Poet Domingo Velazquez Cabrera

Domingo Velázquez Cabrera was one of the best lyrical writers that Fuerteventura has produced during the 20th century. He is part of the so-called “Postwar Generation”, considering him one of the most significant poets of that generation. Today we approach his story.

Domingo Velazquez Cabrera (1911 – 2003) 

Domingo Velázquez was born on May 14, 1911 in Rosa del Taro, a scattered house belonging to the extinct municipality of Casillas del Ángel. 

From a very young age he was fascinated by the world of show business, not in vain he elaborated, by hand, together with his friends a small puppet theater with which he entertained family, friends and neighbors. But what most marked the young Majorero were the gatherings that were organized in Puerto del Rosario around Miguel de Unamuno during his exile in Fuerteventura. He attended these gatherings accompanied by his father, the politician and mayor of Casillas del Ángel, Domingo Velázquez González.

At the age of 16, Domingo Velázquez left for Las Palmas to study for Baccalaureate. In the capital Gran Canaria he worked as a salesman in various shops and as a commercial agent.

From a very early age he cultivated poetry, being the theater where he put the greatest effort. In 1933 he founded, in Gáldar, the Taro Artistic Company, a group made up of around thirty actors. The cast garnered great success with both critics and audiences.

 A couple of years later, his interest in travel led him to tour much of Europe. France, Italy, Belgium and Holland were some of the countries he visited.

 He established his residence between 1936 and 1939 in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, for work reasons. Later in Gran Canaria. In 1936 he tried to publish his first book of verses: “Poems of the Wandering Dream”. 

The start of the Civil War was imminent and his project was shelved.

Domingo Velázquez joined the army. His first destination was very far from the Canary Islands, in La Coruña. He subsequently entered into combat and was wounded in the leg during the famous battle of Pozo Blanco. 

After the end of the war, he made a second attempt to publish “Poems of the wandering dream”, but this time, Domingo Velázquez Cabrera thought that his verses were immature to be reflected in a book. In the end, the collection of poems saw the light almost three decades after it was written, specifically in 1963. 

His friends actively participated in both the production of the book and its presentation, which was an event in the cultural environment of Tenerife and Las Palmas. 

Of the book it is necessary to emphasize that its prologue was written by the Tenerife poet Pedro García Cabrera. The poems were accompanied by drawings by the artist Rafael Monzón.

In 1964 he received the Tomás Morales prize for poetry, with a collection of poems that would form part of the book “Caminos”. 

The few poetic publications of Domingo and the temporary lag in these publications, since they did not go hand in hand with the concerns of the time, were always the greatest obstacles for him to be seriously considered as a contemporary poet. The majorero was aware of this.

 As with his first book, other publications went through the same timelessness. For example: “Los Caminos”, a collection of poems written around 1945, was published in 1982. “Words to return”, which is made up of poems written between 1940 and 1980, was published in 1990. 

The same thing happened with Isla Llana. 

• He was always more focused on the theater and various cultural activities than on poetry.
• He was co-founder and director of the “Tara” Artistic Company in Gáldar (1974). 
•  Co-founder of “Meo Tea”, a recreational artistic group in Las Palmas (1963). 
• Co-founder and director of the Las Palmas Art Theater (1965-1970). – Founder, editor and editor of “Fablas”, a magazine of poetry and literary criticism born in 1969. It had a monthly periodicity, which had uninterrupted continuity until 1974. Then it came out intermittently until 1979. Number 75 would be the last. 
•  Founder of “Fablas Ediciones”, in Las Palmas (1971-85).

Despite his travels and his busy cultural life, he did not stop collaborating with various literary magazines and newspapers, including: Gánigo, Fablas, Diario de Las Palmas, La Provincia, La Tarde, and El Correo de Fuerteventura. 

In Fuerteventura, this illustrious majorero was always loved, proof of this are the different acts that he has presided over or that have been carried out to honor him. 

We highlight three: He was the crier of the patron saint festivities of Puerto del Rosario in 1965. In 1996 the Ministry of Culture of the Cabildo de Fuerteventura created the Poeta Domingo Velázquez Prize for Literary Creation. 

The El Matorral school, belonging to the municipality of Puerto del Rosario, also bears his name. It was inaugurated in 2004, just a few months after the poet’s death in the city of Las Palmas.

In 2013 the Fablas Reading Club was created, who organize an annual meeting of reading clubs in Fuerteventura. They also share literary experiences with established writers.

To conclude with this brief review of the life of Domingo Velázquez Cabrera, we leave you with this poem, Belonging to the poetry book Isla Llana

Paisaje majorero

LLANURAS sin más sombra

que la de las remotas nubes, altas…

Allá, en el horizonte.

legendario un molino – atalaya –

espera, espera, espera…,

inmóviles sus alas,

en las que ahora el viento

y el pájaro descansan.

Dilatados caminos,

palmeras solitarias

– clavadas como cruces gigantescas

sobre la tierra parda –

y lentos dromedarios

rumiando, eternamente, la esperanza.

Un hombre enjuto, erguido

sobre la Isla, canta.

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