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Poetry 21
progress, justice, and social harmony in Cuba. That hopeful-
ness came through in the pages of Padilla’s 1962 book,
El justo
tiempo humano
(“The Just Times of Man”). Some critics con-
sider it the best single volume of Cuban poetry ever written.
Padilla’s next full-length book of poetry,
Fuera del juego
(“Out of the Game”), solidified his literary reputation. UNEAC
awarded the book its annual prize for poetry in 1968.
But the Castro regime was not at all pleased. In its view,
Fuera del juego
presented an “anti-revolutionary” perspective.
Padilla had, in fact, become disillusioned with the authoritari-
an tendencies of the Castro government. And he expressed
some of that disillusionment in his poetry. For example, it was
difficult to read the title poem of
Fuera del juego
as anything
other than a criticism of the government’s insistence that writ-
ers and artists promote the revolutionary agenda. An English
translation of the poem begins:
The poet! Kick him out!
He has no business here.
He doesn’t play the game.
He never gets excited
Or speaks out clearly.
He never even sees the miracles.
For several years, Padilla was closely monitored. Then, in
March 1971, Cuba’s secret police arrested him. He was taken to
Villa Marista, a notorious prison in Havana where
political
prisoners
were incarcerated. After a month of harsh interroga-
tion, Padilla released a long public statement in which he