The Gilberto E. Rodríguez Poetry Conference was held in the province until today, on the 115th birth anniversary of the man who is considered the most important poet of the 20th century in Las Tunas.
Las Tunas, Cuba - Since its opening, in Maceo Park, in the capital city, the event became, once again, the appointment that embraces talks, poetry recitals, and other initiatives in honor of Montaraz (pseudonym of the author), highlighting in the agenda the awarding of the scholarship of creation with his name.
The Caracol Hall of the Provincial Committee of the Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba (UNEAC, in Spanish) hosted the approach to the topic "The two Francisco: Francisco Varona González and Francisco Muñoz Ruvalcaba", by Bienvenido de Ávila and Carlos Tamayo; as well as "Talking with Gilberto," by Lesbia de la Fe and Antonio Gutiérrez.
Numerous local poets participated in the poetry readings, which symbolically became a nice tribute to the author of Sementera, who mastered several strophic forms. Troubadours Amaury del Rio, Freddy Laffita, Iraida Williams, and Richard Gómez also join the program, with performances in the Bonsai Patio, at the headquarters of Las Tunas artistic vanguard.
The program, of only two days, had among its strengths reaching other municipalities, such as Majibacoa and "Colombia". In the case of the first, in the house of the sonnet Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, in the town of Omaja, Adalberto Hechavarría shared his lyrical creations in honor of who was also a master in the treatment of the hendecasyllabic rhyme. Meanwhile, the Camilo Cienfuegos Library, in the second aforementioned territory, hosted writers Carlos Esquivel and Luis Mariano Estrada.
Gilberto E. Rodríguez (1908-1989) graduated as a journalist from the Márquez Sterling National College of Journalists and published several poetry books, including 25 poems (1945), Sementera (Havana, 1949), El libro de las cien décimas (posthumous edition, 1991), La hora sin pájaros (1997) and Canto Redondo (2008). He was an Honorary Member of the El Cucalambé literary workshop, and a member of UNEAC, and published in different magazines and newspapers.
In her essay "Gilberto E. Rodriguez, the poet of the 20th century in Las Tunas," Maritza Batista said: "His poetry is distinguished by the elegance of verses, made with exquisite care and rigorousness so that having his books is to enjoy a good reading, to acquire a literary culture and I, as on other occasions, insist on his sonnet Migajas de luz."
"His poetry is permanence and fidelity to an aesthetic ideal, from the origin to the last circumstances. The stripping of reality to dress it with dreams and new realities is the magical center of his creation. The language permeated by romanticism, is more here, fundamentally next to the brightness and essences of the postmodernist image, the taste for the word, search, and novelty in lexical structures, illuminated constructions, the traditional tropology with fresh airs of modernity and elegance", added Antonio Gutiérrez in his book Un poeta cerca del olvido (Sanlope, 2003).
