The Selected Poems of José Emilio Pacheco

José Emilio Pacheco's Selected Poems is a major bilingual retrospective of the poetry of one of Mexico's foremost writers. Born in 1939, Pacheco achieved recognition early, and while still in his twenties, he was already keeping company with the most important writers of his generation. A prolific poet and perfectionist, Pacheco published many volumes of poetry, including his famous 1969 collection No me preguntes como pasa el tiempo (Don't Ask Me How the Time Goes By). This edition is edited by George McWhirter of The University of British Columbia, who worked closely with Pacheco himself in choosing the poems and their English translations. Besides McWhirter's own versions are those by Edward Dorn, Alastair Reid, Katherine Silver, and others. As McWhirter writes: "In his singularity of vision and multiplicity of poetic forms, traditional and modern, Pacheco spans past and present in both Latin American and peninsular Spanish poetry. It is a glittering and giant technical achievement, as brilliant and instantly visible as Hart Crane's The Bridge."

Author: José Emilio Pacheco
Publisher: New Directions Publishing Corporation
Published: 05/26/2026
Pages: 224
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.55lbs
Size: 7.90h x 5.10w x 0.70d
ISBN: 9780811240192

About the Author
Pacheco, José Emilio: -

Author of the well-known novel Battles in the Desert, José Emilio Pacheco won the Mexican National Poetry Prize, the Premio José Asunción Silva Award, and the Cervantes Prize. He lived in Mexico City until his death in 2014.

McWhirter, George: - George McWhirter is an Irish-Canadian writer, translator, editor, teacher and Vancouver's first Poet Laureate. He has translated works by Mario Arregui, Carlos Fuentes, José Emilio Pacheco, and Homero Aridjis (for which he won the 2024 Griffin Poetry Prize).