I sat across from the poet’s nephew in the Museum’s main room, surrounded by exhibits. He was in his early 80s. His silver hair and calm demeanor gave him a sage look. Coming into the Museum, I caught some photos of him on the wall. They showed him when he was a mission president and a regional representative. What really caught my eye in the Museum’s lobby, however, was a large, hand-painted portrait of his aunt, the poet Consuelo Gómez. It’s because of her that I was visiting the Museum of Mormon Mexican History that day. I wanted to ask him, Fernando Gómez, if he would grant me the rights to publish his aunt’s poems.
I discovered Consuelo Gomez as I was reading through some old Mexican Mission periodicals for a paper I was researching. Her poetry appeared on Mexican Mission periodicals throughout the 40s, 50s, and 60s, but most of her poems remained unpublished. As I researched, I learned that in addition to a poet, she was one of the early converts in Central Mexico, a teacher in the area’s first Church school, and a collector of Church memorabilia. Her legacy was impressive, and yet I had never heard of her. So the more I learned about her, the more I wanted to give her the poetry collection she deserved.
I first gathered her poetry from old publications, but it would be some time until I was able to travel to to Salt Lake City, drive down to Provo, and now finally ask Fernando Gómez whether I could have access to the rest of her work in order to publish a selection of it. I was thrilled when without a moment’s hesitation he said yes. This man had built the Museum on the foundation of his aunt’s collection. It was clear to me as we spoke how much he loved her. He even took me downstairs and showed me a large binder where her journals were transcribed.
He later sent me scans of her transcribed work. Combined with those poems that I found in digitized Church periodicals, I had a large enough corpus for a representative selection. Those are the poems that will appear in the forthcoming collection Volveré… con el alma silenciosa. The title I picked from a line from in one of her poems, and it seem most appropriate: “I will return… with my quiet soul.”
So I secured the rights, combed through her writings, selected and edited the poems, but I know my limitations. To give Consuelo Gómez a book her future readers could be drawn to, I knew I would need help. So I reached out to a an illustrator and designer to help me put together the book. That’s when the Kickstarter became obviously necessary. I could hire them, and others, to help me put together not only a book of poetry by Consuelo Gómez but also by others. Specifically, I had in mind another deceased LDS poet: Ruben Ransud. I don’t know if the Kickstarter will make (see for yourself here), but for me it’s worth the try to see these two poets published.
Ideally, this will be the start of many more Spanish-language, LDS poetry collections. I like to think that Consuelo, Ruben, and others like them would be happy to see Spanish-speaking LDS poets flourish. And hopefully I can help make that happen.