I put my heart, my brain and my voice in favour of the teachers who are fighting today in the Valencian Country and in Catalonia

BarcelonaFor decades, Biel Mesquida (Castelló de la Plana, 1947) has been inviting readers to delve into all the nuances of the "censored perfume" of freedom, whether sexual or political. On the evening he received the 58th Premi d'Honor de les Lletres Catalanes, the verses of Lluita de classes, one of the agile and radiant poems from El bell país on els homes desitgen els homes –written in 1974 but unpublished until 1985–, once again resonated at the Palau de la Música with the elegant diction of the poet Adrià Targa. "You are a creature, fierce creature, playing with my hips, / biting them, while I knelt, pushed and compelled by your frenzy and / this desire to sink into the beautiful hole of my anus": thus, the urgent connection between the lyrical self and the "disheveled boy" of the commissions still sounds forcefully, an oasis of free love amidst the national-Catholic and Francoist darkness.

"Poetry is struggle", could be read in large black letters painted on three white canvases at the back of the Palau stage. Perhaps that is why one of the most applauded messages of the night was Mesquida's call for the teachers' strike: "I put my heart, my brain, and my voice in favor of the teachers who are fighting today in the Valencian Country and in Catalonia".

The Mallorcan author, who crossed the stalls slowly with the sunglasses that always accompany him, letting himself be applauded by the public with effusion, wanted to surround himself with friends on and off stage to demonstrate that his literature is as exquisite as it is loved. Lluís Llach broke his silence once again to perform "Viatge a Ítaca: "When we are free we can begin the new steps," sang the singer-songwriter, accompanied by the voices of hundreds of attendees. "It was Biel who brought me "Viatge a Ítaca many years ago and discovered Kavafis to me – Llach recalled –. It must have been more or less in the lower paleolithic."

The actress Pepa López has recreated one of the monologues from "Els missatgers no arriben mai (2012), Mesquida's only theatrical foray. Maria del Mar Bonet made the words of Blai Bonet – one of the author's mentors – her own in "Blaus i sol de roses blanques", accompanied by Borja Penalba, and in the final part of the act she moved the audience by singing "La balanguera", the official anthem of Mallorca, which celebrates its first centenary this year. "We met when we were 15 or 16 years old and we haven't been separated since, dear Biel," said the singer.

Against neo-authoritarian regression

"Biel Mesquida has said, says, will say poetry in all possible forms: it is useless to pigeonhole him into a specific genre – assured the poet and editor Antoni Clapés–. He works with the texture of words. He strives to make, from texture, texts. Just texts." Clapés has constructed a gloss integrated almost entirely of fragments from Mesquida's work, which has produced books such as L'adolescent de sal (1975), Llefre de tu (2012), and Trèmolo (2015). Here are three fragments: "I do not know exile in physical love"; "I will tear your skin off / with the nails of fire / when you wait for me whole / with your hair standing on end"; "You have infected me with you, beloved, impossible and singular creature, for ever and ever. Amen!"

Xavier Antich, president of Òmnium Cultural –entity that convenes the Honor Award–, has praised the talent and commitment of the awardee: "Faced with the tendency towards the impoverishment of language and expressive vulgarity, the secret doctrine that Mesquida manifests in each of his books is the desire to give another character and another meaning to the words of the tribe". Mesquida delivered a stormy and combative speech that began with praise for Antoni Gaudí, criticizing Antoni Maura, a minister in the time of Alfonso XII, for addressing him in Spanish when they could have spoken in Catalan. "Speaking Spanish with me, being from Mallorca, seems to me to despise all the people who have no other expression than the language I spoke to him, which was precisely his," Mesquida quoted, to applause. In addition to defending striking teachers, he referred to the need to resist by working on literature: "I live and write within the tsunami of neo-authoritarian regression that is spreading across the planet." "Where there is a teacher, let politicians bow their heads, ashamed!" shouted the author, who also dedicated some words in favor of the Catalan language and independence. "One language, one people, one nation: Catalan Countries! – he exclaimed–. We can shout 'independence!', but I will never shout it without adding 'unity of the Catalan Countries!'" His last words were advice to the public: "Live, love, and work in peace. Long live peace!"

The tribute and celebration of Mesquida's work also featured the presence of still young voices from the poetic scene, such as Mireia Calafell and Blanca Llum Vidal. Accompanied by the duo Jansky – made up of Laia MaLo and Jaume Reus – Vidal alluded to Mesquida's poetic present, who this year published

Trast with LaBreu, with poems as inspired as this one: "You live on the edge of the abyss / like the brevity of light / that founds wonders / among the branches / You will only realize / that the matter is / serious / when the personal / mine / explodes at your feet." Near the end, during the performance of La balanguera, Mesquida accompanied Maria del Mar Bonet on stage and even sang a few verses.

Among the many writers who did not miss the celebration were Vicenç Altaió, Carme Riera, Mercè Ibarz, Jaume C. Pons Alorda, Anna Gual, Susanna Rafart, and Regina Rodríguez Sirvent. There were also former presidents of the Generalitat like Pere Aragonès and Artur Mas, numerous counselors from Salvador Illa's government – such as Sònia Hernández Almodóvar and Francesc Xavier Vila –, the director of the Institut Ramon Llull, Anna Guitart, and the director of the Institució de les Lletres Catalanes, Eduard Escoffet.