Rastrojos - Selected Poems (1981-2019)

The word that seems most appropriate to approach the poetry of Rowena Hill is nature, which designates that which we cannot name because it surpasses our understanding and is only represented by the beings and things that surround us. We are inseparable from it. It's in every particle of our bodies, and only the fact that we live inevitably as individuals prevents us from feeling that unity. The I stands in the way, but it can move aside in order to make possible an opening into the mystery of everything. This is a constant that makes Rowena Hill's voice an exception in the Venezuelan poetry tradition she belongs to, despite coming from far away. And thus, her poetry, so earthy, so carnal, so very rooted here and beyond, awaits the study it deserves to make it available to readers who need it. It could even happen that it changes their viewpoint, a worthwhile risk for those who are more inclined to the aesthetic than to lived experience, because it's a poetry permeated by the unknown energy that carries us like an invisible thread on which everything hangs, which we do not know, nor see, nor touch, but can glimpse. - Rafael Cadenas