The poet and journalist from Matanzas, Lianet Fundora, received an Honorable Mention in the José Jacinto Milanés Debate Contest, with her poem in décimas “All the Thirst of an Island”, a lyrical piece that depicts the daily struggles in the country, particularly those related to water.
The recognition took place in the context of the 34th International Book Fair held in Matanzas from August 20 to 23, as reported by the newspaper Girón on Friday, the 21st. This contest is a long-standing poetry competition in the literary life of the western province. It has historically been organized by the House of Letters Digdora Alonso, Ediciones Matanzas, and the José Jacinto Milanés Literary Promotion Center.
Lianet Fundora's décima, structured in four espinelas—a classic form of ten eight-syllable verses deeply rooted in Cuban culture—depicts a father kneeling, striking the pavement while carrying a pipe under the scorching three o'clock sun, waiting for water that never arrives.
Fundora explained that the work speaks "of our realities, of those wounds we carry within, of the everyday life that characterizes the Cuban," and that it draws "an analogy with Christ's own crucifixion and the daily crosses we also bear in our everyday passage through life."
The poem opens with a scene of search and physical pain: "My father has knelt, / strikes the sidewalk again, / he does not dodge the pain, he bruises / his fingers. Lost in his search, / he has forgotten / his birds in captivity. / Someone hurls an insult / and noon shatters, / the weight of a pipe / presses on his shoulder. He is serious."
The second stanza delves into waiting and broken hope: "Not a drop of water flows from his side, / only a bloody mark on the arm / from so much shattered hope. / Father sweats drop by drop / the scars of oblivion, / his hands have dissolved / in the crowd that burns. / -It’s already three in the afternoon- / but nothing has been fulfilled."
The closing elevates the everyday scene to a collective question without an answer: "He buries his ear in the earth / to which he is pledged. / My father is a wounded deer / in a silent war. / His hand gropes and clings / to the hand that legislates / while drought isolates / the resurrection of the soul. / He asks how to quench / all the thirst of an Island."
The tenth resonates strongly amid the serious water crisis affecting Cuba. According to data from May 2026, about 2.7 million Cubans were facing severe difficulties in accessing drinking water, while several million others received it intermittently. In Havana, the number of affected individuals surpassed half a million in July, and neighborhoods have reported several consecutive weeks without supply in various provinces.
The causes are structural: more than 80% of Cuba's aqueducts depend on the National Electric System, which makes them vulnerable to power outages, and the hydraulic system operates with a very small portion of the necessary fuel, which drastically reduces pumping capacity.
The ten-verse stanza, which constitutes a strong tradition in the poetry of the Island and throughout Hispano-America, has recently been employed by other Cuban poets such as José Martínez, Juan Carlos García Guridi, Jorge Luis (Veleta) Mederos, and Sindy Manuel Torres, to refer to the harsh everyday reality that Cuba faces.
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