My Náhuatl
They say my language, Náhuatl
has had her head cut off,
her feet bound together
and her eyes blindfolded.
I, a man from Atzacoaloya,
will show otherwise:
Náhuatl has a head,
quick feet
and an insurmountable gaze.
I am sure
that she walks
arms free, her soul
beating like the heart
of an oak forest
-By Martín Tonalmeyotl
Nonauatlajtol
Kijtouaj kampa notlajtol nauatl
yokechtejkej,
yokikxisalojkej
niman yokixtlapachojkej.
Najua uan niualeua Atsakualoyan,
niteititis kampa xmelauak.
Yajua kipiya itsontekontsin,
ikxiuan makajtokej
niman melauak tlacha uejka.
Najua nikmastika
kampa notlajtol nejneme,
kampa xtsasalijtokej imauan niman iyoltsin,
sa tsikuintok ken se aokokapostsintle.
Nahuatl is a language (with lots of regional variations), spoken by almost 2 million Indigenous Mexicans today, and originally by the Aztecs. However, poetry written in colonised languages and by colonised peoples reaches a much smaller audience than poetry in coloniser or imperialist languages, like English, Spanish, and French. So, I have selected and / or translated (from Spanish) some poems by Martín Tonalmeyotl – a writer, translator, and professor from Guerrero.
Recommendation
Don’t go out,
Don’t talk,
Don’t think.
The paths you walk on have their spies
Called men-wind,
Women-grandmothers
and children-flowers.
Don’t cry,
Don’t laugh,
Don’t breathe.
Because if you breathe, the world will lose itself
The world that seems to belong to the living,
built upon the land of the dead.
Don’t think,
Don’t smile,
Stop writing,
The present moment speaks for itself.
Amo xchiua
Amo xkisa,
amo xmotlalo,
amo xtlanemile.
In ikxiojtin kimpiyaj intlapijpixkauan
uan ijtokaj tlakaajakamej,
siuakojkoltsitsintin
niman xochikokonej.
Amo xchoka,
amo xuetska,
amo xmijyote.
Kampa tla timijyotsia poliuis tlaltipaktle,
tlaltipaktle kan chantej toniuan uan tlachistokej,
tlaltipaktle uan ijkatok ipan se miktlaltipak.
Amo xtlanemile,
amo xisteuetska,
yamok xtlajkuilo,
xkinkauile san noyajuamej matlajtokan tonaltsitsintin.
To dream
If you want to fly
If you love life
dream about joy
and she will guide your steps on the ground
But if it occurs to you to offer
your dreams to death
better to wait,
just waist
and you will see the strangling
of your dreams together with
the dreamer
Titlatemikis
Tla tikneke tipatlanis kuajkon
xtlatemike iuan totomej niman papalomej.
Tla tiktlasojtla mochikaualis kuajkon
xtemike ueyepakilistle
niman yajua mitsyekanas ipan tlaltipaktle.
Niman tla tajua noye tiktonalnotsa
mikilistle,
kuajkon xtlamacha,
xtlamacha niman mostla uiptla
tikimitas kenejke kinkechpatskauj
motlatemikuan iuan akin uan,
tlatemike.
The train
Every step is a return: towards life, towards death
Every train is a nightmare: of blood, of hunger, of spider webs
Every child is fruit: rotting, sweet, bittersweet, what does it matter
to the rancid coyotes that hope to devour us alive
because if they don’t eat our tree bones
their huge pan bellies well end up hollow
and they won’t enjoy a piece of shit for feeding their parasites
I say we should get drunk
in order to forget that on this land
day by day they are hunting us like rabid dogs
Tepostlauilanajle
Tsiouej niman tiuajlouej: tikuitlapanuiaj chikaualistle, tikuitlapanuiaj mikilistle
San tlin uele tiktemikej: tlayespetlantok, chokalo niman noye tlatememejkantok
Tikitaj se konetl chikajtok: kema palane, tsopelia, kamatsopelia, xaka kitasneke
on konetl kampa ichikaualis niman tochikaualis, yokinnemakiltijkej tsopilomej
yokinnemakiltijkej koyomej uan sa notenpajpalojtokej niman kinekej techkuaskej
kampa tla xkintejtexouaj toomikuan uan chikajkej niman tlachijchijtin ika kojtin
peuaskej ijtikuakualakaskej niman xkipiyaskej tlinon kejeuaskej ijtik inkuitlatetonpits
niman xkipiyaskej tlinon kinkualtiskej inkuitlaokuiluan
Najua nikijtoua matitlauanikan pampa ijkon
ueliskej tikelkauaskej kampa ipan in tlaltipaktle
mojmostla techmiktijtokej ken chichimej uan noyej tekuanej
resistance words 