Alfonsina Storni y Karla Báez: Buscamos Mujeres que tengan alas para volar / We seek Women with wings who just might fly
Posted: May 25, 2012 Filed under: Alfonsina Storni, English, Karla Báez, Spanish, ZP Translator: Alexander Best Comments Off on Alfonsina Storni y Karla Báez: Buscamos Mujeres que tengan alas para volar / We seek Women with wings who just might fly
Today there takes place in Toronto a loud, serious and fun march of women – and their friends – from City Hall to Queen’s Park, the provincial legislature. The march goes by the provocative name Slut Walk. The first Slut Walk took place in April 2011 – and its destination was Toronto police headquarters – after remarks made by a police constable addressing female law students at a crime prevention forum at York University. The officer said: “Women should avoid dressing like sluts in order not to be victimized.” By ‘victimized’ he meant ‘raped’. The comment caused a furor in a city that wishes to see itself as progressive. It seemed the ‘same-old same-old’ sexist bullshit was alive and well. Feminism in Canada has often slipped under the popular radar in the past twenty five years – one generation – and advertisement images of women’s bodies – sometimes without heads – are used to sell everything. Everybody – and he’s often male – has got a hard opinion or a strict belief about what’s acceptable and what’s “asking for it” (“it” meaning rape) when it comes to what a woman ought to wear and how/when/why she’s walking down the street.
Like the Take Back the Night marches of the 1970s and 1980s – organized by women angered that police kept telling them to “stay inside at night so you’ll be safe” – the Slut Walk brings those same fundamental concerns into the 21st century. Though there is debate and reasoned opposition among women about the choice of name – Slut Walk – slut being a thorny word that can draw blood and may or may not be able to be “reclaimed” (queer, bitch, and nigger are three other examples) – there is also plenty of chutzpah and a healthy “Fuck you!” attitude in that name, too. Slut Walks have been organized in Argentina, India and South Africa, as well.
A placard seen at the first Slut Walk captures with simple intelligence one of the march’s aims:
“No means No, Yes means Yes – wherever we go, however we dress.”
*
We feature Spanish-language poems by two female poets, one from 1930s Argentina, the other from 21st-century México. The first poet, Alfonsina Storni, writes in proto-feminist fashion about the vain possessiveness of men, also about their hypocrisy (the “experienced” man wants a “pure” woman). Storni’s poem, “You want me white”, is a kind of spiritual descendant of Mexican nun Juana Inés de la Cruz’s 17-quatrain poem which begins with the phrase: “Hombres necios que acusáis a la mujer sin razón…”.
The second poet, Karla Báez, is full of passionate idealism – and energy for Change.
* * * * *
Alfonsina Storni (poetisa argentina / Argentinian poet, 1892-1938)
Hombre Pequeñito
Hombre pequeñito, hombre pequeñito,
suelta a tu canario que quiere volar.
Yo soy el canario, hombre pequeñito,
déjame saltar.
*
Estuve en tu jaula, hombre pequeñito,
hombre pequeñito que jaula me das.
Digo pequeñito porque no me entiendes,
ni me entenderás.
*
Tampoco te entiendo, pero mientras tanto,
ábreme la jaula que quiero escapar.
Hombre pequeñito, te amé media hora,
no me pidas más.
_____
Little wee man
Little wee man, little wee man,
Release your canary that wants to fly.
I’m that canary, you little wee man,
Let me jump.
*
I was in your cage, little wee man,
Little wee man who incarcerates me.
I call you “wee little” because you
don’t understand me – nor will you, ever.
*
Nor do I understand you…but in the meantime,
Open the cage – I want to escape.
Little wee man, I loved you a mere hour,
Ask of me no more.
_____
Tú me quieres blanca
Tú me quieres alba,
Me quieres de espumas,
Me quieres de nácar.
Que sea azucena
Sobre todas, casta.
De perfume tenue.
Corola cerrada
Ni un rayo de luna
Filtrado me haya.
Ni una margarita
Se diga mi hermana.
Tú me quieres nívea,
Tú me quieres blanca,
Tú me quieres alba.
*
Tú que hubiste todas
Las copas a mano,
De frutos y mieles
Los labios morados.
Tú que en el banquete
Cubierto de pámpanos
Dejaste las carnes
Festejando a Baco.
Tú que en los jardines
Negros del Engaño
Vestido de rojo
Corriste al Estrago.
Tú que el esqueleto
Conservas intacto
No sé todavía
Por cuáles Milagros.
*
Me pretendes blanca
(Dios te lo perdone),
Me pretendes casta
(Dios te lo perdone),
¡Me pretendes alba!
*
Huye hacia los bosques,
Vete a la montaña;
Límpiate la boca;
Vive en las cabañas;
Toca con las manos
La tierra mojada;
Alimenta el cuerpo
Con raíz amarga;
Bebe de las rocas;
Duerme sobre escarcha;
Renueva tejidos
Con salitre y agua;
Habla con los pájaros
Y lévate al alba.
Y cuando las carnes
Te sean tornadas,
Y cuando hayas puesto
En ellas el alma
Que por las alcobas
Se quedó enredad…
– entonces, buen hombre,
Preténdeme blanca,
Preténdeme nívea,
Preténdeme casta.
_____
You want me white
You want me to be the dawn
You want me made of seaspray
Made of mother-of-pearl
That I be a lily
Chaste above all others
Of tenuous perfume
A blossom closed
That not even a moonbeam
Might have touched me
Nor a daisy
Call herself my sister
You want me like snow
You want me white
You want me to be the dawn
*
You who had all
The cups before you
Of fruit and honey
Lips dyed purple
You who in the banquet
Covered in grapevines
Let your flesh go
Celebrating Bacchus
You who in the dark
Gardens of Deceit
Dressed in red
Ran towards Destruction
You who maintain
Your bones intact
Only by some miracle
Of which I know not
You ask that I be white
(May God forgive you)
You ask that I be chaste
(May God forgive you)
You ask that I be the dawn!
*
Flee towards the forest
Go to the mountains
Clean your mouth
Live in a hut
Touch with your hands
The damp earth
Feed yourself
On bitter roots
Drink from the rocks
Sleep on the frosty ground
Clean your clothes
With saltpeter and water
Talk with the birds
*
And set sail at dawn
And when your flesh
Has returned to you
And when you have put
Into it the soul
That via bedrooms
Became twisted and tangled…
– then, good man,
Ask that I be white
Ask that I be like snow
Ask that I be chaste.
_____
Karla Báez (nace/born 1977, México, D.F./ México City)
Llamada de Auxilio
Cruza la noche
un grito desgarrado,
…duele más el silencio,
ante la voz de la ira…
No me volverás a tocar,
ni con golpes ni palabras.
¿Duele verdad? Lo sé,
yo también fui tu víctima.
_____
A Call for Help
Crisscrossing the night,
A piercing cry.
Silence hurts more,
before the voice of rage…
You will not touch me again,
Neither with punches nor with words.
Does the truth hurt? I know it;
I too was your victim.
_____
Busco Mujeres
Busco Mujeres,
que sean sensibles ante la injusticia,
Busco Mujeres,
que luchen por sus ideales.
Busco Mujeres,
que se harten de las mentiras,
de los golpes, de la violencia.
Busco Mujeres
que no sean indiferentes
al dolor de la gente.
Busco Mujeres
que tengan alas para volar.
_____
I seek Women
I seek Women,
who can be aware of injustice,
I seek Women,
who can struggle for their ideals.
I seek Women,
who are fed up with all the lies,
the blows – the violence.
I seek Women
who cannot be indifferent
to people suffering.
I seek Women
who might have wings – women who will fly.
_____
Traducción del español al inglés / Translations from Spanish into English
(“Little wee man”, “A Cry for Help”, “I seek Women”): Alexander Best
Zócalo Poets 