Thanks to NetGalley and Graywolf Press for the ARC!

Tilsa Otta’s "The Hormone of Darkness" is a low-key anthology of translated poems from almost two decades of work.

The collection is framed as a playlist, and I think that’s a helpful way to think of the reading experience. Most of these poems wash over the reader, eliciting acknowledgment more than appreciation, but every so often, there’s a line or two that demands a re-read—a song worth a re-listen.

Consider, for instance, the following lines from the titular poem:

"El recién nacido observa por primera vez el rostro de su madre /
Como un astronauta contempla la tierra desde el espacio /
Se reconoce en esa topografia cambiante

(The newborn sees its mother’s face for the first time /
The way an astronaut regards earth from space /
Sees himself in that inconstant topography)"

I mean, wow.

Unfortunately, few poems—with the notable exception of “El nuevo cielo” / “The New Heaven”—showcase the same kind of imagistic or narrative cohesion. Instead, moments of clarity feel like infrequent interruptions. I’m sure it’s a stylistic intention, but it’s one that doesn’t always feel fruitful, at least in translated form.

Speaking of which, despite Farid Matuk’s largely excellent work, I think some of these translations overstep their bounds. My Spanish is not great, and everyone has their own personal philosophy of translation, so take these critiques with a grain of salt, but some of the interpretive decisions seem odd. For example, “Contar en orden alfabético” / “Counting in alphabetical order,” a poem comprised only of numbers, finds the translator completely changing the numerical sequence in English to fit the poem’s title, and it feels less like re-mediation and more like regurgitation—the original poem chewed up and spit out. At the very least, one wonders why the poem was included at all when this is an anthology. Elsewhere, certain lines shift in their sequencing, and it feels a little like the translator’s taste usurping the poet’s voice.

That said, Matuk’s wonderful opening essay explicitly wrestles with the translation process, and even the less successful pieces are interesting as a negotiation between two artists. There’s no perfect way to translate, and I appreciate their justification for their decisions. If you're reading this in 2024, there's a scheduled conversation between Otta and Matuk on October 24th about translation, and I expect that will be fascinating.

All in all, "The Hormone of Darkness" is a pleasant enough collection, and for an English speaker hoping to explore Peruvian poetry, it seems like a great starting point.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC! This collection releases in the US from Graywolf Press on September 30th, 2024.

Full Rating: 3.5 stars rounded up

The Hormone of Darkness: A Playlist is a mesmerizing and surreal collection of poetry by Peruvian poet Tilsa Otta, translated into English by Farid Matuk. Spanning work published between 2004 and 2018, this bilingual collection pulls readers into a world where beginnings and endings blur, and autonomy is reclaimed in the face of social and existential constraints. Otta’s poems chafe against boundaries—whether they are imposed by society, God, or the speaker’s own sense of self—creating space for new forms of desire, love, and resistance.

Otta’s poetry is wildly experimental, dreamlike, and often deeply abstract, with a rhythm that carries the reader through fragmented reflections on life, pleasure, and grief. There’s a raw beauty in her vivid imagery, which invites us to question reality and meaning while feeling deeply the weight of human experience. The collection doesn’t shy away from the bizarre or the kinky; instead, it fully embraces queerness, both in identity and form, pushing the boundaries of what poetry can be. Themes of existential questioning and the tension between the material and spiritual worlds recur throughout, with a constant undercurrent of yearning for freedom.

However, the collection’s abstract nature occasionally left me lost in its tangled thoughts. At times, the poems’ resistance to conventional narrative made it difficult to find an entry point. Still, this only reinforces the collection's relentless desire for expansiveness, reflecting the speaker's ongoing struggle for hope and autonomy. Though challenging, The Hormone of Darkness is an evocative exploration of queerness, creativity, and rebellion, leaving readers with more questions than answers—just as it should. Overall, I rated it 3.5 stars for its bold experimentation, even if some poems felt a little too abstract to fully connect with.

📖 Recommended For: Readers who enjoy surreal, experimental poetry, those interested in exploring the fluidity of identity and desire, anyone who values boundary-pushing, queer narratives, fans of Anne Carson.

🔑 Key Themes: Autonomy and Rebellion, Existential Questioning, Queerness and Identity, Desire and Pleasure, Transcendence and Spirituality.

𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑯𝒐𝒓𝒎𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝑫𝒂𝒓𝒌𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐛𝐨𝐭𝐡 𝐚 𝐒𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐡 𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐄𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐡 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐩𝐨𝐞𝐦, 𝐚𝐝𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐛𝐞𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐥𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐲 𝐰𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐩𝐨𝐞𝐦𝐬. 𝐓𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐯𝐚𝐫𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐩𝐨𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐜 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐬, 𝐓𝐢𝐥𝐬𝐚 𝐎𝐭𝐭𝐚 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐮𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐭 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞—𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐢𝐧 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞, 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐞𝐧𝐣𝐨𝐲 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞’𝐬 𝐬𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐞𝐱𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐯𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐬—𝐚𝐬 𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐚𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐭 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐢𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐧. 𝐈 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫’𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝’𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐲 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞.

𝒯𝒽𝒶𝓃𝓀 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓉𝑜 𝒯𝒾𝓁𝓈𝒶 𝒪𝓉𝓉𝒶, 𝒢𝓇𝒶𝓎𝓌𝑜𝓁𝒻 𝒫𝓇𝑒𝓈𝓈, & 𝒩𝑒𝓉𝒢𝒶𝓁𝓁𝑒𝓎 𝒻𝑜𝓇 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒜𝑅𝒞! 𝒜𝓁𝓁 𝑜𝓅𝒾𝓃𝒾𝑜𝓃𝓈 𝒶𝓇𝑒 𝓂𝓎 𝑜𝓌𝓃.

**Thank you to NetGalley and Graywolf Press for the eARC of this beautiful collection.**

I have been on a poetry kick thanks to a reading slump keeping me from my TBR. I really enjoyed this collection and especially appreciated how the poems were written in Spanish, followed by the translated English version. I am nowhere near fluent in Spanish but loved being able to skim the originals and pick out the words I know. This allowed me to start building some context. The English versions then gave me the "feel" of the poem.

Overall, this was a really cool reading experience and the poems were absolutely beautiful. I would recommend this collection for anyone that dreams of a life untouched by criticism and the ability to just "be."