Poet Research

My poem is I'm Afraid by Maria Mercedes Carranza. Carranza was a poet and journalist born in Bogota, Colombia in 1945. Her father, Eduardo Carranza was a poet of great prestige. She has early influence of his poetry, and his father's friends' poetry (including Pablo Neruda). Maria lived part of her early life in Spain, and moved back to Colombia when she was in high school. She had a very hard time adjusting back to the culture. In her early twenties, she was appointed director of the Vanguard Literary Page in the Bogota newspaper, El Siglo (The Century). She studied philosophy and published her first book of poems, Vainas y otros poemas (Pods and other poems). For 16 years, Carranza was the director of the Casa de poesía Silva. Through it, she dedicated herself to teaching the people of Colombia that “words can replace bullets”, as she said. She did a lot to promote the poetry of  Colombian poet José Asunción Silva; and she created large events so that the people of Colombia could get “great doses of poetry” in her words, because she believed, “poetry helps you to live”. Carranza committed suicide in 2003 in the same city she was born.

The poem I'm Afraid is a dark poem. It is talking a lot about her displeasure of life, and how nothing makes her happy. Carranza's brother was kidnapped a few months before she committed suicide. He was never found, and this had a huge effect on the poet's life. She took her life by overdosing on antidepressant pills in July of 2003. She went through a great deal of suffering, as her poem shows. She fears life and the way life can hurt so badly. She fears suffering, for she fears she won't be able to endure any more suffering and new hardships. She says, "But then perhaps it takes only a stain on the tablecloth and again terror overcomes me". She is overwhelmed by the smallest fear, everywhere she turns there is fear. 

Works Cited
http://www.poetryinternationalweb.net/pi/site/poet/item/1280/16/maria-mercedes-carranza
http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=es&u=http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mar%25C3%25ADa_Mercedes_Carranza&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dmaria%2Bmercedes%2Bcarranza