The road to Jerusalem, leads Josep Maria Llompart to a trip through the vegetation of the margins, walls, and Mediterranean thickets, as it reads in "Camí florit."
Marigold, thistle, hemlock,
Poppy, lettuce,
Wood sorrel, field bindweed,
Broom, currant, fennel,
Passionflower, wild oats,
Honeysuckle, crocus,
Cockleburs, fennel,
Oleander, gorse, asphodel,
Fern, false yellowhead, cistus,
Great mullein, Kermes oak,
Ivy, sweet flag, royal jasmine,
Old man's beard, myrtle, bryony,
Chicory, bellflower,
Arugula, heather, sweet peas
(And in the mauve air / The shudder of a poplar).
"Camí florit" Jerusalem, 1990
Translated by Richard Mansell.
© Maria del Mar Bonet (Raixa, 2001, Muxxik Records)
(Palma, 1925 – 1993). Llompart was literary critic and poet, and in his own words, his first contact with Catalan literature was reading the Rondaies mallorquines (Majorcan folktales) during a period of illness as a child. In the post-war years he took part in the cultural resistance against Franco’s regime, becomingly increasingly committed. He worked on Camilo J. Cela’s “Papeles de Son Armadans” and at the publishing house Editorial Moll as a literary critic and editor. He is part of the so-called Generation of 1950 together with Jaume Vidal Alcover, Bernat Vidal i Tomàs, Llorenç Moyà, Manuel Sanchis Guarner and others. Highlights of his work as a literary critic and literary historian are: Literatura moderna a les Balears (Modern literature in the Balearics, 1964), Retòrica i poètica (Rhetoric and poetics, 1982) and La narrativa a les Illes Balears (Narrative in the Balearics, 1992). Key works amongst his poetic output are Poemes de Mondragó (Poems from Mondragó, 1961), Memòries i confessions d’un adolescent de casa bona (Memories and confessions of an adolescent from a good home, 1974), La capella dels Dolors i altres poemes (The chapel of Sorrows, and other poems, 1981) and Jerusalem (1990). Llompart’s poetry investigates the same themes and motifs, achieving over the years a great formal perfection. He excelled as a promoter and translator of Galician and Portuguese poets. He was president of the Obra Cultural Balear (1978-1986).
Jerusalem can be read as a travelogue whose destination is the city that gives it its name. The journey is an encyclopedia of border plants, climbing plants and scrub plants with their humble and sweet-smelling flowers.
The land around Felanitx is in the Llevant mountains, looking both out to sea and in the other direction to Majorca's plain. It is probable that Moorish invaders established a system of agriculture, based on irrigation and livestock, fitting with the makeup of the area. With the arrival of the Catalans in the 13th century the system moved more towards growing grain. In the town there is still the front of the Quartera (granary) building, moved from its original location. The old granary ensured that wheat was shared amongst residents. From the 18th century vines were grown more and more, both for wine and spirits, using methods introduced by French immigrants, and perhaps also the Augustinians from the convent. This activity was an important source of wealth until the end of the 19th century, when phylloxera hit. The wine industry, based on a system of small properties, led to the early disappearance of large estates which were prevalent in other parts of Majorca and gave people from Felanitx unique characteristics, which they maintain to this day.
