[…] In a time marked by the disappointment, hopelessness and skepticism that have even affected the writing of a poem itself, Claudio Rodríguez’s oeuvre reveals the courage of not giving up the ambition of writing great poetry. The word courage must here be understood in its double sense in Spanish (valor): the poetry of Claudio Rodríguez is at the same time brave (highly risky) and extraordinarily valuable. In years of misery, only he did dare to take off on the flight of celebration, or at least it was only he who accomplished with such dazzling efficiency what in his time (still our own) looked like an impossible feat. On discussing his poetry, the bitter social criticism that some of his mature poems unfold usually goes unnoticed or is deliberately forgotten. Likewise, there is a tendency to ignore that his awe of nature does not prevent him from paying attention to urban aspects of existence, to what was taking place in those streets in which the poet “was so popular among the people”.
All that will be better regarded as time goes by. Because the poetry of Claudio Rodríguez, like his hometown river that inspired some of his best poems, is resonant and enduring, and there is plenty of time ahead for it to be read, understood, and enjoyed in all the possible ways enabled by those unique, so skillfully and beautifully woven words.
[…] “Aventura”, the word that lends the title to his unfinished book, could very well summarize all his conception of poetry. His whole oeuvre is a great adventure, the boldest of his time.