accidental classics

to explain the story of accidents polipoètics means explaining an essential part of the more or less underground poetry movement that emerged during the beginning of the 90's. these poets showed there was an alternative way of presenting poetry and that its natural habitat was outdoors (or in bars), always intending to communicate orally and before their public. a mixed bag of all kinds of poets who brought poetry onto stages, ignoring purity altogether with the only aim of getting to the nitty-gritty of poetry and that through tradition, experimentation and strong personalities, reached a vast audience. out of them all, those who have best done it and who with no doubt have left a deeper trace are accidents polipoètics. 
accidents polipoètics sprang in granollers in 1991, almost by chance, according to the legend, thanks to the happy union of xavier theros and rafael metlikovez. before then, both had flirted with polipoetry, theros with poliphonética dinámica and metlikovez with la papa. it is, no doubt, with accidents polipoètics that both were able to develop their own (poli)poetics. for neither of them it was a matter of avantgardes nor elitisms but, rather, a way out of boring or hermetic poetry. two of their mottos: to escape from technique that anihilates the message as well as from the poetry circles of the habitués which is why they call their work "poetry for people who don't read poetry". 
it was within a few years that accidents polipoètics saw their popularity grow enormously. their mixture of humour and intelligence, their direct yet austere mise-en-scène, the sharpness of their texts, and the influence of creatures such as jardiel ponciela and gómez de la serna, as well as their solid yet playful way of reading, left everybody gasping. they also developed an inevitable activity as polipoetic agitators. together with clara bertran they authored the magazine "polinesia" (1993) as well as the "poesia paleopoética" workshop (teatre malic, barcelona, 1994) which central piece was a memorable poetic jukebox devised by steve forster and el brazo armado. after the polipoetic recitals, came a conference about lorca and a second one about being single. then followed their collaboration with musicians such as mil dolores pequeños, luis auserón and oriol perucho, their shows in all kinds of festivals (mostly non-literary), and then began to receive proposals from tv companies which they declined in order not to become yet another product of the show business. eventually, they decided to spend more time pursuing their personal interests and are currently performing each their own way though with the same characteristic flair. whatever, it is no doubt absolutely true that the mighty force of accidents polipoètics is the result of a unique chemical reaction - that of the union of rafael's and xavier's minds. they complement each other perfectly and that without this 50/50 relationship magic would not have been possible. perhaps that is the reason why they call each other "partner".
well into their second decade of existence, this year they have published todos tenemos la razón at a time when their partnership is almost at a halt. the book is a gathering of all their poems, the two conferences and a bunch of interesting historical notes about themselves and the milieu which has witnessed their birth, their growth and a mighty appetite. these notes are valuable and entertaining and will enable the reader to find out what really and truly happened in the dark ages of poetry. however, these literary stage animals had already published a book, a booklet and a cd. the booklet came first, when the couple were starting out and it was published by joan borda inside the collection "dentro di me". in 1995, when their followers were no longer a minority, "por caridad producciones" (a music label from madrid) edited their first record "polipoesía urbana de pueblo" which was sold out straightaway and which, needless to say, is the polipoetry record with more copies sold in all history. later on, ediciones del khan (barcelona) published their poems más triste es robar, notably an ultraunderground edition.
there is a second record ready to come out but, for certain reasons, it has not yet hit the market and i don't think it's ever going to do so: it's made up with 15 songs, each one of them with the participation of a different musician, among whom jaume sisa, pascal comelade, la fura dels baus, macromassa, alfonso vilallonga,raeo, joan saura, josep manuel berenguer and mil dolores pequeños. the cd accompanying this catalogue includes 3 songs of this unpublished second record.
many often think they have invented polipoetry, since nowhere as in barcelona has polipoetry had such high predicament. as such, however, it happens to be the invention of the italian poet enzo minarelli who in 1984 published for the first time in valencia a manifesto of polipoetry in the catalogue "tramesa d'art". rather than a construct it is a means to consolidate several practices which, after conceptualism, could no longer be classed within the avantgardes. as is the case for the term "intermedia" cloned by northamerican dick higgins, it refers to poetic proposals which reflect a well-digested experience of the avantgardes together with a contemporary reading which, for instance, implies the use of technologies readily available as well as the stage, coupled with all those elements which enable transmission (word, gestuality, imagery). one of the first groups to use the term in barcelona was poliphonética dinámica, formed by xavier sabater and xavier theros. from there on, they both helped enormously to propagate the word and, above all, to create havoc regarding a term that, so far, nobody quite yet knows what it means. sabater continues to adamantly defend that term, albeit with too much vehemence perhaps...whilst accidents, devoid of any sense of endoctrination, spread it wherever they go.
for those of us who have followed them this far as well as for newcomers to proposta 2003, this will be a unique occasion. despite their books and their records, their strength dwells, above all, within the public before them. rafael metlikovez and xavier theros have managed to place poetry readings in a mighty high position. their texts are excellent but, above all, they have been able to demonstrate that literature is also outside the books, that it can reach all kinds of audiences and that poetry deals with creativity rather than purity. they are accidental classics indeed.

eduard escoffet