Arcane Universes: The Self-Sufficient in the Poetry of Mario Eraso Belalcázar

Abstract

Colombian poetry of the sixties is in its full artistic bloom, as can be seen in the cases of Gloria Posada, Winston Morales, Nelson Romero Guzmán, and Pablo Montoya. However, Mario Eraso Belalcázar (1967) is a poet dismissed by cultural and specialized criticism. With this work, I aim to integrate Eraso's poetry into the current landscape of Colombian poetry. Through a hermeneutic exercise, I will analyze his five poetry books that, to date, make up his body of work: 'Cementerio' (2005), published in Bogotá by Común Presencia Editores and prologued by the renowned Venezuelan poet Armando Rojas Guardia; 'Oro' (2011), edited by Ediciones Sin Nombre in Mexico; 'Extravío seguido de Amanecer en Lisboa con Oliverio' (2015) under the seal of Editorial Universidad del Cauca; and 'Aviso de la casa' (2022), printed in Bogotá by publishing house Letra a Letra. In summary, I will try to illustrate how the arcane elements present in Eraso’s work make his art a unique and self-sufficient locus.