Poetry and music mark the passing of two revered Mexican poets

Jose Emilio Pacheco and Juan Gelman both died this winter. Pacheco's last day made front page news in Mexican papers; the news of his death came through immediately on my cell phone.

Both Gelman and Pacheco wrote in many genres but because  poetry is the queen of the literary arts in Mexico, the commemoration consisted of poems read by local readers and the extra fillip of Ana Cervantes playing music by Bach and several Romantic composers.

Carlos Ulises Mata and Dra. Asuncion Rangel of the University of Guanajuato organized the well-attended event. At an earlier tribute, a lecture and the showing of two films based on Pacheco's novels
honored another side of his work.

Gelman, although an Argentine through and through,
left his country for political reasons, living in Europe and eventually Mexico City.

Both he and Pacheco were honored with the Cervantes Prize.
As well as the legacy of their literary work, both left a legacy of activism.

For more information on both men, go to Wikipedia (in Spanish). Their poetry is available on several internet sites.