happy birthday nicanor parra

on 9/5/16 the great antipoet nicanor parra turned 102 years old.  that seems like an advanced age.  but remember in 1914 there were movies, airplanes and the world was about to embark on one of its worst wars ever waged.  100 years is no longer a long time.  it is a mere lifetime.

i speak only of the passage of time as being 'mere'.  even what appears to be a long time to us is really a very short period.  plus nicnaor parra is a great writer.  i discovered his antipoetry at my own advanced age of 30 or so.  but i figured my own lifetime will be an ordinary amount of time and 30 is, in the space of an ordinary lifetime, fairly young.  so parra's antipoetry has had a great influence on my own poetic thinking/living.

what accounts for such a long life as nicanor parra's century.  who knows?  join me in wishing this old rascal a happy birthday, and enjoy this video of parra reading a few poems.  join me in wishing the maestro a happy 102 years on this clam shell.