Full Description
The latest in the Seedbank series, the debut in English of a groundbreaking Indigenous poet of the Americas.
In a fiercely personal yet authoritative voice, prolific contemporary poet Mikeas Sánchez explores the worldview of the Zoque people of southern Mexico. Her paced, steely lyrics fuse cosmology, lineage, feminism, and environmental activism into a singular body of work that stands for the self and the collective in the same instant. "I am woman and I celebrate every vein," she writes, "where I guard my ancestors' secrets / every Zoque man's word in my mouth / every Zoque woman's wisdom in my spit."
How to Be a Good Savage and Other Poems examines the intersection of Zoque struggles against colonialism and empire, and those of North African immigrants and refugees. Sánchez encountered the latter in Barcelona as a revelation, "spreading their white blankets on the ground / as if they'll soon return to sea / flying the sail of the promised land / the land that became a mirage." Other works bring us just as close to similarly imperiled relatives, ancestors, gods, and archetypal Zoque men and women that Sánchez addresses with both deeply prophetic and childlike love.
Coming from the only woman to ever publish a book of poetry in Zoque and Spanish, this timely, powerful collection pairs the bilingual originals with an English translation for the first time. This book is for anyone interested in poetry as knowledge, proclaimed with both feet squarely set on ancient ground.
The How to Be a Good Savage and Other Poems audiobook read by Mikeas Sánchez, Wendy Call, and Shook is available everywhere you listen to audiobooks.
Contents
Introduction by Jake Skeets
Note on the Translations
Ore'yomo
Ore'yomo
Ore'yomo
Wejpäj'ki'uy
Nombrar las cosas
To Name Things
Mojk'jäyä
Mokaya
Mokaya
Tumjama maka mujsi'
Y sabrás un día
And One Day You Will Know
Te' kojama wi'rupa jurä nitiyä ji' nhtä manemä'
El alma retorna al grito del silencio
The Soul Returns to Silence's Cry
Aisha'
Aisha
Aisha
Rama
Rama
Rama
Mumure' nhtä' yäjktampä
Todos somos cimarrones
We're All Maroons
Nereyda'is myapasyi'äyu nhwyt New'York
Nereyda se soñó en New York
Nereyda Dreamed in New York
[¡Jä! te' kakuy myojna'pyapä'is mij' nhkojso]
[¡Ay! de la muerte que te cubre los pies]
[Ay! From the death that covers your feet]
[Maka' mini' te' kakuy / tese' maka 'mpyi'are' mij' änhkuy'omo]
[Llegará la muerte / y te encontrará en tu cama]
[Death will arrive / and find you in your bed]
[Maka mini te' kaku'y / te' wiyunh'sepä]
[Llegará la muerte / la verdadera]
[Death will arrive / the true one]
[Wäkä nhtä' jampä'ä te' toya']
[Que para olvidar el dolor]
[May just one prayer]
[Äkyaj'papä temäjk kätpamä te' jama teserike te' tzu']
[Los que duermen más allá del día y la noche]
[Those who sleep beyond day and night]
[Mujspatzi nyitzäjk'pak teserike yajpak' te' jama]
[En el inicio y la culminación del día sé]
[At beginning and end of each day I know]
[Tumä jama tumä pänis]
[Un día un hombre]
[One day a man]
Jesukristo'is ja' nyiäjk'tyiäjya äj' tzumama'is Kyonukskuy
Jesucristo no entendió jamás los ruegos de mi abuela
Jesus Never Understood My Grandmother's Prayers
Wanhjampatzi yom'nhkomi nyiäyi'päis Soledad
Mi Virgen se llama soledad
My Virgin's Named for Solitude
Nhtä' nhtzamä ore' sasyapyä tire'
Ser zoque es un privilegio
To Be Zoque Is a Privilege
Päjkinh'tzyoki'uy' mokaya'pätkoroya
Recibimiento del hombre mokaya
Reception for a Mokaya Man
Päjkinh'tzyi'okyuy mokaya'yomo'koroya
Recibimiento de la mujer mokaya
Reception for a Mokaya Woman
Aj' jara'is tzi'upä'
Mi padre me dio un regalo
My Father Gave Me a Gift
We'we'
Wewe
Wewe
Tzoko'tzyame
Pensar con el corazón
Thinking with Our Hearts
Wäkä' jana tyi'ujanämä' nijp'pyajpak
Para que no llueva el día de tu entierro
So It Won't Rain on Your Burial Day
Wenhti'
Ofrenda
Gift
Tumä une' mapasyiäpya
Un niño sueña
A Child Dreams
Jujtzyi'e nhtä wäpä tzamapänh'ajä
Cómo ser un buen salvaje
How to Be a Good Savage
Te' meke
El festín
Feast
Mapasyiäpyatzi yäjkpä'wakas
Soñando con un toro negro
Dreaming of a Black Bull
Pistinh
Ceiba
Ceiba
Mäja kupkuy'omo Saspalankis'yuneram jätyi'ampatzi
Los hijos de Saspalanki lloramos en la gran ciudad
Saspalanki's Children Cry in the Big City
Sonerampäte
Somos Millones
We Are Millions
Nä'pyajpa, Mokayaram maka' yajpä'ya'e
Dicen que los Mokayas nos extinguiremos
They Say the Mokayas Will Go Extinct
Jujtzyi'ere'
¿Cuánto vale?
What Is It Worth?
Tä' mokaya'ramte
Somos mokayas
We Are Mokayas
Mokaya, kämanä'
Escucha, mokaya
Listen, Mokaya
Maka' tä' wyrurame nhtä' 'tunh'omo
Volveremos al camino
Returning to the Path
Notes on the Poems
Acknowledgments
