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A tobacco worker wrote
a poem to death. Amid the smoke
and the dry and twisted leaves of the plains
she said she saw the world in Cuba.
It was the year 1999... In her poem
she said she touched the flowers
that formed a magic carpet
flying circles round the Plaza of the Revolution.
In her poem, this worker
grasped tomorrow’s days.
In her poem there were no half shadows, just energetic lamps.
In her poem, friends, there was no Miami, no claims being made;
there was no begging,
there were no acts of malice,
no violations of the labor law;
there was no interest in the Stock Exchange, there was no profit.
Her poem was full of militant cunning, languid intelligence.
Her poem was full of discipline and meetings.
Her poem was full of guts and heart.
Her poem was a treatise on popular economy.
Her poem was full of the desires and anxieties
of a revolutionary, her contemporary.
A tobacco worker wrote
a poem to the death throes of capitalism. Yes, sir.
But not even her brothers, not even her neighbors
guessed at the essence of her life. And they never learned of the poem.
She had kept it, tenaciously and delicately,
together with some leaves of hemp and caña santa,
in a clothbound book
of José Martí.
Nancy Morejón (b. Havana 1944): Tobacco Worker, translated from the Spanish by David Frye in With Eyes and Soul, 2004
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"@Yusnaby: #Cuba: Aquí viven Solange y sus 3 hijos, conoce la historia…" #TROPA #ObamaFirmaYa: image via V e r ó n i c a @53@7, 13 December 2014
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A Havana woman waits in a 1950s vehicle that operates as a shared taxi: photo by Ramon Espinosa/AP via the Guardian, 20 December 2014
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People have lunch at a cafe in St Petersburg: photo by Dmitry Lovetsky/AP via the Guardian, 20 December 2014
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Two women chat on their balconies in Old Havana: photo by Ramon Espinosa/AP via The Guardian, 20 December 2014
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A man lights a cigar in a cigar club shop in Havana: photo by Ramon Espinosa/AP via the Guardian, 20 December 2014
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Bolivar cigars on display in a cigar club shop: photo by Ramon Espinosa/AP via the Guardian, 20 December 2014
President #RaulCastro: #Cuba not changing communist regime: image via Daily Sabah @DailySabah, 21 December 2014
A tobacco worker wrote
a poem to death. Amid the smoke
and the dry and twisted leaves of the plains
she said she saw the world in Cuba.
It was the year 1999... In her poem
she said she touched the flowers
that formed a magic carpet
flying circles round the Plaza of the Revolution.
In her poem, this worker
grasped tomorrow’s days.
In her poem there were no half shadows, just energetic lamps.
In her poem, friends, there was no Miami, no claims being made;
there was no begging,
there were no acts of malice,
no violations of the labor law;
there was no interest in the Stock Exchange, there was no profit.
Her poem was full of militant cunning, languid intelligence.
Her poem was full of discipline and meetings.
Her poem was full of guts and heart.
Her poem was a treatise on popular economy.
Her poem was full of the desires and anxieties
of a revolutionary, her contemporary.
A tobacco worker wrote
a poem to the death throes of capitalism. Yes, sir.
But not even her brothers, not even her neighbors
guessed at the essence of her life. And they never learned of the poem.
She had kept it, tenaciously and delicately,
together with some leaves of hemp and caña santa,
in a clothbound book
of José Martí.
Nancy Morejón (b. Havana 1944): Tobacco Worker, translated from the Spanish by David Frye in With Eyes and Soul, 2004
"@Yusnaby: #Cuba: Aquí viven Solange y sus 3 hijos, conoce la historia…" #TROPA #ObamaFirmaYa: image via V e r ó n i c a @53@7, 13 December 2014
Obama orders re-establishing of US embassy in #Cuba: image via RT America @RT_America, 17 December 2014
In #Cuba, chants of Viva Obama! That's what @Reuters @danieljtrotta heard in #Havana: image via Don Colarusso @Colarusso42, 18 December 2014
Why #Cuba has accepted the dialogue with the US ? Because it is near collapse @Slatefr: image via Fredric Martel @FredricMartelf, 21 December 2014
Él, abogado retirado recoge pomos y latas para sobrevivir. Ella, graduada de derecho en Bélgica de turismo en #Cuba: image via Yusnaby Perez @Yusnaby, 13 December 2014
@Yusnaby: Pizarra de la carnicería estatal "La Octava Maravilla" en La Habana, #Cuba: image via Patricia Herrera @pherrera, 13 December 2014
@Yusnaby: -Pero imagínate chico, yo no tengo familia en Miami que me mande zapatos. #Cuba: image via Patricia Herrera @pherrera, 13 December 2014
A Havana woman waits in a 1950s vehicle that operates as a shared taxi: photo by Ramon Espinosa/AP via the Guardian, 20 December 2014
People have lunch at a cafe in St Petersburg: photo by Dmitry Lovetsky/AP via the Guardian, 20 December 2014
An old photo of Che Guevara takes pride of place in a Havana residence: photo by Ramon Espinosa/AP via the Guardian, 20 December 2014
A tangle of old and new electrical circuits on a wall in a building in Havana: photo by Ramon Espinosa/AP via The Guardian, 20 December 2014
Two women chat on their balconies in Old Havana: photo by Ramon Espinosa/AP via The Guardian, 20 December 2014
A man lights a cigar in a cigar club shop in Havana: photo by Ramon Espinosa/AP via the Guardian, 20 December 2014
Bolivar cigars on display in a cigar club shop: photo by Ramon Espinosa/AP via the Guardian, 20 December 2014