During a particularly awkward interview, Jorge Luis Borges was asked whether he considered himself to be more a “writer” than a “poet.” Responding with his accustomed self-deprecating humility, Borges answered by saying that “I am a poet, absolutely. I don’t think that I am anything but a poet. I may be a clumsy poet, but I do hope that I am a poet.” These declarations might surprise most Anglophone readers of this elusive artist who identify him with the famous essays and short stories. Besides, the English translation of Borges’s Selected Poems (1972) has been long out of print. This spring, Viking will publish a more generous selection in a bilingual edition, from which the following translations are taken.

Borges was right. The distinction between “writer” and “poet” makes no sense when applied to him. All of Borges’s work —from the short stories and essays to th ...

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