The Fire’s Journey (Tr. Keith Ekiss)

Translated from Spanish by Keith Ekiss, Sonia P. Ticas & Mauricio Espinoza.

Eunice Odio published her epic poem The Fire’s Journey (El tránsito de fuego) in 1957, and it is now available in English translation for the first time. A much-neglected masterpiece of 20th-century Latin American poetry, the poem imagines the world as the word of God. Using a mixture of surrealism, narrative, and dialogue, the story follows the journey of Ion, the poet-god who enters the universe to battle the Void, the force of chaos that threatens to cast the world into darkness. Drawing on traditions from Genesis to Paradise Lost, Odio’s The Fire’s Journey is a poem about the sacred power of language and the fate of the poet in the world. Tavern Books will publish the entirety of The Fire’s Journey in four volumes.”