The Colombian Ministry of Culture has awarded the 2013 National Literature Prize to the poet Horacio Benavides. He was born in the municipality of Bolívar, Department of Cauca, in 1949, and currently resides in the San Cayetano neighborhood of Cali, Valle del Cauca. He combines his work as a poet with leading poetry workshops for children and young people. Winner of several national awards, he has published poetry collections such as "Orígenes" (1979), "Las cosas perdidas" (1986), "Agua de la orilla" (1989), "Sombra de agua" (1994), "La aldea desvelada" (2001), "Sin razón florecer" (2002), "Todo lugar para el desencuentro" (2005), "De una a otra montaña" (2008), "La serena hierba, antología" (2011), and children's riddle books like "Agua pasó por aquí" and "Ábrete grano pequeño." We spoke with our poet Elvira Alejandra Quintero about him, and this is what she told us:
“Horacio is a man completely dedicated to his passion for writing and poetry. He preserves the magic of the countryside; I believe that's where the essence of his poetry comes from—very simple, yet profound in its imagery and its message. His poetry belongs to a tradition that prioritizes imagery and simplicity of language. He tends to be brief, narrating little, focusing more on description. However, without having read the rest of the winning book, I see in the poem I published on my blog quite a few narrative elements, an aspect I haven't generally observed in his other works.”.
I HEARD YOUR CALL
A poem by Horacio Benavides from the book The serene grass – National Poetry Prize 2013 – Ministry of Culture of Colombia.
I HEARD your call, mother
and I gathered the strength to get up
It was night
And I went, guessing the way.
I wanted to be guided by the sound
from the ravine
But there was no sound of water,
Only the dogs barked as I passed by
This is Juan Chilito's house, he told me.
Well, there were three dogs barking
How could they not bark if I was missing my head?
I'm going where Pedro Daza is.
Well, they bark like four or like six
He would come back and tell me
How could they not bark?
I was missing my legs.
I finally found your house, mother
Your house like a white cloud
amidst so much darkness
I thought you were sleeping, exhausted from grief.
and I didn't want to wake you up
And I left the way I had come.
Taken from the blog of the poet Elvira Alejandra Quintero
http://elviraalejandraquintero.blogspot.com/2013/08/horacio-benavides-poeta-colombiano.html