Beda Laura: A poet in search of love

SAN LUIS RIO COLORADO, Son. — How does a nurse manage to move to tears a TV personality as well as the most methodical and emotionally inaccessible doctor, as well as entertain hyperactive children and win over Spain with her literary work?

This is a question that poet Beda Laura Domínguez hears often. Domínguez, who is from San Luis Rio Colorado, Son., can’t explain her meteoric rise in cultural circles in the state of Sonora.

 Domínguez, a nurse who has worked for Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social, the Mexican Social Security Institute known by its acronym in Spanish IMSS, for many years, has the ability to identify the needs of her patients during long night shifts. Her creative inspiration came about during those quiet nights filled with strong emotions.

 Last year, she published her first collection of poems “Bosquejo en Tránsito” (Draft in Transit) with the help of her editor Emilio Robles and which she presented with the support of Colegio Médico de San Luis. It wasn’t long before "Bosquejo en Tránsito" was requested in Mexicali and at the Yuma Art Center, where she gave a lecture on Oct. 30, 2008.

 Months later, her poem “Convite con la muerte” (A Party with Death), where she describes death roaming the halls of the emergency room, was included in “Antología Sonorense 2008” (Sonoran Anthology 2008), “Concierto de lo Imprevisto” (Concert of the Unexpected). One of her unpublished poems will be included in the anthology, “Impresiones y Recuerdos” (Impressions and Memories) from Madrid, Spain, a collection of literary works from all over the world.

 When asked how she won over Spain and what is in her poetry for them, Domínguez said Spaniards have a different idea of eroticism. “I speak about total submission in a carnal sense. I describe my fantasy about what lovemaking should be. It should involve body and soul, nothing in half measures. It doesn’t mean everything is beautiful. Beautiful people are not the only ones who have a right to love or who can experience eroticism.”

 Domínguez described how she gets inspired in order to reach the hearts of a very diverse audience consisting of men, women, and children.

 “It is mostly men who buy my poetry. I love it that a supposedly rough and rigid audience reads and enjoys my poems. My inspiration comes from my daily surroundings, from people, as well as events that happen around me. I try to focus on the simple things because we are always attracted to things out of the ordinary and yet we ignore the details. I like to focus on a child’s smile, or the smile of an elderly person. I look for innocence, their desire to please people, and to live."

 Domínguez said she is currently working on the final chapters of a book about a frog, “Lula: la ranita soñadora” (Lula the dreamer) and working on her second book of poems, “Silencios” (Silences).

 “I also offered workshops on sex education at Immaculate Conception Church, and recently I did workshops on children stories in coordination with public libraries.”

 She said she is a member of Alas (wings) an organization whose goal is to provide an education to Latin American children. “As a writer, I am working on a reading project about children’s stories.”

 In regards to her literary accomplishments, Domínguez said she hasn’t really taken it in. “I am not sure at what point I am at. I am still a nurse for Seguro Social and I am still a mother to my children. I do believe my writing has evolved,” she said.

 A firm believer in love, and focused on encouraging people to accept each other, Domínguez lives with her daughter and grandson. However, as she says in her poem, “Enamorada” (In Love) she has postponed looking for a partner. “I prefer to never be in love, although I am late in my rush, He won me over, His beautiful smile seduced me.”

 She commented that it was hard to find a partner because not everyone understands one another.

 “People focus on the flesh rather than on the sublime. That has been my experience and that is why I have found it hard to find someone who thinks and feels as I do, someone who doesn’t get distracted,” Domínguez said as she laughed.

 Domínguez said she is completely single and that she feels good. “I think women are like the saying says, if guitars are not played, they don’t sing. I am not against love. I just haven’t found someone I like. There are not candidates or projects. To love and be loved, you must admire that person and love what they do.”

 In closing, Domínguez invites everyone to write poetry in their free time and take them to the Adalberto Sotelo Library where Enrique Orozco collects poems, stories, and jokes for the Antología de Poesía Sanluisina (Anthology of San Luis Poetry) sponsored by Domínguez herself and published by Garabatos. Proceeds will be given to contributing authors.