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Amparo
Jaramillo-Restrepo
When I won my first literary prize 67 years ago, in Abejorral, a
remote mountainous Colombian town, I never dreamed that my work would
fly across the ocean. How could I have imagined
it, since my hometown had no cars, phones or even bicycles in those
times? We traveled by horse to the farms, and my mother had to send a
messenger on foot (el paje), to inquire about our relatives' health.
Well, I owe this miracle of communication to my sons who got tired of
my daydreaming about a web page and decided to grant me my wish just
in time for Christmas 2002. Therefore, my gratitude goes to my sons
Gonzalo and Carlos Restrepo Jaramillo, who began the complicated
process by working from afar in different towns in Florida; and to
Jaime and Francisco, who introduced me to the mysterious world of the
Internet, a marvelous tool which serves me as an umbilical cord, not
only to get in touch with relatives and friends in different
countries, but to feed my desire to learn more about people and events
around the world.
Finally, this page will help me to spread my poetry worldwide
and to rescue it, not only from the old web of my memory, but also
from the dusty pile of faded papers written in different forms and
styles which accompanied me during my lifelong pilgrimage.
I'm a Colombian born woman, citizen of the world, teacher, mother and
grandmother; survivor of several personal wreckages, an avid reader
who loves music and poetry, a dreamer whose capacity to wonderment was
inherited from a visionary mother; a fighter and a pacifist at
the same time.
Though most of my work is in Spanish, including a collection of short
stories published without any success, in New York in l990 under the
title: "En el limbo se habla español," the visitor to
this site will also find some poems in English written with the
encouragement and advice of wonderful teachers and friends.
Norwalk, November/
2002
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