‘Sudden Death Interrupted’ by Mario Aráez, a collection of poems about grief and mental health.

I feel like I went a little overboard in putting the headline of today’s review. I want to talk to you about the debut of Mario Araezthe poem Sudden interrupted death and this is classified as a book that deals with anxiety. I, however, have used two other terms: duel y mental health.

The proposal of a collection of poems about anxiety I was already quite attracted to him. As the author says, it is the pandemic of our current society. And the title is also explained by this condition, since the symptoms of anxiety seem like a small sudden death to which Mario Aráez adds the interruptionbecause it doesn’t last forever, even though it seems like it’s always there.

With this idea in mind, so disturbing and comforting at the same time, I began to read his poems… and I found a very powerful first page. The first poem is titled it’s no use and I recommend sincerely everyone to read it. He places a mirror before us to begin this journey. The work seems quite autobiographicalbut it can really be the biography of any of us. The emotions or lack thereof that are narrated here are part of the fabric of being human and at some point we are going to suffer them. Besides, Sudden interrupted death It is also very remarkable. Stay with his phrases, with his verses.

«If God exists and marks the day of my death,

God is not with me, God is my enemy».

I have appealed to grief and mental health because although both things can encompass anxiety, I believe that anxiety as a concept falls short when talking about these other issues that in Sudden interrupted death yes it is spoken. I have seen a lot pain for the loss of a loved one between its pages, how you stumble over and over again over the same thing, how you get up, how you stumble again.

There is also a lot of baggage. This humble writer is not just anyone. Mario Aráez has read a lot. He has lived a lot. He has written a lot. And maybe he’s posting this now, but I don’t think his path started just here. Poetry is not my genre par excellence, perhaps that is why I know how to recognize a good poet. Only a good poet hooks me (although perhaps my illness is only poetic lack of culture). And I’m sure that Mario doesn’t even consider himself a poet because, just like anxiety, it’s a concept that’s too short to encompass everything that’s in this collection of poems. Poetry is also a small vehicle to convey everything that Aráez has to tell us. After reading Sudden interrupted death It is warned that the story will continue and we do not know in what form. But talent, as we know, tends to expand.

«And I need to go back like winter came back».

There is suffering, but there is also love. To hurt us, in the end, there must be a glimpse of love. And I liked discovering the occasional poem where the author becomes a lover. Although it doesn’t matter what materials you use, the verses he creates are impressive.

«I am understanding
what this means.
love as a flag

and the kiss as sustenance».

´

But I return to the duel. Or rather to death. She has a place in the title for some reason. Aráez’s poetry makes you talk with this old companion who one day will come looking for you. For me she is the protagonist (I’m sorry to reinterpret your collection of poems, Mario). It connects you with that primal, private, secret fear kept under lock and key: dying.. You think about what certain goodbyes would be like. Or how they have been.

And for all this, Sudden interrupted death of Mario Araez It is the best collection of poems I have read in a long time. From the best writer I have discovered in recent months. And I dare say yes, it speaks of anxiety. Yes, above all it talks about grief and death. But the message it sends does a lot, a lot, to pay attention to our mental health.