A Coffee with the Soul of Poetry

Because celebrating the complicity of coffee in every second of life is a reason to return to spaces like this community, where we can remember and relive what coffee has given us.

In the heart of Camagüey City, the Café Literario La Comarca has stood for several years—a place where literature and music constantly steal the spotlight. I’ve been fortunate enough to host several of my monthly décima poetry gatherings in this wonderful place.

The gathering I lead was a dream I held for a long time, finally realized under the name NUESTRO DÉCIMO CAFÉ—a name chosen in reference to coffee as its central inspiration and the décima as Cuba’s most authentic poetic form.

At the end of last year, to close out 2024, I held the final gathering in that magical place, which worked its usual charm. In a sudden shift from the script I had prepared to discuss technical aspects of the décima, my guest and I ended up in a recital of pure rhymed poetry.

Night fell, and the verses never ceased. Hearts found peace in that stream of poetry, under the signs of an early winter amid Cuba’s tropical climate.

Friends—beautiful friends—gathered that day to delight our souls and enjoy the exquisite espresso this literary café serves with love.

My guest, a poet of unmatched strength and tenacity whose mastery of rhyme is truly admirable, received a handmade keepsake from me, crafted with natural fibers and fabrics. On it, the word "Coffee" was inscribed, and inside, it held verses written just for that moment:

A coffee under the shelter
of morning and the wind.
A coffee: a premonition
of love I no longer confess.
A coffee as witness
to the day, the sun, my waiting.
A coffee as the first
sign of time in my eyes.
A coffee for cravings.
A coffee... my own way.

That December evening could hold no more verses—it was impossible. And my gathering, NUESTRO DÉCIMO CAFÉ, was forever tattooed on our souls.