Martina Pierra De Poo

Poet, theater actress, and Cuban revolutionary in favor of the mambisa cause. Cousin of don José Joaquín de Agüero y Agüero. Faithful protector of the best of our literature. She collaborated in various literary publications of the era, such as Brisas de Cuba and El Fígaro, among others.

She began writing at a very young age: her first poem was "Una Noche de Luna", published in 1847. At fifteen years old she published a poem in El Fanal. Shortly before the uprising of July 4, 1851, she wrote the sonnet "A los camagüeyanos al entregarles su Bandera", which she sent along with the mambisa flag to the group of conspirators led by her cousin don José Joaquín de Agüero y Agüero in Puerto Príncipe, Camagüey. These verses have undeniable value as a historical document. On that day, July 4, 1851, she took up arms with the other insurgents, with the Proclamation of Cuban Independence being declared.

Subsequently, she was sentenced to exile from Cuba, a sentence that was commuted to exile from Camagüey, and postponed, remaining in the meantime under arrest and her father's responsibility. Her poem "A la muerte de Joaquín de Agüero" achieved great popularity among Cuban independentists. With all her family's assets confiscated, she moved to La Habana in 1859, where she served her exile sentence and debuted the following year as a dramatic actress at the Liceo Artístico y Literario. She married in 1860 to don José Desiderio de Poo y Álvarez, with whom she had five children.

She performed as the protagonist in the dramas La trenza de sus cabellos and Borrascas del corazón, by Rodríguez Rubí, performed at the Liceo de La Habana. At the Liceo de Guanabacoa and at the Sociedad del Pilar she also worked as an actress and as a reciter. She continued her activities in favor of Cuban Independence, along with all her children and those from the first marriage of don José de Poo. In 1898 her husband died from grave wounds caused by a bomb, which left the poetess submerged in the deepest agony. Doña Martina became almost completely silent, and the following year, she died submerged in the most irremediable sadness. She collaborated in Brisas de Cuba, El Fígaro, La Familia, La Ilustración Cubana, Álbum cubano de lo bueno y lo bello, El Hogar, Cuba y América, among other publications. In January of 1866 she improvised a sonnet to the Liceo de Guanabacoa, which had awarded her artistic merit with a gold pen.

Lyric Works
"A Manuel de Nápoles y Fajardo", 1855.
"El viajero", 1865.
"El numen", 1848.
"Desaliento", 1852.
"El amor", 1860.
"Improvisación al pasar el entierro de don José de la Luz y Caballero", 1862.
"Lucrecia", 1878.
"El león y el esclavo", 1878.
"A Italia", 1883.
"Al Bélico", 1883.
"A María de la Concepción Chacón y Calderón", 1883.
"El Camagüey y la Habana".