He saw in antipoetry, an aesthetic movement against lyrical conventions, the ironic and iconoclastic revelation of a troubled world, using an anti-rhetorical and colloquial language. A key figure in the process of renewing Hispanic American poetics, his work features the colloquial, caustic, and humorous tone with elements of picardía criolla (local sharp wit).

The extensive list of titles in his work, following a seventeen-year gap between his first and second books (Poemas y antipoemas, 1954), maintains his verses within a dynamic and open system that draws from daily life, artistic movements, and new resources like mass media for expressiveness.

Such traits place his literary production alongside that of the Guatemalan writer Augusto Monterroso, a leading figure in minimalist narratives. Grounded in the diverse multicultural experiences absorbed abroad, his poetics align with the musicality of his sister, composer Violeta Parra, and his political beliefs as a Latin American citizen: “In political terms, I would say I am a somewhat cold socialist; a democratic type of socialist.”

His support for the coup led by General Augusto Pinochet was highly controversial, although he broke with the dictatorship some time later.

He divides his academic career as a teacher and researcher with conferences, courses, exhibitions, and multimedia productions. He has received numerous awards, including the Juan Rulfo Prize (1991), the Reina Sofía Ibero-American Poetry Prize and the National Heritage Prize of Spain, both in 2001; the Konex Mercosur Award in 2004; the Miguel de Cervantes Prize in 2011; and the Ibero-American Poetry Pablo Neruda Prize in 2012.

Other works include Hojas de Parra (1985), Poemas para combatir la calvicie (1993), Lear, Rey & Mendigo (2004), Discursos de sobremesa (2006), and Poesía y antipoesía (2009).

In 2014, the centenary of the poet and philosopher was celebrated with the exhibition Voy & vuelvo, inaugurated at the library that bears his name at the Diego Portales University in Santiago, Chile.