INTERVIEW

By © Ernesto R. del Valle.

... everything in nature is in a certain erotic, sensual way, the sun, that kisses, the wind, the breeze that caresses, the water, that seizes ...
Raquel Perdomo: Uruguay

Writer, born in Montevideo capital of Uruguay, has more than 600 poems, stories, children's stories, fables, essays A participated in international anthologies Love, Roses for my Mother, Mujere, s with Hispana Editorial and Punto G, United States, New Poetry and Narrative Hispanoamericana of the XXI century 2015 poetry and 2017 narrative Editorial Lord Byron and Diviertesex I erotic anthology, Spain, Beyond the Borders editorial Verses Shared and 100 Poets for Peace and Folding editorial aBrace Uruguay and in Serbia with children's stories editorial Blookland , Journal of the Poets in Buenos Aires Argentina, Literary Society Magazine Lovers of the Country, Literary Magazine Guatiní, Blue Blog of MarLibros 2016 for the Paths of Pleasure (erotic poetry) and 2017 The Flight of the Dragonfly by Independent Publishing MVR SpainAwards 2017: Star del Sur in Uruguay and El Arco de Córdoba in Argentina.
ERNESTO R. DEL VALLE.- Rachel, you were born in Montevideo, the capital and most populated city of the Oriental Republic of Uruguay. In what neighborhood, how do you remember the corner where you were born? Do you have any anecdote from your childhood?
RACHEL PERDOMO. I was born and lived until I was 9 years old in the capital, then we moved to another department, Treinta y Tres, city of Vergara, there I finished elementary school and started high school, we stayed until I was 14 years old, and finally Cerro Largo, city of Rio Branco, where I passed All my life, where I got married, my children and my grandson were born I'm still going to the place where I was born, Camino Maldonado Km 16, I'm going to visit my aunt, the nicest thing I remember is when we went to the station at 5 in the morning to take the train, the noise of the people, the pigeons flying, that is burned into me

ERdelV.- Your first readings. Preferred authors
RP.- I read everything since I was a child, before they sold the eggs wrapped in newspaper, I read them, everything and any book that fell into my hands, was a regular visitor in the library of Rio Branco. I love Benedetti, Juana de Ibarbourou, Pablo Neruda, Rubén Darío, Borges, Lorca, Octavio Paz, Sister Inés de la Cruz, Fernando Pessoa, Becquer, Alfonsina Storni

ERdelV.- How do you find that desire to write? Did you influence an author, a particular work?
RP.- No, the truth is not, for me to write, it was, is and will be a spiritual need, a soul sigh My first poetry I wrote at the age of 12, even without knowing it was a poetry, only after a sad situation , I took pencil and paper and wrote to my mother and it was in verses

ERdelV.- Juan Carlos Onetti, Eduardo Galeano, Mario Benedetti Edelmira Agustini, Horacio Quiroga, Juana de Ibarbourou, in short, a Pleiad that still flashes with its own light in our American sky. How does it feel to carry on your shoulders the legacy of so many men and women who have put the name of Uruguay on one of the top pedestals of Latin American poetry?
RP.- Great, great personalities of Uruguayan and world literature, of course I do not compare myself with them, but it is an honor to be born in the same country, which is so prestigious personality, it is more Juana is from the department of Cerro Largo, where I I spent most of my life, where my children were born, my grandson ...

ERdelV.- I would like the writer in Raquel Perdomo to tell me about her published works. You have two with suggestive titles, For the Paths of Pleasure (erotic poetry) and the most recent, The Flight of the Dragonfly Any one you owe great love?
RP.- They are two very special books, Por los Caminos del Placer was my first book and will always occupy a special place in my heart, it is a little different perhaps because it is a book exclusively dedicated to eroticism, it is a recreational reading, it is a guide to the reader through the labyrinths of pleasure, of love, of fantasy, of imagination, of sex, I always tell you, eroticism is dressing sex with a gala dress! It comes to shine all the most beautiful, the love that we all dream. The second book is more than special, it has two halos of Freedom and Droplets of Nostalgia and Passion, the name is very suggestive, the symbolism of the dragonfly is, it is something magical, it speaks of maturity, transformation, freedom, depth, there is my personal transformation in each verse in each letter, a cry of freedom tears of emotion and passion eroticism, which never remains outside in my poems.
ERdelV.- The erotic theme is a double-edged element for those who confront him. You know the risk that there is to cross the border or not to arrive because the sensuality, the eroticism and the porno are separated by a slight thread that without realizing you you can break. How do you treat this topic?
RP.- Yes, it is very true, it is more, Ernesto, I tell you, that I know in my country I am currently one of the few poetesses who writes erotic poems, I explain the following, How do we distinguish eroticism from pornography? Many people confuse one and the other, and in reality they are opposite eroticism enhances, values, everything about sex, everything is sublime, beautiful, pornography, denigrates, vulgarizes, shows sex from its worst angle.

ERdelV.- Water as an erotic element. You treat it in one of your poems, when you say:
Today the water is so daring,
Intrepid, I climbed up my legs ...
There are three important elements in these two verses: leg, intrepid and climbed, which give the reader a guide to what he will read next.
[...] went up, climbed them without stopping
Helpless, I felt seduced by the sea!
It is that subtle moment when water suggests possession. Tell me about this
RP.- I think everything in nature is in a certain erotic, sensual way, the sun, that kisses, the wind, the breeze that caresses, the water, that seizes, that caresses, that absorbs us would say, the truth that was entering the beach and I love the sea, and the pleasure was so much to feel my legs kissed, that I compared it to another real situation, it is the magic of fantasy

ERdelV.- What can the reader find in your two poems?
RP.- In Caminos del placer, you will find a subtle, delicate form of verses full of fantasy erotic passion, I tell you something that an Italian friend told me, he told me: "I want to read your book and see from your eyes , because today is so vulgarized sex, I want to see it in a more romantic way "Also some men who have read it, have told me that it works as a mental viagra. In the flight of the dragonfly, they find from the reality of life, of the world, the harshness, the injustice, to the taste of tears, of love, of freedom, they find a whole, they find my way of seeing life, it is a walk through the soul, through human feelings,

ERdelV.- The emancipation of women has been, is and will be a long struggle. Many poetesses that I have interviewed find themselves in this struggle through their works, social gatherings, assemblies and feminist congresses. Alfonsina Storni, in Argentina confessed in her poem: Twenty centuries: I was tied as Prometheus, / but one afternoon / I left the belt.
RP.- If it is true, and I believe that we take advantage of our lyrics to encourage women to free themselves a bit, to think more about themselves, changed times are different, and we must if we realize our own value, to assert our rights , pamper us more, I have many poems dedicated to the woman, to caress the wing because she needs it, she has no idea sometimes how much it is worth, since no one tells her.

ERdelV.- Tell me about your impressions about the current published poetry, disseminated on the internet. Do you really believe that there is a powerful movement in literary work?
RP.- First I do not consider myself an expert or knowledgeable in poetry, for my poetry is the voice of the heart, social networks gave a great boost to all this, it is an excellent window an excellent and easy showcase, there is everything, there are those who write very who follows, who records his lyrics in the soul and who does not.

.ERdelV.- Thanks Raquel, for this brief time you have dedicated to your confessions. What poem would you give to the readers of your interview?
RP.- Thanks to you Ernesto, for the invitation, it is an honor to participate in such a prestigious magazine, well I give you a small one but of a great greatness well, and there are some who do not, it fits the readers there is a taste for everything, but it seems to me well that everyone has their space, time will tell

Miami-Montevideo. 2017