Sancti Spiritus, a City to be Sung

Poetry can be considered one of the oldest and most widespread arts. Originally linked to music in song, it gradually became independent and the musical rhythm itself was replaced by linguistic rhythm.

Poetic actions or performances, public recitals, the combination of poetry and image in many video experiences, speak clearly of its vitality and perhaps of an impulse also linked to its origins: that of turning the word into a rite shared by all the arts and all humans.

In all times and fundamentally, trova and poetry have paid tribute to the city with texts that magnify and praise it.

The people of Sancti Spíritus feel a special predilection for highlighting the virtues of the land where they were born. This has been the case for centuries.

In 1994 -just 20 years ago- Editorial Luminaria published a book entitled La Ciudad en sus Poetas (The City in its Poets). This book, a true jewel of the Spiritan bibliography, because of the subject it deals with and because it was published on the occasion of the 480th anniversary of the town, compiles 26 poems dedicated to Sancti Spiritus and its heroes.

The volume to which I make reference is a finished sample in which dissimilar forms and stanzas that sing to the city coexist harmoniously.

The authors selected for this anthology belong to the most diverse generations, but they are united by the common feature of having been inspired by the beautiful and historical colonial city, its heroes and its allegories.