Where The Pieces Fall

Painting By Hugo Consuegra

Caminante Sin Lunas

Tú, en la palabra
(You, inside the verse)
Here, hidden in verse,
behind the exact viagra that defines
your essence,
I traverse your landscape
of hills and valleys,
of coves and rivers,
of palm trees and ceiba trees,
of doves without light.

And, with the foam of the sea
and blue embraces of
seagulls and memories,
I envelope your mountainous waist,
your coral thighs.

I cross the paths of
ancient cathedrals,
down sad alleyways
with empty carriages containing
neither passengers nor drivers,
past weeping poplars,
unadorned gray arches,
silent palm trees,
without a breeze or a sound.

Silence has gone
with its cloak of darkness;
the perfume of legend and mystery
that surrounded your countenance
has been stolen:
the slave laughs while his sorrow weeps
to the steps of an ancestral dance,
impatiently desiring for history
to return with its triumphal march.

Meanwhile, hidden,
sheltered by verse,
I embark on the long
journey of exile and remembrance,
searching for the word that is
incessantly out of my reach,
the word that allows me to recreate
you once again.
_____________________________________

Poder del ensueño
(The Power of dreams)
I rediscover myself
in verse bearing your name,
dreaming of you
in each moment of clarity.
_____________________________________

Ausencia y soledad
(Absence and Solitude)
In the shadow of remembrance
the birds of memory sleep:
broken-winged-trills at
the shore’s edge,
drifting away in a sea without waves.

Even the fish do not come to the shore
and the wandering wind,
distances itself silently
without leaving a trace in the sand.

Up above, a seagull waves
goodbye to the horizon
as the waning afternoon, drenched
in blood, slowly collapses
behind the slopes, while
the shadows arrive in an
immense gray procession of penitents,
to rest on the shoulders of my anguish.

Oh, solitude,
virgin without yearning!
listen to my silent cry,
while I remain alone, one
among the shadows.
____________________________________

El poder del recuerdo
(The Power of Memory)
I no longer reside in the darkness
of your being,
that escapes in silent embraces.
But here, in the core of my being,
I jealously possess you,
with the green envy of remembrance.
____________________________________

El camino del destierro
(The Road of Exile)
On the path of the forgotten,
death comes to nostalgia,
funeral services for remembrance.

Each step is a beat of silence,
that sorrow repeats like an echo:
solitude swings in the balustrades.

In the hills a brightly lit star,
-the pilgrim’s beacon.
The traveler takes fewer steps
while anguish waits around
every corner.
____________________________________

Sabiduría
(Wisdom)
They will summon you
to the edge of oblivion.
Better to ignore the words
of those who don’t understand.
To be true to oneself,
be yourself and rediscover
yourself in verse and with
an embrace.
____________________________________

Recordar es regreso
(Remembering is returning)
Wanderer of time:
the past is the present
fixed in words;
the roots are never lost,
neither diminished nor augmented.
All that is needed is a pound on the chest
Or a kiss from the breeze;
remembering is returning
without borders or time.

Poems By Julio Enrique Hernandez-Miyares
Translations By Dennis Aberle

At the end of the 4 line Utica Station Crown Heights (Photo By JHM)

Hugo Consuegra was a founding member of the avant-garde movement in Cuba known as Los Once. Follow This Link to an image of one of the ceramic pieces from the Hernandez-Miyares collection, which is an artist’s proof of one that is installed at this station. For those of you that read spanish, i recommend his autobiography Elapso Tempore.

If you pay attention you will see and discover things that most people ignore. Last week i recorded Alina Brouwer for the Sineparade Minor Heroes proyect. Her father is Leo Brouwer the legendary composer. His compositions are performed all over the world every day. He wrote music for films as well as for guitar and orchestra. One of my favorite films is Memories of Underdevelopement, and Leo wrote the music for that film. That film was written and directed by Thomas Gutierrez Alea. Anyway, the next day i watched the video that i have of this movie, and i see this shot in the apartment of “Sergio”, who is the protaganist of the film. I immediately recognized a painting by Hugo Consuegra, and i took a picture of the film still (Now Showing). As some of you know, i am blogging unpublished Consuegra Works. What an awesome discovery i thought, but there was something else that i would discover. The next day in the studio with Roberto Poveda (my musical collaborator) after i told him of my discovery, he revealed to me that our drummer Alex Garcia is married to the daughter of Thomas Gutierrez Alea.

Excerpt from Hugo Consuegra’s Obituary From The Miami Herald. Hugo Passed Away In 2003.
Painter Hugo Consuegra, who in the 1950s helped spark a movement of abstract expressionism in Cuba, died of cancer Friday at his home in Rego Park, New York. He was 73. Consuegra was born in Havana. He studied at the Academia de San Alejandro, and graduated from the University of Havana as an architect. In 1953, he became one of the founding members of The Eleven, a group he described in a recent interview as “young artists attempting forms of expression different from the Havana school represented by [René] Portocarrero, [Mario] Carreño and others.” The group broke away from the representational style prevalent at the time in Cuba and produced its largest volume of work between 1953 and 1955, after which it disbanded. Consuegra and four of the original 11 continued to exhibit until 1963, in what became known as the post-revolutionary avant-garde movement. To Consuegra, being part of a group did not rob him of his individuality. ”A group does not create, unless it does so through its members,” he said in a 2001 interview. “Like fish, group is a generic name. What’s really important is the salmon, the bream or the snapper.”

Hugo was a great artist and a wonderful person with a gentle temperment. In celebration of the publishing of the book HUGO CONSUEGRA, we at “Where The Pieces Fall” will be posting previously unpublished images of Hugo’s work. Stay tuned.

Photograph by Javier Hernandez-Miyares

Ceramic tile for “Arte Cubano de Hoy” exhibit, La Rampa, Havana 1963

This tile was designed by Hugo Consuegra who was a member of the now legendary “group of eleven”. In the early 1950′s this group of young artists abandoned figurative representation and many adopted a style of abstract expressionism. They rebelled against the complacency of the established artists of that time and refused to participate in any exhibition sponsored by the Batista government. In 1959 during the first year of the Revolution the “Arte Cubano De Hoy” exhibition was held at a theater on La Rampa Avenue in Vedado Havana. This tile and others designed by participating artists such as Wilfredo Lam and Amelia Pelaez were imbedded in the sidewalk of that Avenue in 1963 and are still there today. The tile that i photographed is from the Dr. Julio E. and Maria J. Hernandez-Miyares Collection. I had the privilege of knowing Hugo and i will be posting more pictures of his artwork and his writings in the next few days.

Click below to see images of all “La Rampa Mosaics”, and even more information:
Mosaicos En La Rampa

Ediciones Universal has just published a book on Hugo’s artistic career titled Hugo Consuegra. New York City book launching will occur sometime this summer. When i have more information i will immediately post it.