite Poem”
any one have a translation of the felipe poem che read to the sugar cane workers?
send me- reward offered (bk of my poems)
great man, and a really nice poem there. good stuff.
When you think about Che Guevara’s life and fate, this poem seems really very sad.
But man is a laborious and stupid child
who has made out of the game a sweaty (working) day.
He has turned the drum stick to a hoe,
and instead of playing on earth a song of joy
has been digging her.
If we only knew walking to the applause of the stars
and making a poetic symbol of every day!
I mean nobody knows digging in the rhythm of the sun
and nobody had yet cut off an ear with love and grace.
This baker, for example, why this baker
does not put a rose of white bread
on the lapel of that hungry beggar?
– LeĂłn Felipe, The Rose of Flour
I’ve only recently heard about Che Guevara (surprisingly behind the times, I know) and am quite interested in checking out this “Green Notebook” so cheers for sharing.
From that poem I loved, “Those bloodstained blows are the crackling of bread burning up at the oven door.”
There has been talk of a poem written by CHe for Tania. anyone seen it? how can i get a copy