Alone Against the Sea/Solo contra el mar

Poetry From Cuba/Poesía desde Cuba
by Raúl Mesa
Published by York Press

Alone Against the Sea/Solo contra el mar, the title of Mesa's first volume of poetry published in the United States, was suggested in a statement made by the late Cuban poet, Dulce María Loynaz (1902-1997). In her volume, Un verano en Tenerife (1958), she asserts that it is easier to provide water for the world's deserts than for its islands; they are alone against the sea. After listening to a selection of Mesa's poems, the 1992 winner of the prestigious Cervantes Prize encouraged him to prepare a careful selection of what he considered to be his best work. The result is Alone Against the Sea.The first part of the collection with its subtitle "Archimboldi's Summer" is a section dedicated to the sixteenth-century Italian painter, Giuseppe Archimboldi, whose works contained enigmatic and ambiguous human figures, often seemingly the products of assorted vegetables. Such an ambiguous viewpoint about humanity informs much of Mesa's earlier writings.A more lyrical period is evident in "Fountain," the second half of the text. Here he seeks poetic freedom and the opportunity to celebrate life. His work here often implies that the poems are, in effect, records of intimate chats with a close friend.