After two first collections of poems (“Rachas devienso” and “Ashley, Wisconsin, Medicine”), the poet from Cuenca, based in Toledo, Cristian Lazaro publishes a new book, “Search History” (Hidden Universe), which develops a poetic attentive to reality, but also to introspectionfar from being baroque but very conscious of the work of recreating the word, with an intense musicality, phonetic and conceptual, which tends towards verse and emotional concentration. With higher studies in cinema and a degree in philology, he combines the teaching of language and literature with writing, having worked in fields such as film production, library science and work of editorial orthocorrection. Always in areas of transmission of emotions and stories.
Poets Jesús Maroto and Cristian Lázaro at the Toledo Book Fair
At the recent Toledo Book Fair he presented this collection of poems in a joint event with the famous Toledo poet Jesus Marotowho in turn presented his “The difference is called” (Celya), in a conference-recital for two voices and four hands, combining two generations in a poetic combat and in a permanent search for new formats that make poetry more attractive.
-You have studied cinema and a degree in Hispanic philology, how is this training reflected in your poetry?
-The literary base allowed me to know the teachers and their languages. The linguistic foundation allowed me to communicate in a way that I would not have been able to do without these studies. And cinema is an incentive with which I learned: “If you have a shot or a scene left, cut it” (Spielberg) and less is more Bergman, which I apply to my verses. But the main thing is to practice, practice and fill out notebooks.
–With a booklet and two collections of poems published, do you consider that poetry has the recognition it deserves? What is its place, and that of Literature in general, in the digital age? Can AI compose works as complex as “Les Fleurs du Mal” (Baudelaire) or “L’Espace” (Juan Ramón Jiménez)?
-Fortunately, there is an industry that reads poetry. Poetry is very free and does not bind anyone. It’s still there, like a balm. It will therefore always have its place. Recitals and synergies between poets help a lot, for the public who likes to complement reading with listening. Bookstores, libraries and some media programs also make it visible. As for AI, it will never create poetry like that produced by humans. It’s not his job either. To compose works like this, it takes soul.
–Poets of your affection and interest (ancient, modern and contemporary).
-Rare is the poetry that I don’t like. But, to make a top one, I will stick to Quevedo, Florbela Espanca, great Portuguese poet of the 20th century, Allen Ginsberg, Ana Merino and Sara Búho.
-Poetry: consolation or communication? Selfishness or altruism?
-Between consolation or communication, both. As for the other dilemma, it is altruism and an ego that bares itself to build connections.
–As a practicing literature teacher, what do you think is the way to interest or interest young people in poetry?
-There is everything, because verse is a way of escape and there are those who experience it during adolescence. The verse is pop, it’s rap and it’s screaming. The best thing is that they see all types of poetry and don’t have the idea that they always have to wear the corset of meter.
–Poetry will always have a use value (to comfort, enlighten, make reality more understandable), but can it have an exchange value? Can it be promoted and sold as fiction or non-fiction titles?
-Readers are sovereign and will determine what comforts and what sells. Comforting and enlightening is something subjective and not always achieved, it depends on each look. As for the others, the precedents of Ginsberg, Gloria Fuertes or José Hierro (“New York Notebook”) have been created.
–Your poetry explores everyday life in search of the seams, the obverse, the other side of the mirror. Are you looking for some kind of transcendence?
-Immanence or transcendence, I want it to arise and not force it.
–Is love always the great theme of poetry?
-Yes, but love in the broad sense: to the family, to the couple, to the elusive loved one, to friends, to the environment, to the cosmos…, to humanity.
–In his poem “Literature”, he seems to advocate a less complacent, more risky, more committed literature. Is the literary world more of a hive or a hornet’s nest?
-There is everything in the pharmacy. Everyone moves their literary universe to their liking. It’s important for literature to relax and escape, but it also needs to dot the i’s.
–In this century and this millennium, History reproduces inequalities, hunger, wars, unwanted solitude, epidemics, what meaning does poetry have in this new/old dystopian environment?
-Twinning, twinning and twinning.
Below is a poem from “Research History”:
your firm step
I dreamed that I saw a life,
a life of fig trees and pomegranates, of your dreamy eyes
for mine, controversial (but administrative). As your firm step attracts me,
your determined pace.
How can I search for it?
how and how much I seek him!
