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Go shoppingExperience the evocative poetry of Natalia Toledo, presented in Zapotec, Spanish, and English. These poems explore themes of boundaries, migration, and sacred places.
Translated by Diego Gómez Pickering, they offer a deep dive into cultural and personal landscapes.
Ra biziaa ca lindaa
Ridide’ ca dxi nexhe’ lu xhaga ne ná’ ca gue’tu xtnine’.
Rarí’, ndaani’ yoodi’, ma gaxti’ xhaga ne ná’.
Bixhozedu biasaca’ ne zineca’, ladxido’do’.
La herida de los linderos
Paso mis días sobre las mejillas y los brazos de los muertos.
Aquí, en esta casa, ya no quedan mejillas ni brazos.
Nuestros padres migraron y con ellos, nuestros corazones.
Boundaries’ wounds
I spent my days between the dead’s cheeks and arms
Here, at home, there are no cheeks nor arms left
Our parents migrated, and our hearts with them.
*
Beelayoo
Xoopa’ gayuaa gueere’ bi
ridxaa ti binni huala’dxi’,
beelayoo naca guie
gundaa laanu ne nisadó’ nayaase’.
Lu ti ndani guie guirá iza risaananu guie’,
ne lade ca guichiyaa, riuunda’ xtinu ma ziyaca nayati.
Ca lindaa nandxó’ guca’ xtinu
nisi ti neza bandaga guie’ naguiichi riaana.
Carne de casa
Seiscientas varas de viento
por un indio,
linderos de piedras
nos separaron del mar mulato.
Acantilado en donde todos los años dejamos flores
y entre huizaches, nuestras voces cada vez más débiles.
De nuestras mojoneras sagradas
solo queda un camino de pétalos espinados.
House game
Six hundred sticks of wind
by an Indian,
stone boundaries that
kept us away from the mulatto sea.
A cliff where every year we leave flowers
and amongst huizaches[1], our voices increasingly weak.
Of our sacred markers,
there is only a path of thorny petals left.
*
Guichigeeze’
Sica lidxi bizu
lade za zeeda ca ridxi yati xti’ ca xiiñu’
bireecabe guiidxicabe sica za bidó’ ladxidó’cabe
gui’di’ ñeecabe ca guiichi nuu guidxilayú.
Ma bixiá xtuba’ ca’ binnigula’sa’
ma bixiá ra bizee necabe ne rinni xticabe.
Ma bisabacabe laya bigose
guxhacabe laa guixhe ni bisabane biní
Ra ga’chi’ ca bidó’ xtiu’
guiiba’bi xti’ dxu’ guxha’ laa.
Espina de pinole
Como enjambre de abejas
de las nubes baja el zumbido de tus hijos,
exiliados abrazan su corazón de cera
con la que pegarán sus pies a las espinas de la tierra.
Ya no existen las huellas de los antiguos
ya borraron donde dibujó su sangre.
Al zanate lo han desdentado
le quitaron la red con que sembraba semillas.
A tus lugares sagrados:
ventiladores extranjeros los han exhumado.
Pinole[2] thorn
Like a swarm of bees
your children’s humming descends from the clouds,
exiled, they embrace their wax heart
with which they will glue their feet to the earth’s thorns.
The ancestors’ footprints no longer exist
where their blood was drawn has been erased.
The rook has been left toothless,
the net used to sow seeds taken away.
Your sacred places:
have been exhumed by foreign fans.
[1] A type of acacia abundant in Mexico.
[2] Roasted corn flour, sometimes sweetened and mixed with cocoa, cinnamon or anise.
Natalia Toledo
Natalia Toledo was born in Juchitán, Oaxaca, and has published several books of poetry. She writes in both Zapotec and Spanish. She is a member of Mexico’s presitigious Sistema Nacional de Creadores de Arte.