The Las Palmas International Poetry Prize flies back to Spain. This time it lands in Extremadura, in the learned hands of Santos Domínguez, professor, rigorous poet, and renowned voice of contemporary poetry. There's nothing to object to regarding the merit of his work—which, as has been said, wounds and cuts like a good knife in wise hands. But it's still paradoxical, almost tragic, that for the second consecutive year the voice of the Islands, so rich in music, words, and fire, is silenced in its own home. Not a single poet worthy of the jury among the 420 nominated for the competition: 5.000 euros, 1.848.150 Zimbabwe dollars.
Because one begins to wonder—with sadness rather than reproach—whether the Las Palmas Poetry Prize isn't already an island competition in name only. Let this not be understood as a defense of localism, that sentimental remnant of provincialism. I'm speaking of poetic justice, of the necessary equity that all cultural policies must guarantee between universal applause and the care of one's own garden.
In 2023, they looked to Valencia. In 2022, to Colombia. In 2021, a Venezuelan author. And the Canary Islands? Are there no poets among the northern cliffs, in the streets of Vegueta, or in the cool shade of the Tamadaba pine forest? Should the sea that separates them from the continent also be the one that marginalizes them from prizes, books, and recognition?
Mayor Carolina Darias, who displays such a keen cultural sensitivity—much like ministerial technocrats, as fond of protocol as they are of roots—should ask herself if this award isn't at risk of losing its island soul and becoming a peninsular showcase of good intentions. The Canary Islands have given great names to literature: Tomás Morales, Alonso Quesada, Padorno. Silencing that tradition is like closing a window to the Atlantic: you lose the salt, the wind, and the murmur of your own. If you don't recognize the poet who walks among the dunes of Maspalomas or the sidewalks of La Isleta, if you don't hear the young man who rhymes against the elements from El Hierro or Arrecife, what's the point of continuing to call this the "Las Palmas Poetry Prize"? Culture isn't just about merit. It's also about memory. And in that memory, the Canary Islands deserve their voice.
