This essay traces the trajectory plotted by conversational poetry in Latin America from, roughly, the 1930s until, roughly, the 1970s. It was a time of the Twilight of the Idols, a Post-Vanguard when the poet turned away from rhymed verse, metaphors and the book, towards the rhythms of everyday speech, the charm of common words and the scenes of the quotidian world. One of the major figures behind this trend was the U.S. poet, William Carlos Williams, who wanted to get back to “words washed clean.” The Brazilian poet, Carlos Drummond de Andrade (1902-1987) is identified as an innovator of this trend in Latin America’s poetry circles; as he advised young poets: “Don’t waste your time lying.” The essay concludes with the discussion of the role played by the conversational mode and the happenings of everyday life in the poetry of the Cuban, Roberto Fernández Retamar (b. 1930), the Uruguayan, Mario Benedetti (1920-2009), the Mexican, Jaime Sabines (1926-1999), the Nicaraguan, Ernesto Cardenal (b. 1925), the Salvadorean, Roque Dalton (1935-1975), and the Chilean, Nicanor Parra (b. 1914).