The magical power of verses.
The texts condemning the genocide in the Gaza Strip, whose people receive the unconditional solidarity of Cubans, stood out, among them the message in their own language by the important Palestinian poet Najwan Darwish.
The songs to peace and the living blood of our ancestors took over the International Festival «Puentes Poéticos» of the city of Matanzas 2024 when more than 60 poets launched their verses in the portals of the emblematic Sauto Theater (MN) and the house of José Jacinto Milanés welcomed as theirs, for the second time in history, a Poetry Wednesday, with the poems of one of the most transcendent voices of Cuban lyric, the National Literature Prize, Nancy Morejón.
The cantata opened its wings with the children’s choir Armonía, to give the floor to Nancy and her poem «Mujer negra». Then the bards highlighted ideas of redemption for the world, beset by nefarious wars whose genocidal vertex is today centered on the brotherly Palestinian people, a country to whom this festival is also dedicated.
Poets from different latitudes, inside and outside the nation, even came from Havana for this special day, presided over by Alpidio Alonso, Minister of Culture, who when taking the podium to read one of his works, praised the Athens of Cuba for being the protagonist of these inspirations, «where versators multiply day by day and poetry is read.
Music was present in this expansion of spirituality, in the interpretations of the repentistas Pedrito Ramos and Héctor Luis Alonso; the Chamber Choir of Matanzas, under the baton of maestro José Antonio Méndez, the duo of the singer Olga Margarita Muñoz and the guitarist Mayito Guerrero and the troubadour Orlando Pérez Casuso.
The texts condemning the genocide in the Gaza Strip, whose people receive the unconditional solidarity of Cubans, stood out; among these, the message in their own language by the important Palestinian poet Najwan Darwish, recited in English by the American translator Katherine M. Hedeen and in Spanish by Cuban Víctor Rodríguez Nuñez; the moving poems by Luis Pérez Boitel, Eliseo Abreu and Hugo Hodelín in the face of the death of children and innocent people and the cantata also included the memory of the bard Gabriel de la Concepción Valdés (Plácido) on the 180th anniversary of his execution by the Spanish colonialism.
After the recital, in the portals of the Office of the Conservator, the space «Ábranse las flores… miradlas cantores…» (Open the flowers… look at them, singers…) was held. With the presentation of the books «Una palabra en contra», by Darwish, by Maylan Álvarez and «Ruta 2», by the Argentinean Daniel Calabrese, by Derbys Domínguez. There was a special intervention by Rodríguez Núñez.
Likewise, poets with works published by Matanzas publishing houses signed their texts, among them, in addition to the above mentioned, the National Literature Award, Miguel Barnet; the Casa de las Americas Award winners Luis Lorente and Reinaldo García Blanco, as well as Maylan Álvarez, Alfredo Zaldívar, Leymen Pérez and Náthaly Hernández.
The night was incredible. Wooed by the enlightened shadow of Milanés, the exhibition Poetas Matanceros was inaugurated, with documents belonging to the documentary funds of the provincial Historical Archive and a reproduction of the foundational act and the first map of the city of Matanzas were given as a gift to Barnet and Nancy.
When this special Poetry Wednesday was consummated, the verses of Nancy Morejon, paradigm of the cultivators of literary art and considered one of the most authentic exponents of Cuban poetry, burst forth in their greatness.
In the selection of texts offered in that dreamy night, the poetess revealed the anguish and hopes of a Cuban in defense of racial integration, human values and national identity, with her peculiar way of saying, intense and tender.
Her poetic style reminded us of Carilda Oliver Labra’s words about Nancy Morejón, when she said that her work unveiled «a jumble of telluric secrets that in the end she sealed perfectly», to offer us, like a flower, the purity of her poetry.
Written by María Elena Bayón.
