Odas, Sueños y Diáspora: poesía chilena-canadiense (Autumn 1995)

In introducing this special issue of Arc to the Canadian reader, I do so with the eagerness of a reader enthusiastic to know some of the poetic work of a number of Chilean-Canadian writers. I would like to emphasize that I evaluated the submissions not for their themes but as poetry. It would have been ideal to include more Chilean- Canadian poets, but as is usual with many compilations, logistical problems carne into play, and of course, there were regrettable omissions.

Chilean-Canadian poetry continues to grow in the ever expanding Canadian literary spectrum. Trends vary according to what is going on in society at large. The sensibilities of Chilean-Canadian writers is evident in the sizable amount of literature that has been produced in the last twenty years, While there have been a number of reviews in newspapers, literary magazines and specialized ethnic-studies periodicals, unjustly Chilean-Canadian poetry has often been glanced at very quickly by other critics, writers and scholars.

This issue of Arc undoubtedly will help to do justice to a good body of work. In future, this writing may be recognized as having contributed meaningfully to the universalization of the ever expanding body of work known as Canadian poetry.