Anglo Arts in collaboration with the British Council, Conaculta and the Antiguo Colegio de San Ildefonso (lleno de murales, entre otros de José Clemente Orozco y de Diego Rivera) organised a night of poetry with Sir Andrew Motion & Owen Sheers. A wonderful opening of the Year of the United Kingdom in Mexico.

We heard 5 poems from Owen and also in their Spanish translations. Not Yet my Mother – no eras aún mi madre . Then 4 unpublished poems by Andrew, starting with a poem about cartography (as in humanity’s travel through time and space but through the eyes of one long-lived traveller), then connecting with an elderly lady who thought she were many people, a third one, which I am struggling to recall, perhaps because the poet asked us not to clap and then my brain has missed the separation with the closing act: a pine cone used under a holocaust theme.

A brief conversation ensued and we were then invited to dwell on the building for a reception and above all the murales…

Andrew and Owen: thank you for the visit; and my thanks to all who made this occasion possible.

PS. Turning on the fire – how could I forget! Andrew’s fourth poem is mentioned on the tweet I posted above and talks about the eight year old boy watching his father, early on a Saturday morning as he puts on the fire that will keep warm the house in their village… I look forward to reading it again when it is published later in the year. Beautiful. My heart clapping for it now (and the father would be proud).