Miguel Ángel Olivé Iglesias

January 2023

I

For never-resting time leads summer on To hideous winter… Shakespeare … boughs which shake against the cold… Shakespeare One must have a mind of winter

To regard the frost and the boughs… W. Stevens

January 2023 has come with a sprinkle of Cuban winter in its glove. Cold, cold nights; cool days too for the sun has little strength to warm us while the wind connives with dawn to spread icy crystals on tremulous tree branches brushing up against my sleepy window. II

Youth is fiery, age is frosty. Longfellow Old age strikes all in an instant. James Deahl

January 2023 is passing fast, like life a pageant of swift hours that enter our skin telling our bodies what oldness means,

Unbridled Minutes

that strum our DNA´s strings replaying in our minds the metaphors Youth is fire, age is cold.

Iii

I will fear no evil: for thou art with me. Psalms 23:4 In process of the seasons have I seen… Shakespeare There´s so much of January in this time of the year, infrequent winter hugs unusual snaps of cold full nights and days. I rejoice in being alive this 2023: God warms my body and my hopes as I behold the season´s cycle unfold its chilly blanket intent on frosting my calendar. January freezes the world yet God saves me thawing the arctic fears that bite me.

Una pulida tarde de noviembre, poco antes del pistoletazo, Van Gogh me sugería usar el tierra de sombra tostada y los azules ultramarinos, y construir mucosidades a partir de ahí. Esto es todo cuanto sé. Eso y que la acuarela es una multitud de charquitos de agua beduina, pigmentos y goma arábiga.

¡Ah! Y trabajar más rápido que escupida de músico, que las manchas sean gestuales como los garabatos chinos. Yo ya tenía conocimiento de que el agua de Holguín, rica en permanganato, era generosa para velar cartulinas y criar piedras en los riñones. Y sin perder de vista esa ventaja me atreví con este retrato arlequinesco, uno de muchos que ahora andan endulzando paredes por el Mediterráneo. Lo pinté, igual que al resto, en menos de lo que se persigna un cura loco.

Eros: Largado en el satín de un blanco disparejo, un estambre de mujer con pensativo ruido de tijera.

Un gusano carmesí en la blusa plisada y petirroja de nieves y de ramas y en los pies todo el hollín de los calvarios de Padua.

Eros bueno, fantasma de labios indecentes como el joven amor en las colinas, como las faldas rojas que esconden la fogata de una piel o las copas errantes de los heliotropos, Edén que un dios venéreo cansado de siglos y epidemias soñó para nosotros.

Ablandado por la escarcha de Frimario, mes rico en travesías y coronaciones, he pensado en la ausencia que nos espera a ambos extremos de la vida, ese misterio que llaman Eternidad. Y he recordado hasta las lágrimas, sentimental como soy, este texto brevísimo ya lejano, que bien pudiera servirme algún día de epitafio, "La siesta"...

La siesta: Cuando todo pase, novia mía, déjame dormir en San Andrés, arropado solo del recuerdo. Llévame un domingo, cuando la nube de alquitrán ponga el Sol como un beso redondo sobre las lomas en llamas. Y ponle una flor plebeya a mi reposo, que su tenue pubertad me acompañe dulce al otro lado.

Softened by the frost of Frimario, a month rich in voyages and coronations, I have thought about the absence that awaits us at both ends of life, that mystery called Eternity. And I have remembered to tears, sentimental as I am, this very brief text already far away, which could well serve me one day as an epitaph, "La siesta"...

The NAP: When everything happens, my girlfriend, let me sleep in San Andrés, wrapped only in memory. Take me on a Sunday, when the tar cloud sets the sun like a round kiss on the burning hills. And put a plebeian flower to my rest, may its tenuous puberty accompany me sweetly to the other side.

Holguin writers owe much to many Canadian poet friends. Their loyalty, generosity, advice, support and friendliness are worth-praising always. One of those friends is John Hamley, the Haiku Master. Time-honored Canada Cuba Literary Alliance member, published and acclaimed both in Canada and abroad, Hamley devotes a part of his time to help poets in the making, like me, to improve our creative writing skills. I cannot let my book, In My Night Silence, go public without deeply acknowledging and thanking him –and by extension other Canadian poet friends– for his perfectionist´s touch and interest in refining my humble work, and for his open-hearted gesture to bring me a print copy of the book, a nearly impossible feat for me to attain. Grateful is the word that best describes how I feel. Thank you, John.

About Jorge Alberto Pérez Hernández, author of : In my Night Silence (SandCrab Books, 2021)

Los escritores Holguineros deben mucho a muchos amigos poetas canadienses. Su lealtad, generosidad, consejos, apoyo y amabilidad son dignos de elogio--siempre. Uno de esos amigos es John Hamley, el Maestro de Haiku. Miembro consagrado de la Alianza Literaria Canadá Cuba, publicado y aclamado tanto en Canadá como en el extranjero, Hamley dedica una parte de su tiempo a ayudar a los poetas en ciernes, como yo, a mejorar nuestras habilidades de escritura creativa. No puedo dejar que mi libro, “En Mi Silencio Nocturno” , se haga público sin reconocerlo y agradecerle profundamente a él –y por extensión a otros amigos poetas canadienses– su toque perfeccionista e interés en refinar mi humilde obra, y su sincero gesto para traerme una copia impresa del libro, una hazaña casi imposible de lograr para mí. Agradecido es la palabra que mejor describe cómo me siento. Gracias John.

Jorge Alberto Pérez Hernández was born in Santiago de Cuba in 1961, but he spent his childhood and teen age years in Bayamo, a town on the eastern part of Cuba, north of Santiago. He attended local schools during that time. He liked reading story books, painting, fishing and the theater, and took part in children’s lit contests where he was awarded citations and mentions. As a student he was given the opportunity to attend a school where studies and work were combined: ESBEC (Junior High School in the Countryside). He excelled in English, Spanish and Industrial Arts. He continued developing his artistic talents at writ ing. His interest in the arts led him to enroll a Teacher Education College, majoring in English. His freshman years began at IPE (Institute of Professional Upgrading), where he completed the academic courses and received his first degree as a Junior High School Teacher of English. His merits allowed him to pursue university studies and he graduated summa cum laude as a Bachelor in Education, English Major, in 2007, from the Holguín University of Pedagogical

Sciences. He started working as an English teacher in the years 1977-1978. He moved along all the teaching levels: Junior and Senior High, School of Economy, Poly-technical Schools and Language Schools. He was appointed Head Professor in many of these schools. He also worked with foreign students in the Isle of Youth, and was awarded as Best Teacher Assistant, he worked too in INTUR (National Tourism Institute) in Granma Province as a language coordinator at the Sierra Maestra Hotel in Bayamo, Bartolomé Masó Lookout and Guacanayabo Hotel in Manzanillo, and participated as a language coordinator in the LINGUATUR Workshops taught during the summer by Canadian professors in Varadero, Cuba, about communicative competence for tourism students. He was a member of the Protocol Group for International Tourism, contributing in many occasions to hard currency revenues for the country. During his upgrading projects he completed courses on restaurant-bar, kitchen and bakery-confectionery services.

He participated in the “First Scientific Workshop on Tourism Services Quality” with the paper entitled “Role of Language towards the Development of Touristic Culture.” He was also a singer in the Bayamo Professional Choir, and taught English pronunciation to concert singers with different tessitura. He lives in Gibara, Holguín, now. He worked as a Specialist in Scientific and Pedagogical Information, known later as CDIP (Documentary and Informational Center). He was rewarded for his outstanding participation in the Municipal Workshop “Revolution’s Programs” with a research paper. He was a Supervisor of School Libraries, worked at the University Branch in Gibara, took part in ENALEX (Foreign Language Teaching Workshop), and in varied research works, and national and international events related to his profession, then was transferred to the Gibara Branch of the Holguín Medical School where he taught English in the different majors. He was awarded the José Tey Medal presented by the State Council of the Republic of Cuba. He has devoted his life in Gibara to fishing, which has been his greatest aspiration. He was chosen VP of the Pepín Infante Gibara Fishing Center and stayed in that position for some time. His boat, that he named Isabel María, was his inseparable partner for twenty-one years.

He has been in the poetry world. He belongs to the Peña Cultural de los Creadores Gibareños (Gibara Poets Cultural Group), to the Raúl Gómez García Casa de la Cultura de Gibara, won the first prize in poetry during the Semana de la Cultura, has been a promoter and supporter of culture in his town with expos, book launches, poetry reading and book donations to numerous institutions.

He has published in English and Spanish issues, among them his first poetry and short story book entitled Jorge and the Sea. Together with members of the Gibara Poets Cultural Group, he published Marea de Sueños, a compilation of poetry. In December 2012 was published the book The Sea of All, with poems by ten Gibara and Holguín authors, and created the First Lit Workshop “Marea de Sueños” with the support of the Canada Cuba Literary Alliance (CCLA), where Jorge assists in the translation of poetry and prose. He also collaborated in the publication of Mis versos son para ti Gibara, a compilation of two-hundred poems by two-hundred poets to honor the two-hundred year old city. He has published in the Bridges Series Books, Where the Heart Lies (2018) and in the Canadian anthology The Dream The Glory and The Strife (2018) by the CCLA. He has also published in the newsletter The Envoy, where he works now as Editor in chief to promote Cuban and Canadian culture, art and photography. The last book of poetry is the one you could see here in The Envoy, it is called “In My Night Silence”

Thank you Tai, Thank you John

About John Hamley

The New book of HAIKU by John Hamley

This book is dedicated to the memory of my mother Mari Kuusela (1912-1997) who has a brilliant mind and a mischievous sense of humor. When I was little, she recited to me couplet that translates to

Vast are the steppes of Siberia

Sonya alone shovels snow which I suspect is a parody of some famous Russian song. Perhaps not a haiku, but an image so strong it has stayed with me all these years.

Creador Inmortal

Por Jorge Alberto Pérez Hernández

Tu revistes los cauces de verde riqueza a los árboles das derramas consuelo sobre la tierra colocas las nubes para sombras los arroyos espumeantes creaste rudo grito a las olas del mar con tu hálito el aire respiro nuestra órbita acoge Tus rugidos y abraza triunfante Tu voz fragante rocío que moja la viña mi cuerpo débil ante Ti levanta la frente vista firme a Tu rostro perfecto mis rodillas declinan al suelo solo Tu, creador inmortal.

Immortal Creator

Jorge Alberto Pérez Hernández

You cover the riverbeds with green wealth to the trees you give You bring comfort to the earth You place the clouds for shadows the foaming streams you created rude cry to the waves of the sea with Your breath I breathe the air our orbit welcomes Your roars and triumphantly embrace your voice fragrant dew that wets the vineyard my weak body before You raises its forehead steady gaze on Your perfect face my knees drop to the ground Only You, inmortal creator.

By Wency Rosales

By Jorge Alberto Pérez