Fina García Marruz and the Silence of Words
“A poet is that strange hunter who only hits the mark when the bird leaps, free. Poetry is about embracing, not destroying, about sensing that those who are not like us may hold a secret (…)” Thus wrote Fina García Marruz, the Cuban writer, scholar, literary critic, poet, and essayist, in her 1986 work On Speaking of Poetry.
Her life’s arc—begun on this day in 1923—found an early milestone with Poemas (1942), a debut that marked her out as a singular voice. Her distinctive style soon set her apart within the circle of writers gathered around the journal Orígenes, led by José Lezama Lima, and she would go on to become one of the most prominent figures in Cuban poetry of the 20th and early 21st centuries.
«Every poet feels, in the act of creation, that their words are shaped by a void that sculpts them, by a silence that withdraws even as it guides the thread of song. All their weakness and all their strength lie in the necessity of displacing this one essential guest,» she reflected.
For García Marruz, this elusive need was channeled into texts rich in beauty and depth, in which she captured reality through an attentive gaze that delighted in its smallest details. It was from this approach that, in the words of fellow poet Eliseo Diego, some of the most passionately beautiful poems ever composed in the Spanish language were born.
A similar depth characterizes her essays, though her research work extended well beyond the poetic realm to include in-depth studies of José Martí’s writings. She devoted years to this pursuit at the National Library—where she worked in the Literature Department—and later at the Martí Studies Center, exploring the intricate web of meanings and insights she shared with her lifelong partner, Cintio Vitier.
«Cuban identity, Catholicism, time, the everyday, cities, autumn parks, the murmurs of suggestive gardens, memory, and family—these are recurring elements in García Marruz’s poetry, woven through the paths of a subtle energy imbued with confidential imprints. A fervent imagination intertwined with personal experience,» noted journalist Carlos Olivares Baró.
Her essays, too, offer a deeply enriching experience. Works such as Los versos de Martí (1968), La familia de Orígenes (1997) and Darío, Martí y lo germinal americano (2001) maintain the same creative spirit found in her poetry—a noteworthy achievement, given the expressive clarity and power she sustained across genres.
Throughout her work, García Marruz’s literary technique stands as a masterclass in itself, particularly in her use of one indispensable element:
«Silence, in poetry as in nature, is a means of expression. Poetry lives in its silences, and perhaps the most important moment is when the pulse halts, preparing to move to the next line. Prose flows continuously; it doesn’t require that pause where something breaks and is revealed. Wordy poetry is not true poetry. Cintio always reminds me that poetry is not about saying everything, but about saying half—or rather, about suggesting a totality through a limit. A certain overambitious art that seeks to grasp the infinite firsthand always strikes me as diminishing. Give me the knowledge of a limit, and the simplest melodic phrase can carry me, hand in hand, to the unfathomable,» she once declared.
And so she did. Proof lies throughout her body of work, in collections such as The Transfiguration of Jesus on the Mount (1947), Visitations (1970), Charlot’s Credits (1990), The Rembrandts of the Hermitage (1992), Central Havana (1997), The Rare Instant (2010), and the evocatively titled Of What, Silence, Are You Silence? (2011).
Her extraordinary career was crowned with accolades including the Distinction for National Culture, the Félix Varela Order, the Queen Sofía Prize for Ibero-American Poetry, the José Martí Order, the Alejo Carpentier Medal, and the National Literature Prize.
On this anniversary of her birth, as on every such occasion, revisiting the life and work of Fina García Marruz rekindles the soul and sharpens our awareness. Through her, humanity caught a glimpse of itself in the rich tapestry of its senses and essences, finding in that reflection a reason to better understand and love itself.
Photo: El Periódico de Aragón
Translated by Luis E. Amador Dominguez
