Compiling an anthology of poetry is difficult and thankless enough, but confining the selection to a specific geographic location is next to impossible if a work of quality is to be produced. Cartagena de Indias has provided the world with perhaps more than its share of poets of merit, but even so, by restricting this anthology to writers who were born or who have resided in the “heroic city” the noted historian Roberto Arrazola was forced to include some poets of secondary or lesser rank.
By dividing the work into four classifications: Los Raros, La Pleyade, Los Otros, and La Ciudad, he has acknowledged this handicap. The first grouping contains poetry of merit, including the works of such as Luis Carlos López and Rafael Núñez. The next two groupings, however, contain the works of lesser poets of the past and the present. The final section includes poems by famous poets writing about Cartagena. An introductory essay contains criticism of the more important authors.
Written primarily for sale in Cartagena and obviously published in time for the celebration of the sesquicentennial of Cartagena’s independence, the anthology is of sufficient merit to warrant the attention of the student of customs and history of the ancient fortress city.
