Evolving to Science Poetry: Three Poems by Ernesto Cardenal

Nicaraguan poet-priest Ernesto Cardenal (1925–2020) is one of the most important Latin American poets. He developed his “exteriorist” poetics in the 1950s, much influenced by Anglo-American poets, in particular Ezra Pound, to differentiate his poetry from the prevailing subjectivist verse in Latin America. The impact of Pound’s canto technique on his work is clear, as well. Cardenal’s epic poem Cántico cósmico (Cosmic Canticle), published in 1989, is his magnum opus. This work is distinguished by his avant-garde use of science and its language, as he contemplates the entire cosmos and issues of being and non-being. Revolution is another major aspect of the poem, reflecting Cardenal’s commitment as a Christian-Marxist revolutionary. My translations of three fragments of his Cosmic Canticle selected by him are published here for the first time. They represent his focus on the origin of our planet and life on Earth.