The singer Miguel Poveda has found an unpublished poem by Federico García Lorca on the back of the manuscript of Gacela de la raíz amarga after purchasing the piece, according to RTVE. One of the greatest experts on the poet, Pepa Merlo, has stated that the handwriting and the concepts addressed in the poem give authenticity to the text. “That is Federico’s handwriting, you have a discovery there. Something new from Federico,” she said in an interview on Spanish Television, adding that “no one had given importance” to the scribbles because they were on the back of La gacela de la raíz amarga. According to the philologist, Lorca “is structuring that importance he gave to time.”
“I sing / The clock mechanically counts the hours / It’s the same whether seven or twelve / I am not here / It is the flesh signal I left when I left / To know my place upon returning.”
Poveda has recited the previously unknown creation of the Granadian, which he has called “a gift for the heart.” The document will be included in the book that the singer is about to publish together with Merlo: Las cosas del otro lado. Lo inédito en Federico García Lorca, from the publishing house of the Granadian cultural center that was Lorca’s home and which Poveda leads. In the text, they seek to study the found poem, but also scores, librettos, and other unpublished texts by the poet.
The discovery is known on the eve of the premiere of the documentary Enlorquecido: solo el misterio nos hace vivir, also by Miguel Poveda, who “seeks to find answers in the places the poet once inhabited, explore what remains hidden and at the same time find himself.” The film premiered at the Málaga Festival and will reach the public on April 23 in cinemas, with 39 Escalones Films.