Poetry and Urban Violence in Colombia (1975-1990): a Look at Helí Ramírez and Mery Yolanda Sánchez

Abstract

This article examines the way in which Colombian poetry of the last two decades of the 20th century represents the multiple and diverse social, political and emotional alterations caused by urban violence. The study has as main focus the poetry of socially, politically and aesthetically marginalized authors such as Helí Ramírez (1948-2019) and Mery Yolanda Sánchez (1956), authors that recur to a cartographic imperative that, without renouncing its spatial nature, is also interested in individual and collective issues. This tripartite approach makes it possible to show how these two poetic discourses carry out a whole mapping of the spaces, imaginaries and affections created by urban violence.