#302 Backstory of the Poem: Lorraine Caputo’s “Archivo de la Memoria”

Lorraine Caputo. Copyright by Lorraine Caputo

Can you go through the step-by-step process of writing this poem from the moment the idea was first conceived in your brain until final form? This poem’s words came to me while visiting the Archivo de la Memoria, a former detention / torture center (1976-1983) that is now a museum in Córdoba, Argentina. The visit affected me so, I could not write the poem then … nor in the solitude of a train ride afterwards … But with the distance of time (about a month in November 2009), I could …I put the images together while travelling through Misiones Province in northeastern Argentina, and put the last touches on it while in Resistencia (Argentina).

https://www.argentina.gob.ar/anm/museo

How many drafts of this poem did you write before going to the final? (And can you share a photograph of your rough drafts with pen markings on it?) Apart from the initial draft (written over two days), I worked on that draft another five other days.

I do not have any of the drafts, as those are destroyed once the poem is complete. I only safeguard the original which is in my travel journal of that time (which is presently in my personal archives in another country).

Lorraine Caputo’s jounrnals. Credit and Copyright by Lorraine Caputo.

What do you want readers of this poem to take from this poem? Several things: First, to learn a bit about a dark time in Argentina’s modern history, and hopefully seek out more information about it. Second, to share the experience of visiting such a place. (I have met other people who have had similar experiences to mine when visiting that museum or similar ones.)

The brother of the victim who died in the detention/torture center now museum Archivo de la Memoiria, speaks.  

https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2021/01/daniel-loedel-finding-my-sisters-remains/617701/

Daniel Loedel’s half-sister Isabel

Which part of the poem was the most emotional of you to write and why? The whole poem was emotional to write, as it captures what I felt when I visited it. I tried to convey the shock to the psychological and spiritual self that such places can evoke in one.

Has this poem been published before?  And if so where? Yes: The Más Tequila Review (Winter 2013)

(https://themastequilareview.wordpress.com)

Lorraine Caputo’s Biography

https://www.pw.org/directory/writers/lorraine_caputo?fbclid=IwAR0gj59CzrlVKwn936DMo0LZMpHnW73QaiLgmlFHiHvQi2Qy2NOGvKAjwgI


All Backstory of the Poem LIVE LINKS can be found at the very end of the below feature:

http://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2021/02/will-justice-drakes-intercession-is-251.html

The images in this specific piece are granted copyright:  Public Domain, GNU Free Documentation Licenses, Fair Use Under The United States Copyright Law.


The other images are granted copyright permission by the copyright holder, which is identified beneath each photo.

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Feel free to contact CRC Blog via email at caccoop@aol.com or personal Facebook messaging at https://www.facebook.com/car.cooper.7

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