6/15/25
Sun,
12:00

Poetry Talk with Maricela Guerrero
Sometimes it seems possible to cast a net

Reading
Talk
Poesiefestival Berlin 2025
Akademie der Künste
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(c) Natasha Moustache

Mexican poet Maricela Guerrero (born 1977 in Mexico City) is one of the most important poetic voices in North and South America. Her work is sometimes categorized as ecopoetry, something which she vehemently rejects. Her poetry follows no trends, instead it is linked to a tradition that has always dedicated itself to the relationship between humans and the environment. As such, she also poetically investigates network strategies within nature and has done so long before popular science books on the subject became en vogue.

German poet Monika Rinck has written that Guerrero examines poetic language as a tool and nonchalantly entrusts it with the ability to overcome even the most insoluble problems. It’s about the connection between cells, about memories that connect us with those who are no longer there, as well as about the connections between capital flows, the language of empire, and the exploitation of raw materials.

Guerrero writes about “a biosphere in turmoil” and about our need to be wary of our own excess. Her poems teach us lessons in vigilance—and sometimes sound like overheard conversations between petri dishes and microscopes.

But they also incorporate an approach to language that is utopian: they dream of a language of humus and nitrogen, of biomolecules and enzymes. For Guerrero, breathing is “round warm form of resistance,” pausing is a form of flow. Far from all forms of eco-kitsch, she writes about families of trees that protect the growth of each other. Never lapsing into being an idyllist, she soberly acknowledges what’s been lost: “when it comes to destruction: the names are forgotten”.

Maricela Guerrero in conversation with Monika Rinck

The event will be interpreted into German and Spanish. Kindly supported by ECHOO Konferenzdolmetschen.
The event takes place at Akademie der Künste: Clubraum.