Queer Poetic Spaces in the Poetry of Miguel Ángel Lens

Abstract

This article approaches the poetic work of the Argentinian Miguel Ángel Lens (1951-2011) following the concept of “queer poetic space” developed by Enrique Álvarez (2012), with the aim of drawing connections between the representation of “homoerotic spaces” and the formal construction of the poetic text. The aim is to demonstrate that the extreme brevity and conciseness of the author’s poems can be understood as a formal correlate of erotic street experiences -such as yiro (cruising)- also marked by their intensity and their fleeting characteristics. Through this formal procedure, Lens makes visible bodies and erotic practices representative of an specific space-time location and of a paradigm of “homosexual” socialization different from the “gay” paradigm that began to spread in Argentina in the 1990s. For greater contextual appropriateness, Alvarez’s concept will be adapted by incorporating the Latin American variation of the English term queer –“cuir”–, which is increasingly used in LGTBIQ+ theory and criticism in the Spanish-speaking world.