Fragments of an interview made to Jesús Orta Ruíz, El Indio Naborí, made by Ahmel Echevarría and published by La Jiribilla.

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In an interview, narrator, critic, essayist and journalist Reynaldo González expressed: “Vocation is growing inside with us, conforming us, definitely appearing afterwards. Literature's path is hard, is demanding a complete devotion''. You discover the oral poetry first, the one that is improvised, to dig afterwards in the written one. How did Jesús Orta Ruiz discover this great universe that is Literature?

Your first question is coming from a trustable source, from a writer who I admire and respect. I'm agreeing with his viewpoint about the literary development and its permanent rigor. I was 18 years old when I presented my first book of poems to Juan Marinello and Mirta Aguirre. Both masters arrived to the same conclusion: ‘'There is poetry in your book. Keep on reading all the time. The rest will come alone''. As you can imagine, I never sleep before reading an interesting book since then.

Some people think that the improvised poetry is poetry without net. It's a real ‘'jump to the emptiness'' where, like a mattress, there's only the word under it. What could you say about this kidnap which we could call suicide?

I admit that in some improvisers, this ‘'fall into the emptiness'' is evident. But some others managed to avoid it because they're real poets boasting the gift of ‘'repentismo''. These latter artists have achieved an assault to the heaven, that's why is not fair the generalization of your concept.

There's a moment in your work when you decide to make another jump to the emptiness with the written poetry. How and why did you decide to try the written language also?

In one of my usual readings of The Master I found this wise advice: “Each emotion brings its metric''. These words took me to understand that poets must not limit their talent to a single verse, but achieving the complete domain of all of them, to feed the poem with the necessary tones. That's why I didn't sing to The Triumph of the Revolution in decima but in dactylic non-metric verses under a trisyllabic base, mixing the epic and the lyric.
It doesn't mean to abandon the decima, but leaving it for its tonal use.

The act of reading tends to sharp the creator's critic eye; it's just there where new topics appear to shape new works. You published researches about the Gaucho, Criolla and Siboney poetry, decima and folklore. What type of dialogue did you attempt to establish with writers in the island taking these essays as starting point?

It was not my goal; indeed, I just wanted to know more about myself in these philological studies. Decima came to me through oral tradition, being 12 years old I became interested in its origin.

Juan Marinello said: ‘'Cuban Decima is a treasure we have to refine''. In our memory are still present diverse Jornadas Cucalambeanas, Iberoamerican Festivals of Decima, essays and the opening of the Iberoamerican Center of Décima. Taking into account all this work focusing on Decima, can we state it is healthy and sheltered?

The triumph of the National Campaign of Alphabetization, ending in the universalization of culture, demolishing the barriers between the countryside and the city brought about the lexical and metaphoric wealth of our popular decimistas. Cucalambé Prize, conferred by Jornada Cucalambeana, has fueled the emergence of the Cuban Decimario with amazing contributions. This phenomenon is also present in the improvisers, although Repentismo – the feat of thinking and singing a decima in a minute- has sometimes the logical risk of falling into the emptiness.
The Iberoamerican Center of Décima and the improvised verse have contributed to enhance the knowledge of diverse popular repentistas about some other overseas places from Bravo River to La Patagonia, the Spanish Peninsula and Canarias Islands. Brilliant festivals of improvisation have been accomplished.

Raymon Carver said once that when all is said and done, words are the writer`s unique treasure.

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