Much has been said to affirm that ideas and form are the key elements of poetry, but many poets have given greater importance to the power that poetry has to create a “universal language”, a language for the communication of one soul with another. It will suffice to remember Rimbaud who spoke of the value of poetry, in so far as it has the ability to define “the lines of the unknown that appear at a particular time within the universal soul.” This quote is appropriate in relationship to this poem because it speaks precisely of the desire to investigate the unknown horizon of the present, and to seek permanent human values in contrast with the confusion prevalent in today’s world.
What Is Sacred? shows once more the fascinating personal style characteristic of Rocío Durán-Barba’s work. It reveals her passion for contemplation and introspection and her desire to work in the universe of words and literary creation.

Similar to previous books, this volume has been illustrated by the author. This time with a series of lithography that combine happily into one creative work. It could be said that the written word springs from the illustrations, and the illustrations from the poem forming an original body. This skillful way of alternating thus the pages leads the reader to perceive the harmony between word and image so fully achieved in the universe of poetry.

* CLAUDE COUFFON, Professor at la Sorbonne, literary critic and translator. He is the author of a dozen poetry books and many essays. He is one of the promoters of the “Latin American Boom” thanks to hundreds of articles he wrote for Le Figaro Littéraire, Les Lettres Françaises, Le Monde, Les Temps Modernes. He has translated the books of Pablo Neruda, Gabriel García Márquez, José Camilo Cela, Ernesto Cardenal, Jorge Luís Borges, Gabriela Mistral, Miguel Angel Asturias, César Vallejo, Federico García Lorca... Currently he is directing the collection of anthologies of Latin-American poetry published by Patiño in Switzerland.