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Poetry. Translated from the Spanish by Mark Schafer. David Huerta is one of the leading contemporary poets in Mexico, and Before Saying Any of the Great Words is the first comprehensive bilingual anthology of his work. This volume highlights poems from nineteen books and includes the first-ever English translation of Huerta's monumental book-length poem "Incurable," which one critic called "a masterpiece of poetry in Spanish in the twentieth century." Huerta has been a central figure in two of the most influential poetic movements in late-twentieth-century Latin America-the neobaroque movement and that of "postmodern" language poetry. Huerta's imagery, intertextuality, and dense lyricism remain unparalleled in Mexican letters. In addition, Huerta's poetry frequently questions the capacity of language to express human experience, even while his passionate use of language consistently disproves this doubt.