Omar Pérez

Canción de cuna

Language: spanish

Translations: german (Wiegenlied)

Canción de cuna

Los hombres viven borrachos
en sus canciones de cuna
y al que primero se despabila
le dan el premio de la locura.
Una camisa de fuerza, blanca
un crucifijo de piedra, negra
una medalla de oro, falsa
y una cadena.
Papá, cuando sea grande
cómprame un traje de héroe.
Hijo, cómpratelo tú
con los ahorros de tu conciencia.
Los hombres van en diez bandos:
primer bando, los que matan
bando segundo, los que enseñan
tercer bando, los que cavan
bando cuarto, los que vuelan
quinto, los que hablan en números
sexto, los que ensartan perlas
séptimo, los que se trasquilan
el dorso de la paciencia
octavo, los que se preparan
para vivir de la guerra
noveno, los que se ponen serios
disimulando que juegan
décimo, los que por hacer justicia
no perdonan ni a la abuela.
Hijo, cuando seas grande
constrúyeme una escalera.
Papá, constrúyela tú
con los peldaños de tu lengua.
Los hombres viven borrachos
gozando el premio de su locura
y al que primero se despabila
le cantan esta canción de cuna:
Una camisa de fuerza, blanca
un crucifijo de piedra, negra
una medalla de oro, falsa
y una cadena.

Omar Pérez

photo © Dave Brinks

* 19.02.1964, Havana, Cuba
lives in: Havana, Cuba

Omar Pérez López, born 1964 in Havana, studied and graduated in English language and literature at the University of Havana (1987), as well as in Italian language and culture at the Scuola per Stranieri di Siena (1991) and in Dutch language and social orientation at the Regional Teaching Centre of Amsterdam.
In addition to his work as a journalist (El Caimán Barbudo 1989-1990), editor (Letras Cubanas 1999), radio announcer (Radio Ciudad de la Habana, Radio Musical Nacional, Habana Radio and Radio Progreso), actor and theatre assistant (1996-97), he has worked as a percussionist with the companies Danza Combinatoria, Danza Abierta and Persona.He has lectured on poetry and translation at the universities of Havana, Buffalo, Milan, Leyden, Medellin and Iowa. Accompanied by his cajon, he has presented his poems as a soloist in Havana, Amsterdam, Buenos Aires, Cali, Dublin, New Orleans, Sao Paulo, New York and other places.

photo © Heiko Strunk

His first volume of poetry "Algo de lo sagrado" ("Something Holy") appeared in 1996. In 1998 he published a book of poems entitled "Oíste hablar el gato de pelea? ("Did you hear the fighting cats talking?") the collected poems of the years 1994-98.
In the same year he learned - at the age of 25 - that he was the natural son of the revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara, who at that time had an extramarital relationship with the then student and later journalist Lilia Rosa López.

Further volumes of poetry and essays follow. His poems, essays and translations have also been published in several journals, including Mandorla, Poetry International, Prometheus, Action Poétique, Poetry and Criticism, The Infinite Island and Leviathan.
Pérez has been invited to the poetry festivals of Rotterdam (2002), Medellin (2006, 2015 and 2018) and Berlin (2019) as well as to the International Book Fair of Guadalajara (2002 and 2010). He has also taken part in the Poetry Festival in Taiwan in 2014, Singapore's Writers' Festival (2015) and the Festival Latinoamericano de Poesìa en el Centro, Buenos Aires, (2016), and the Seoul Literary Forum, 2017.

Omar Pérez has also presented several translation volumes, including works by authors such as William Shakespeare and Dylan Thomas, as well as anthologies of North American poetry, English-speaking African poetry, and contemporary poetry from Italy and the Netherlands.

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