Hotel Montparnasse

Hotel Montparnasse: Letters to C sar Vallejo is a verse-novel composed in letters written to the famous Peruvian poet C sar Vallejo, who died in Paris in 1938. He was buried in the Montparnasse Cemetery, but soon after, according to these letters, found himself residing at the nearby Hotel Montparnasse, perhaps against his will. This book tells of his friendships, involvement with a resident named Jeanette, problems with the hotel management, and his eventual disappearance (or is it escape?) from the hotel. Most of the letter-poems are written by the residents of Hotel Montparnasse, except for those composed by a certain lvaro de Campos, who reveals little about himself. This is a book about the mystery of the afterlife, the persistence of desire, and the lasting legacy of C sar Vallejo.SAMPLE: You checked into room number 39 because

You checked into room number 39 because

that's the age of the worker who dug your grave.

And because you can't bear to tell the desk clerk

she needs a zinc bathtub of warm milk to soak

her tired feet--and tired back and skull-

for at least 39 minutes.

Relax, says the aloe plant in your window.

Nothing to fear, says the chipped radiator.

Says the newspaper's wilted corpse

on the faded floral carpet. Says the shirt

hugging the back of the chair

consoling the desk gone dizzy from staring

at the many coffee rings.

Nothing to be said, says that black pubic hair

clinging to the stiff, sallow lampshade.

A hotel room with closet, bed, sink, mirror,

because here it's harder for God

to pull you back to the morgue, back

to that dreamless hole in the ground.

Relax, says the mirror, take off your clothes.

And so you do. Falling back on the clean towel

you spread on the bed, your flesh tickled

by the nappy fabric.

Room 39, you say. The black hair still clinging

to the sullen lampshade.

Your friend,

lvaro of the Campos