Todd Temkin - Mixing Poetry and Politics

Mixing Poetry and Politics

By the year 2003, the poet's tireless participation in the affairs of Valparaíso began to take a toll. Though greatly admired in political and professional circles—Temkin has twice been nominated "Person of the Year" by the newspaper El Mercurio de Valparaiso--some local activists openly questioned Temkin's excessive protagonism in all things related to Valparaíso.

Such jealousy reached a fever pitch when Chilean Secretary of State Soledad Alvear (1998–2004) invited Temkin to be the official guide for a delegation of 21 ambassadors who voted for Valparaíso in the UNESCO world heritage conference, infuriating some local officials who felt that such an honor should never have been bestown upon a non-native, much less an American.

By 2004, Temkin found himself at a crossroads and began to hint openly in newspaper and radio interviews that he had painted himself into a corner and wished to get back to his writing. The 2005 publication of Enloquecidos Moradores de un Mundo Sin Quehacer is seen by some as a reconciliation between the poet and the civic activist. In his foreword to Crazy Denizens of the Lost World, Agustin Squella, cultural attaché to Chilean President Ricardo Lagos (1998–2004), wrote:

"When it comes to Todd Temkin, it seems unthinkable to separate the poet from the cultural activist from the man. I prefer to celebrate the activist, the cultural entrepreneur, the citizen, while thanking the man for taking the time to demonstrate the fine poet that he also is. The great Portuguese poet, Fernando Pessoa, once suggested that we are more than one person, that we are indeed a treasure chest of different people. Such an idea can find no better embodiment than the author of this book."