CELERINA PATRICIA SÁNCHEZ SANTIAGO

Nostalgia: Two Poems

Translated from the Spanish by Paul M Worley

Note: original poems are in Tu’un ñuu savi (Mixteco) and Spanish. English translations were done from the Spanish in consultation with the poet.

nostalgia

in the city
i can’t find myself
in the rags of my life
the rivers have become cars
the furrowed fields paved streets
the flowers a sad hangover
huddled on the edge of living scraps
              cadavers
                        are my mirrors i do
not want to know any more
i’m just looking for a bit of sky
that reminds me of home

ñùù ini

ingayu nuú ñuu yo’ó kini
taa yeeyù
ràà kuèè ndane’é mee kue
yucha ndasama kuii mii kaa kue yúkû
nduyùùso kuii ichí yùù kue ita ndayààsi
nixii ini ndiá mitu’un tiàn nuu yu’ú yivi
nii ndíi ini
ndiíso káa
ño’ó kuú ñaa ndatavayu ràà
kue kuniyu niña’áso
mitu’un ndandukú xoo andivii
ñaa ndakani nixi ntsío

añoranza

estoy en la ciudad
en un andrajo de existencia
no me encuentro
los ríos han cambiado por autos los surcos
por calles pavimentadas las flores una
resaca de tristezas
agazapadas en los filos de la existencia piltrafas
cadáveres
ellas son mi espejo no
quiero saber más
sólo busco un pedazo de cielo
que me recuerde mi morada

hands

i look at your hands that have been plowed by years of labor
one thousand channels for life / hands that have forged the earth
with your strength you’ve woven history with tortillas
like a poem every morning you wash your eyes with smoke
rising from your words’ echoing exhaustion
your mouth never having uttered even an echo of complaint
your fingers that braided my childhood hair
your arms that are a refuge from bad dreams
with your rebozo you pretend to be a woman-mountain
your hands two eagles pretending to be free

nda’á

ncheé nda’ù nàà nikutu yùkú rìì kua’a kuú kuia sachuùn
ṫn yoso xa’ín ingá nuú nda’ú ñàá sachuún ñu’únyo ràà nii
kunugu ṫn yivi tu’ún tsi kue staa
ndikiíso ndakachú nduchinuugu tsi ñu’ma tono ‘ín tu’ún tsaavi ràà kuitagu
ncha tsana’á ra nchikava’ú tu’úngu inu
ràà yu’ugu kuèè kunia tavii nii ṫn ndusu ñaà
ndakaní tsaú kue nda’ú ñàà ndasavaa xiní ta ntsikuú si’ilu
kue nda’ú nchaáyu ta kuèè kuú kixiyu
ràà tsisikigu tsi paíngu kuú tono ñá’á yù’kù
kue nda’ú uvi tasu ñaa tsisíkí tsika nùù nuú yívi

manos

miro tus manos con surcos por los años de trabajo
mil canales de vida/ manos que han forjado está tierra
con tu fuerza has tejido la historia con tortillas
como un poema en la mañana lavas tus ojos con humo
de un cansancio añejo guardado en tu palabra
y que tu boca no ha querido emitir un eco de queja
tus manos que han trenzado mis cabellos de niña
tus brazos refugio de un sueño mal logrado
con tu rebozo juegas a ser mujer montaña
tus manos dos águilas juegan a la libertad

Celerina Patricia Sánchez Santiago was born in Mesón de Guadalupe, Oaxaca. She is a poet, storyteller, and promoter of Ñuu savi (Mixtec) culture. She holds a BA in Linguistics from the Escuela Nacional de Antropología e Historia, and has published a number of books and poetry collections-albums, among them Inií/Ichí (Pluralia, 2013) and Tasu yùùtì/Águila de arena (Oralibrura, 2021). In 2019 she was recognized by Oaxaca’s legislature for her outstanding work preserving and strengthening Indigenous languages in Oaxaca.

Paul M. Worley (1976, Charleston, USA) is Associate Professor of Global Literature at Western Carolina University. Co-written with Rita M. Palacios, his most recent book,  Unwriting Maya Literature: Ts’íib as Recorded Knowledge (2019), was given an honorable mention for Best Book in the Humanities by LASA’s Mexico Section. A Fulbright Scholar and 2018 winner of the Sturgis Leavitt Award from the Southeastern Council on Latin American Studies, he has also translated selected works by Indigenous authors such as Hubert Malina, Adriana López, Manuel Tzoc, and Ruperta Bautista.