2013 Bocas Lit Fest

Save the date! This year's Bocas Lit Fest will be held in Port of Spain, Trinidad from April 25-28. For more details, check out the Bocas Lit Fest website.

Books may be entered in three categories: poetry, fiction, and literary non-fiction. Prizes include an award of US$10,000 by One Caribbean Media. Winners will be announced in April.

Reloj (The Clock) By Nicolas Guillen

Sharing a last Guillen poem, Reloj (The Clock). I am thinking, how apt, since January sort of flew by. Hope you have been enjoying this month of Afro-Cuban poetry by the talented Senor Guillen.

Please stay tuned during February as I turn the spotlight on the poetry of Haiti. For now, enjoy Reloj:

Reloj

Me gustan ciertas horas, como las 3 menos cuarto,
porque el reloj parece que tiene
una actitud fraterna, acogedora,
como si fuera a darnos un abrazo.

El tiempo, asi, es un Cristo en agonia
que por la herida del costado
va desangrandose sutilmente
entre el Futuro y el Pasado.

The Clock

I enjoy certain hours, like a quarter to three,
because the clock seems to hold
the warm friendliness of a brother
almost ready to embrace you.

Time, too, is a Christ in agony
bleeding gently
from the wound in his side
between the Future and the Past.

Copyright Nicolas Guillen. From Poemas de Transicion (1927-1931).

Readings on Nicolas Guillen

So, I hope you have been enjoying the works of Cuban poet Nicolas Guillen. I certainly have learned a whole lot more about him than I did in the course on Spanish Caribbean writers that I took at UWI, Mona.

Thanks to poet Leonard Dabydeen for sharing his comments, including several of Guillen's poems that I had not read before. Much appreciated, Leonard.

In this post, I would like to share with you some titles on Guillen and his work in case you would like to read more about him.

• Yoruba from Cuba. Selected Poems by Nicolas Guillen. Translated by Salvador Ortiz-Carboneres. Peepal Tree Press Ltd. 2005. 
• Nicolas Guillen. Popular Poet of the Caribbean. Ian Isidore Smart. University of Missouri Press. 1990.
• Cuba's Nicolas Guillen: Poetry and Ideology. Keith Ellis. University of Toronto Press. 1983.
• Man-Making Words. Selected Poems of Nicolas Guillen. Translated and annotated by Robert Marquez and David Arthur McMurray. University of Massachusetts Press. 1972.
• Whole Island: Six Decades of Cuban Poetry: A Bilingual Anthology. Edited by Mark Weiss. University of California Press. 2009. (I previously recommended this excellent resource on Cuban poetry when I featured poet Nancy Morejon.

Nicolas Guillen's "Rios" (Rivers)

I'm sharing Nicolas Guillen's Rios (Rivers):

Rios

Tengo del Rin, del Rodano, del Ebro,
tengo los ojos llenos;
tengo del Tiber y del Tamesis,
tengo del Volga, del Danubio,
tengo los ojos llenos.

Pero yo se que el Plata,
pero yo se que el Amazonas bana;
yo se que el Misisipi,
pero yo se que el Magdalena bana;
yo se que el Almendares,
pero yo se que el San Lorenzo bana;
yo se que el Orinoco,
pero yo se que banan
tierras de amargo limo donde mi voz florece
y lentos bosques presos en sangrientas raices.
Bebo en tu copa, America,
en tu copa de estano,
anchos rios de lagrimas!

Dejad, dejadme,
dejadme ahora junto al agua.

***********

Rivers

With the Rhine, the Rhone and the Ebro,
my eyes are filled;
with the Tiber, the Thames,
the  Volga, and the Danube,
my eyes are filled.

But I know that the Plata,
and I know that the Amazon laps;
but I know that the Mississippi,
and I know that the Magdalena laps;
I know that the Almendares,
but I know that the San Lorenzo laps;
and I know that the Orinoco,
I know they bathe
lands of bitter mud where my voice blooms
and languid woods imprisoned in bloody roots.
America, I drink from your cup,
from your tin cup,
great rivers of tears!

Leave me, leave me
leave me now close to the water.

Copyright 2005 Nicolas Guillen.
 

5 Interesting Things About Nicolas Guillen

As we continue to focus on Cuban poet Nicolas Guillen this month, I would like to share 5 interesting things I learned about him:

• He was born the year in which Cuba gained its independence from Spain (1902)
• His Elegy for Emmett Till (Elegia A Emmett Till), was published in New York's The Crisis magazine in 1955.
• Guillen briefly studied law at Havana University, but later returned to Camaguey, where he was born, to study journalism.
• During Batista's dictatorship in the 1950s, Guillen was in exile in Paris. He returned to Cuba in 1958.
• Guillen was President of the Union of Cuban Writers and Artists, which allowed him to travel the world as a cultural ambassador.

Guillen's Sensemaya

I remember the first time we were learning Guillen's very rhythmic and upbeat Sensemaya  in my primary school class in Jamaica. All the kids in the class were giggling, because the words "mayombe bombe" sound similar to a popular Jamaican curse word. The poor teacher had such a hard time getting us to settle down and focus on learning the poem. Here is Sensemaya in the original Spanish, with the English translation below:

Sensemaya

Canto para matar a una culebra.

Mayombe - bombe - mayombe!
Mayombe - bombe - mayombe!
Mayombe - bombe - mayombe!

La culebra tiene los ojos de vidrio;
la culebra viene y se enreda en un palo;
con sus ojos de vidrio, en un palo,
con sus ojos de vidrio.

La culebra camina sin patas;
la culebra se esconde en la yerba;
caminando se esconde en la yerba,
caminando sin patas.

Mayombe - bombe - mayombe!
Mayombe - bombe - mayombe!
Mayombe - bombe - mayombe!

Tu le das con el hacha y se muere:
dale ya!
No le des con el pie, que tu muerde,
no le des con el pie, que se va!

Sensemaya, la culebra,
sensemaya.
Sensemaya, con sus ojos,
sensemaya.
Sensemaya, con su lengua,
sensemaya.
Sensemaya, con su boca,
sensemaya.

English Translation:

Sensemaya

Chant for killing a small snake

Mayombe - bombe - mayombe!
Mayombe - bombe - mayombe!
Mayombe - bombe - mayombe!

The small snake has eyes of glass;
the small snake comes, curls round a stick;
with its eyes of glass, around a stick,
with its eyes of glass.

The small snake walks with no feet;
the small snake hides in the grass;
walking it hides in the grass,
walking with no feet.

Mayombe - bombe - mayombe!
Mayombe - bombe - mayombe!
Mayombe - bombe - mayombe!

You strike it with an axe and it dies:
strike it now!
Don't kick it with your foot, for it bites,
don't kick it with your foot, it will escape!

Sensemaya, the snake,
sensemaya.
Sensemaya, with its eyes,
sensemaya.
Sensemaya, with its tongue,
sensemaya.
Sensemaya, with its mouth,
sensemaya.
 

Nicolas Guillen

Nicolas Guillen Batista was an Afro-Cuban poet, journalist and political activist. He was born in Camaguey, Cuba on July 10, 1902 and died in 1989.

Guillen was a part of the poesia negra or black poetry movement which focused on the blending of aspects of black and white culture. His first collection was Motivos de son in 1930. This was followed by West Indies Ltd. in 1934.  He was noted for his rhythmic poetry style and use of onomatopoeia. This was notable in perhaps his most popular poem, Sensemaya.

Nicolas Guillen was the National Poet of Cuba. He also received the Laureate of the International Botev Prize in 1976 and the National Prize for Literature in 1983.

Guillen's style and themes impacted the writings of later Afro-Cuba poets, such as Nancy Morejon, who was previously featured on this blog.