Little Stones at My Window: Selected Poems

by Mario Benedetti, Charles Dean Hatfield (Translator)

This bilingual collection of Mario Benedetti's poems covers a fifty-year span, with poems that range in theme from the pain of exile to the joys of love to the horrors of political repression. With Kafkaesque irony, Benedetti frequently conveys the impact of bureaucracy on the lives of ordinary citizens.

Genres: Poetry, Spanish Literature

308 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 2003

About the author

Mario Benedetti (full name: Mario Orlando Hamlet Hardy Brenno Benedetti Farugia) was a Uruguayan journalist, novelist, and poet. Despite publishing more than 80 books and being published in twenty languages he was not well known in the English-speaking world. He is considered one of Latin America's most important 20th-century writers.

Benedetti was a member of the 'Generation of 45', a Uruguayan intellectual and literary movement and also wrote in the famous weekly Uruguayan newspaper Marcha from 1945 until it was forcibly closed by the military government in 1973, and was its literary director from 1954. From 1973 to 1985 he lived in exile, and returned to Uruguay in March 1983 following the restoration of democracy.

Reviews

[Steven Godin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I accept that you've left once and for all
for the depths of oblivion that you prefer,
but the better part of your space,
actually the only part of your space,
will always remain in me, suffering,
convinced, frustrated, silent,
in me your still and substantial heart will remain,
your heart, a single promise
in me, wholly alone,
surviving you.

----

When I reside in this country that doesn't dream,
when I live in this city that never sleeps
but where my wife understands me
and I have memories of my youth, and my parents grow old
and I can find friends on every street corner
and I see trees from my window,
forgotten and clumsy at three in the afternoon,
I sense something surrounding me, squelching me,
as if a dense and critical shadow
were descending upon me and upon us
to harbor that someone who always sets off
the old detonator of hope.

----

I've still got almost all my teeth
almost all my hair and only a few cavities
I can make and unmake love
climb stairs two at a time
and run forty meters behind a bus
what I mean is that I shoundn't feel old
but the awful problem is that until now
I've taken all this for granted.

[jeremy · Rating 5 out of 5]

while it is nearly criminal that so few of mario benedetti's works have been translated into english (let alone remain in print), what little there is demonstrates an immense talent. the late uruguayan is revered throughout the spanish-speaking world, yet remains relatively obscure elsewhere. his prodigious literary output includes some eighty books (novels, short stories, poetry, drama, and essays).

little stones at my window is a bilingual collection spanning over five decades of benedetti's poetry, featuring poems from nineteen different books. the range of his writing, always beautifully composed, is exceptional, and throughout his work he employed differing styles and explored multitudinous themes. having lived much of his life in exile, benedetti's work was influenced by a tumultuous political climate and repressive government. despite the hardship, frustration, and anger benedetti endured, he was possessed equally by tenderness and compassion. sixty years of marriage to his wife, luz lópez alegre, also provided untold inspiration evident throughout his poetry. little stones at my window offers a breathtaking selection of poetry from a compelling master of the written word.


something of a requiem (1971)

While my father chokes to death in room 101
while my father chokes to death like a poor bird
completely defeated
and uses his last inch of breath for a tiny moan that
rips his heart in two
elsewhere other things are happening
president nixon comes out against routine
check-ups
the same president who himself rips hearts in two but with
napalm
young cambodians with training from the pentagon decapitate
north vietnamese bodies and are photographed smiling
with a head in each hand
the venerable mr. heath sells arms to the archangels of
south africa
and here in montevideo well-trained torturers buy tender
gifts to leave their well-fed snitches on this
night fit for a king
all this while my father, who was a decent and generous man,
chokes to death and dies in room 101.

[Edita · Rating 5 out of 5]

you give a piece of your life in a poem
and likewise you give a piece of your death
the feeling passes/ leaves its traces
and not for the other ill-intentioned ones
but for you yourself/ it’s important
to know what surroundings and what paths
belong to us or belonged to us

[Debbie Docherty · Rating 5 out of 5]

Once in a while, joy throws little stones at my window. This book of wonderfully written poetry was a joy to read. Fantastic to have a bilingual version. Excellent for improving Spanish vocabulary and use of language.

[Katrinka · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5.

[Lorena · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very good book of poems. I love tha fact that it is in English and Spanish. A GREAT BUY!