Francisco Domínguez Romero, Limian Poet and Teacher

Francisco Domínguez Romero, «Paco» in Xinzo, was a poet and teacher of Limian origin, from the family known as the Bicaquentes of Xinzo. He was born in Ferrol in 1939 and died in Santiago de la Ribera (Murcia) in 2005. He was married to the Limian Sira Méndez Cuquejo ^[1].

Life

Born in Ferrol, he went at a young age to Cartagena, where he spent part of his adolescence. He studied navigation in Cádiz and A Coruña and teacher training in Murcia. Back in Galicia he lived in Xinzo de Limia and later in Corcubión, working as a teacher ^[1]. In Cartagena he published his first bilingual poetry collections under the wing of the intellectual circle of the Athenas bookshop ^[1].

In the Ourense of the 1960s he had a close friendship with Carlos Casares and Antón Tovar, and with them took part as a poet in cultural events and recitals. In 1965 he took part in Barcelona, with Celso Emilio Ferreiro and Xosé Luís Méndez Ferrín, in a cycle of lectures, readings and poetry recitals ^[1]. He was a member of the Redes Escarlata and contributed to online poetry journals; he published poems in Dorna ^[1].

His poetry

In the Galician poems of his last phase he says that his poetic work was exploring new spaces, with greater expressive restraint and more refined verse, in a plainer and calmer language. The recurring themes are the meaning of life, the passing of time, shared pain, ethical rigour, dismay at the manipulation of conscience and, as he himself writes, «o amoroso latexo da paisaxe da Limia, o meu inesquecible paraíso da infancia» (the loving heartbeat of the landscape of A Limia, my unforgettable childhood paradise) and «o infinito desexo de sosego e silencio» (the infinite desire for calm and silence) (March 2002) ^[1].

Work

Señales del camino, Cartagena, 1971 (bilingual collection).
Herrumbre de los sueños, Murcia, 1983 (bilingual).
24 poemas, A Coruña, 2002.
Poemas. Antoloxía, Ourense, 2010 (bilingual selection).
Poemas de inverno, Follas Novas Edicións, Compostela, 2011.
In collective works: La sierpe y el laúd (Murcia, 1989), Xuro que nunca volverei pasar fame, Poesía escarlata (Ourense, 2003) and Sempre mar. Cultura contra a burla negra (2003) ^[1].