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"[A] well-defined, important primer on Latin American poetics." - Booklist"When we read a book we put it in front of our eyes, not behind them, which is to say, more or less, that we open ourselves to a dimension of our future." - Ral Zurita, from the introductionThis intensely focused bilingual anthology pinpoints the heart of Latin American self-identification. In selecting these fifteen essential poems, Chilean poet Ral Zurita was guided by the question, "What poem, had it not been written, would have rendered the author another author and Latin American poetry something else" This extraordinary gathering of talent - from Jorge Luis Borges and Pablo Neruda to Ernesto Cardenal and Csar Vallejo - spans the twentieth century.