Description
CHERRIES OVER DEATH
Book Summary
Mario Obrero, winner of the Loewe Young Poet Award, offers in Cherries over Death a collection of poems that interweaves historical memory, beauty, and justice. Starting from the mass grave of Pernafeites in Miravet (Tarragona), where a hundred Republican soldiers lie, the author reflects on how life and poetry sprout even in the most devastated places. With illustrations and collages by Obrero himself, this book proposes a lyrical gaze that does not forget the pain, but chooses to bet on the resilience of beauty.
What is it about?
The poetry collection stems from a specific historical fact: the Pernafeites mass grave, where the remains of a hundred Republican soldiers rest. Upon that ground marked by war and death, the author observes how cherry trees bloom as an act of natural resistance. Through verses that combine collective memory with personal experience, Mario Obrero builds a dialogue between the horror of the past and the persistence of life. The illustrations and collages that accompany the poems reinforce this tension between the ephemeral and the enduring, between mourning and hope.
Main Themes
- Historical memory and mass graves of the Spanish Civil War.
- The relationship between death and nature as a symbol of resistance.
- Beauty as an act of justice in the face of violence.
- Collective mourning and the need to remember without forgetting.
Who is it recommended for?
This book is aimed at readers interested in contemporary Spanish poetry that addresses historical memory from a lyrical and visual perspective. It is also for those seeking a work that combines ethical commitment with aesthetic sensibility, and for followers of Mario Obrero's poetry or authors who explore the link between nature and war.
What this book contributes
- A poetic reflection on historical memory that avoids propaganda and opts for suggestion.
- A unique visual experience, thanks to the illustrations and collages created by the author himself.
- A perspective that reconciles the crudeness of death with the persistence of beauty.
- A lyrical testimony that updates the debate on collective mourning in contemporary Spain.
Technical Details
- Author: Mario Obrero
- Publisher: La Bella Varsovia
- Language: Spanish
- Subject: Poetry, Poetry by individual poets
- Collection: Poetry
- Binding: Paperback
- Publication date: February 2022
- Number of pages: 44
- Weight: 54 g
Editorial Review
Cherries over Death is a brief but dense work that demonstrates the maturity of a young poet with a voice of his own. The combination of text and image, joined by the symbolic power of the cherry trees over the grave, makes this book a unique proposal within current Spanish poetry. It may be of particular interest to those who value poetry as a tool for memory and to those looking for a reading that combines emotion with ethical reflection.