In recent years, light is the dominant theme in poems. Most poets say that light is the continuation of their lives. There is an expression to announce the process of giving birth or giving birth, or there are those who express it with the word giving birth. These two expressions can show the importance of light for humans. From birth, light acts as a catalyst. The word is so important that even in the Bible it represents the beginning of Creation: Fiat lux. As if that were the driving force of everything, which it really is.
Mª Engracia Sigüenza Pacheco’s work Luminarias, published by the Ars poetica publishing house in the Beatus Ille collection, introduces us to the theme of light in its very title. María Engracia, Oriolana poet, is truly pure light. His free and clear verses show us a simple but at the same time deep poem. There is great depth in his poems. His poetry collection opens with a poem called Ráfagas, where he illuminates some of his memory: “My mother cleans the wounds, / spreads the medicine, / covers the map of pain with gauze. / My grandmother wears a mourning scarf, / a carcinoma is a nursery / where shadow and light grow. // A storm / shakes the tree of my mind. / My father’s coffin appears / from another dimension. / More heroic than Ulysses, / a cemetery of loyalty.
But it’s not all pain. There are also enlightenments in María Engracia’s poems, those sparkles that make life give us magical moments. The poet has such a virtue that he shows us those bursts of light as if he were showing 8 mm films in his living room. The poem, titled Memories of a Sunday on the Beach, says: “I see a sparkling sea / and gentle waves / like cotton rings. / I see my sister and brother, / dragonflies in the water, / floating on a black tire, / the ship of happiness. / Ah, the wings of childhood / the dawn of life…” But ultimately light is love. María Engracia shows us this. All of Luminarias’ compositions are filled with love, because love is what moves the world and therefore poetry. Without love, poetic action would be an empty thing. Light is the act of loving and focusing on what one really wants. Because the loved one is the illuminator of every human being. As in his poem called Threads, which shows the light that love gives us: «I feel life because you exist, / I have to exist for you to live. / The star is connected to its thread. beings, / bodies that feed the world, / souls that light the fire… / Who are we really? / You are so different and so equal to me.
Luminarias is a book with wonderful poetic content. As I mentioned before, this is a deep, bright and dark book. This duality is what gives a common thread to this work, where fire is the element that ignites it. María Engracia grew up as a poet. This work is an examination of the present as well as the past. This is an illuminating book, it couldn’t be said better. The poems of the author of Orihuela show us the sensitivity of those who observe pain and transform it, for it is he who not only suffers the wound, but also observes it without opening it. Just think about the pain and the consequences. Because, as they say, you can only appreciate the light from deep darkness. This is what María Engracia does; taking the light and letting it shape the pain but also the joy.