Amar sin papeles, by Víctor Casaus: poetry for seeing and telling extraordinary things

Abstract

The article is a critical analysis of Amar sin papeles, an anthology of love poems by Víctor Casaus. It studies the collection of poems as a project of continuity of the testimonial vocation of Pablo de la Torriente Brau, summarized in his idea of seeing and telling extraordinary things, in the context of Cuban colloquial poetry. Casaus assumes this project, as well as Juan Gelman’s inventory of essential vocations: love, revolution and poetry. The poetic-testimonial subject of Amar sin papeles is thus concerned with seeing and telling the extraordinary things of love, especially the everyday moments of lovers; this subject also translates this testimony into poems whose form, content and language address magic, their own revolutions and the enchantment of love; the poems turn to themselves, make allusion to the relationship between erotic and poetic acts, and invite the complicity of their readers.