# Cuban poet Alcides Herrera "El Pescao" dies in Miami

**Date:** 02/10/2022

Cuban poet Alcides Herrera died in Miami, his friends reported Monday on Facebook without revealing further details.

"Alcides Herrera has died, my dear friend Pescao, one of my closest friends to my soul. My brother from youth, excellent poet, a brilliant man, although he never knew what to do with the intelligence he had. My condolences to his brother Yamil and Milagros and Alcides. A very sad day. Light and progress for him," said writer Liudmila Quincoses.

"Alcides Herrera, the guy among those I have known to whom the designation of genius best suited. So much so that he didn't take his infinite talent seriously and squandered himself in any direction except the one nobody expected. Perhaps that was part of his brilliant condition: not being able to understand it fully. Not even he. Or he less than anyone," said writer Enrique del Risco.

Herrera was "one of those very rare 'artists' who shake my ground, remains stored in my heart with immense affection, profound admiration and immeasurable respect. Rest in peace or however you like, my asere," said artivism David D Omni.

"Fly high, dear friend. Great madness leaves very good memories and how we have had fun together pretending to be sane! We lost a great artist, another one who leaves us without warning, may our embrace accompany you on the journey Alcides Herrera. I still can't believe it," said Ernesto Rosales and Norka de Cárdenas.

Alcides Herrera was born in Sancti Spíritus in 1974. He was a narrator, poet, troubadour and founder of the musical project Los Bloomer in Miami. On Neo Club Press he presented himself as "employed at the Goddard Space Flight Center, graduate of the University of the Street (class of 1995, Malacabeza, Spanish Bastard, Amán)".

Herrera won in 2014 the False Haiku Contest of Kurume for his book Marabú, composed of 77 false haikus, the aforementioned source reported at the time.

"It is the first time that the contest has not been won by a Japanese person. We must recognize the sharpness and poetic sensitivity of the winner, native of the center of the Island of Cuba, who knows that false haiku (like the true one!) does not rhyme, does not employ metaphors, is not subjective, does not present breaks in meaning, does not involve the writer's ego, speaks of the now and is written feeling it," said then president of Kurume University, Kensei Nagata.

"In Alcides you can see the profound knowledge, although casual (remember that he is not Japanese), of waka and its later transformations, such as tanka and hokku, which gave rise to the true haiku which gave rise to the false haiku that made Japan famous. It is a well-deserved award," he added.

Writer Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo will dedicate his program Tuesday Noches en que Cuba no existió to Alcides Herrera. "I never met him in person. I would like someone who knew him to come to our podcast and help me honor his joy and lucidity. Just as he was. Just as he is. Just as he will always be. Thank you. Rest in peace, little titan. With your marabú haikus," said Pardo.