M. NourbeSe Philip: “Meditations on the Declension of Beauty by the Girl with the Flying Cheek-bones”
Posted: August 21, 2011 Filed under: English, M. NourbeSe Philip, Spanish | Tags: Black poets Comments Off on M. NourbeSe Philip: “Meditations on the Declension of Beauty by the Girl with the Flying Cheek-bones”
ZP_M. NourbeSe Philip_by Robin Pacific
M. NourbeSe Philip
.
“Meditations on the Declension of Beauty
by the Girl with the Flying Cheek-bones”
.
If not If not If
Not
If not in yours
_____ In whose
In whose language
Am I
If not in yours
_____ In whose
In whose language
Am I I am
_____ If not in yours
In whose
_____ Am I
(if not in yours)
_____ I am yours
In whose language
_____ Am I not
Am I not I am yours
If not in yours
If not in yours
_____ In whose
In whose language
_____ Am I …
Girl with the flying cheek-bones:
She is
I am
Woman with the behind that drives men mad
And if not in yours
Where is the woman with a nose broad
As her strength
If not in yours
In whose language
Is the man with the full-moon lips
Carrying the midnight of colour
Split by the stars – a smile
If not in yours
_____ In whose
In whose language
_____ Am I
_____ Am I not
_____ Am I I am yours
_____ Am I not I am yours
_____ Am I I am
If not in yours
_____ In whose
In whose language
_____ Am I
If not in yours
_____ Beautiful
. . .
This poem is taken from Marlene Nourbese Philip’s poetry collection,
She Tries Her Tongue – Her Silence Softly Breaks (© 1989, M. NourbeSe Philip).
In the preface she writes: ” In the absence of any other language by which the past
may be repossessed, reclaimed and its most painful aspects transcended,
English in its broadest spectrum must be made to do the job. ”
” Broadest spectrum ” includes the richly creative Caribbean dialects. And:
” The language as we know it has to be dislocated and acted upon – even destroyed –
so that it begins to serve our purposes. It is our only language, and while it is
our mother tongue, ours is also a father tongue. ”
Philip, born in Trinidad in 1947, has lived in Toronto for decades where she has been
essayist, poet and antiracism activist.
. . .
The following is a translation of the poem into Spanish:
“Meditaciones sobre la Declinación de la Belleza
por la Muchacha de los Pómulos altos”
.
Si no Si no Si
No
¿Si no en el lenguaje de usted
– en su lenguaje –
entonces, en lo de quién?
Soy yo
Si no en suyo
En lo de quién
En el lenguaje de quién
Soy yo Soy
Si no en suyo
En lo de quién
Soy yo
(si no en suyo)
Soy suya
En el lenguaje de quién
No soy
No soy, Soy suya
Si no en suyo
Si no en suyo
En lo de quién
En el lenguaje de quién
Soy…
La Muchacha de pómulos altos:
Ella es
Yo soy
Mujer del trasero que vuelve locos a los hombres
Y si no en suyo
¿Dónde está la Mujer de nariz ancha
– ancha como su fuerza?
Si no en suyo
En el lenguaje de quién
¿Está el Hombre de labios como la luna llena
Llevando la medianoche de Color
Reventada por las estrellas – una sonrisa?
En lo de quién
En el lenguaje de quién
Soy
No soy
Soy Soy suya
Soy Soy
Si no en suyo
En lo de quién
En el lenguaje de quién
Soy
Si no en suyo
Bella
. . .
Traducción del inglés al español /
Translation from English into Spanish: Alexander Best
Zócalo Poets 