<b>Breathing with the Other: Ethics and Eco-socialist Perspective in the Poetry of Jorge Riechmann</b> // Respirar junto al otro: Ética y perspectiva eco-socialista en la poesía de Jorge Riechmann

Abstract

Jorge Riechmann is the author of more than 25 poetry collections and chapbooks, along with an extensive set of essays on poetry, philosophy, politics and ecology. Riechmann composed almost fifty monographs and books in collaboration, some of them reference works. In his poetry, Riechmann (Madrid, 1962) harmoniously demonstrates an inexhaustible drive towards revelation, in which he presents a consciousness of the fragility of an elusive beauty alongside a deep socio-economic critique of the world. He offers warnings about the ecological crises which he conceives as socio-ecological crises; in other words, products of the crises of the civilisation in which we are living. His work does this through a synthesis based on lexical accuracy, declarative clarity, philosophical inquiry and symbolic exemplification of a different prevailing ethic which is based on empathy, the expansion of the moral community to include non-human sentient beings and awareness of the limits to and vulnerability of all life. This article analyzes the main lines of thought which traverse the poetry of Jorge Riechmann, as well as the transformative perspective that moves him. Ultimately, his verse proposes an ethics and pushes for policy that can work to change society for the better.

Resumen