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*Jorge Teillier. El molino y la higuera. 1993. 52 pp.

This is the first complete book of Chilean poet JT that I've read. I lot of Latin American poets in a more or less colloquial mode seem more or less interchangeable to me, but that might mean I simply have to read more of them, and in more depth.

To have a good working knowledge of Latin American poetry (just the Spanish part, taking Brazil out of the equation for a moment) you'd have to have a grasp on countries with very well developed poetic traditions: Mexico, Chile, Argentina, Cuba, Peru. You'd have to also look at other central American and Carribean nations, especially Nicaragua. Venezuela doesn't have any poets in the "super canon," like Neruda, Vallejo, Borges, but it has a very strong tradition of its own. Finally, there are countries that don't seem, to the outsider, to have as many really well known figures, but who probably would repay study: Uruguay, Paraguay, Colombia, Ecuador, Bolivia, etc... Eventually, the 9000 book project will give me a good grounding, given that some percentage will be books of Latin American poetry.