Pérez Azaústre's interpretation, 20 years later

It was her first collection of poems. He was 24 years old and had the same dreams as those other young people of the Generation of '27 whom he had read so much. He had also left his native Cordoba to conquer the Spanish capital and he walked his concerns and desires through the gardens of the Residencia de Estudiantes where he had been awarded a scholarship. He was not lacking in strength, imagination or desire, but he had a deep sensitivity that guided him by the need to know, to investigate, that constant search. And then came the great news: that first collection of poems, which he called "Una interpretación" (An Interpretation), received no less than the Adonáis Poetry Prize, the 55th edition. It was the 55th edition. The author, Joaquín Pérez Azaústre. 

Twenty years have passed since then, and what better way to celebrate this anniversary than by re-publishing the work. The publisher of Esdrújula Editores, Mariana Lozano Ortiz, did not hesitate for a second. And so, two decades later, it appears once again with her image on the cover, illustration by José Luis Pajares, foreword by Pere Ginferrer and those profound poems that begin with "A beautiful girl awake in 1939 after a long sleep", and to which not a comma has been changed, Pérez Azaústre assures us, although he does add two beautiful epilogues by the poets Raquel Lanceros and Ana Castro to these pages. "I wanted it to have something special, I wanted there to be this triad of generations, three poets whom I admire enormously".

"Una interpretación", like the rest of his poetry books, is not a mere compilation of poems, but is presented as a journey. Behind it, a story of its own beats with the pulse of his tremendously vitalist poetic voice, which is inherent to Joaquín and his poetry, and that is why with him, whether in Madrid, Paris or the court of Camelot, the party never ends", writes Ana Castro in this book. And she is quite right.

The Café Libertad 8, that mythical space in Madrid where the sung and recited word is breathed in every corner, was the chosen setting to remember that past that today becomes present again, to reflect on what has happened in those 20 years, nothing more and nothing less, in which Pérez Azaústre states that "in this time, life has passed". A path along which he has progressed, writing his poems and novels, but also his personal history, all with its joys and sorrows, its curves and its straight lines, and "which has not been bad", which is perhaps why, from serenity, he says that he is at peace and "that now it is a question of continuing to build".

A life that has opened doors for him in this exciting literary world and that has brought him new prizes such as the Loewe, first the Creación Joven in 2006 for "El jersey Rojo", and in 2011 for "Las Ollerías" and also the Jaime Gil de Biedma International Prize in 2013 for "Vida y leyenda del jinete eléctrico". The latter, a collection of poems, which delighted the musician Alberto Ballesteros.  And there began another project, a dream fulfilled, a new album. And in 2018 he released "La canción del jinete eléctrico", where the voices of both join together, where the music caresses the poet's verses to reach the hearts of the readers, of the listeners.

It was no coincidence, then, that at this presentation there was a guest of honour on stage, who is also celebrating because he has just released "La fiesta en paz", 9 "pre-pandemic" songs, says Ballesteros, that "speak of almost everything that has not existed in recent years".

But before reciting, before daring to sing in the face of a treacherous and amusing invitation, Pérez Azaústre, who days before his confinement collected his latest prize for his latest novel "Atocha 55", told of the sensation that rereading "Una interpretación" had caused him: "It was a pleasant surprise to feel that I still recognise myself in this book". Perhaps because it is full of emotions, of feelings, of the sadness of a horrifying time lived in this Spain, of the need for light and colour, of a structure, of those memories of youth, of that journey... that of life itself, which returns, sometimes, without intending to, to those paths already trodden to rediscover, to discover others... May this journey continues, may it invites us to follow it, may the trip never end...

"Like a revelation, the poet in his youth was able to connect with naked emotion, with eternal meaning, with the memory of literature to give us diaphanous, wise, transparent verses that seemed to flow like a prodigy from the innermost recesses of the human heart". These are the words of Raquel Lanceros in her epilogue, which may well sum up what we experienced at Libertad 8.

And then, after the words came the music and the verses: Has contado despacio/las ruinas que quedaron/las ruinas que quedaron/de tu casa de mármol tras el fuego. This is how Pérez Azaústre began, with this evocation of a civil war that has not yet closed its wounds, to then walk back, together with his friend José Luis Rey, through the streets of his youth in Madrid to the "Parada de la calle Velintoria", that house of Aleixandre "full of marvellous ghosts", reminding us that his passion is cinema and evoking Rita Hayworth, "who was the reason why my mother let me go to bed later", with her loneliness and tenderness, or taking us to the city of love with the poem "Que me entierren en París", verses, as Ana Castro says, that show us the poet who, despite everything, evokes the light.

Que no me llore nadie./Y que rieguen mi nombre con champán. Que nunca acabe esta fiesta./Que me entierren en París.