Mendigo Diego
Mendigo Diego is the pseudonym of Spanish poet Manolo Marcos, who is an example of a multidisciplinary and versatile artist: poet, musician and painter. He has published a previous book “Tácticas de Payaso” (Paper Tigers, Madrid, 2016) and his illustrations appear in the books of other poets. He was born in Rotterdam in 1968, but he lives in Córdoba, where he has his roots. His poems are imbued by the spirit of surrealism, which found fertile ground in Spain and Latin America. The verses of “Popping Corn” are inspired by a range of voices, from that of Peruvian poet César Vallejo to that of the “koans” of Zen Buddhism. Mendigo Diego’s life revolves around music, art and literature. He boasts of never having had a steady job and can often be found playing the saxophone on the Roman Bridge in his city. For him, the artist is someone who suffers from a mismatch with reality and for that reason “illuminates a new reality on top of the existing one”. This volume introduces his poetry for the first time to the English-speaking reader.