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PARTISAN REVIEW
OP:
It is . Sometimes you also feel that you are not only using the
language but you are on the language, as on a wave, no?
MCP:
Yes. And sometimes even that the words are more important.
Often when I'm moving down the street I think I am just the
words because I'm not very conscious of the way I'm moving or of
what I'm feeling necessarily. But there are words going on in my
head.
OP:
Yes. Language has a life of its own.
MCP:
Do you ever get frightened of the power of words?
OP:
No. The fear is linked more to the process of interpreting the
great silence. That is the great value of a poet. I think that almost
all the poets have suffered from this fear of silence.
MCP:
Have you ever suffered from any periods where you don't
want to write?
OP:
Yes. Many times. It's a kind of sterility. You cannot concen–
trate. Or you can concentrate but you try to write and you can–
not. As a matter of fact, many times I have written to fight this
sickness. I write to overcome this terror. I think this is one of the
subjects I have written about most fully, this blocking of the
language. The incapacity to talk. Or when the sea of language
starts to be - a desert.
MCP:
Have you ever wondered what might cause a blocking? Do
you think it is a natural thing like the rotation of crops?
OP:
Perhaps it is natural? It never feels natural. We feel it is a sick–
ness, a kind of malediction. Then you do things. Or you drink.
The better thing is to write .
MCP:
Would you even consider writing a letter or a note in a diary?
Just to keep writing?
OP:
I think Pound said it, and it is very interesting, that during a
period of sterility, a poet should translate a lot. Pound was a very
prolific poet.
MCP:
Do you like him?
OP:
Well, yes. I was one of his admirers before he was well known.
MCP:
Do you find that your relationship with contemporary writers
is helpful to you?
OP:
That's a very difficult question .
MCP:
Do you maintain a correspondence with poets , do you enjoy
going out to dinner with them, or do you prefer to read other
poets?
OP:
In Mexico? I don't want to answer your question, because it
is very complex .
