{"id":231972,"date":"2024-01-19T04:50:05","date_gmt":"2024-01-19T09:50:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lithub.com\/?p=231972"},"modified":"2024-01-18T21:25:49","modified_gmt":"2024-01-19T02:25:49","slug":"the-houses-of-your-village-have-eyes-a-poem-by-irma-pineda-in-three-languages","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lithub.com\/the-houses-of-your-village-have-eyes-a-poem-by-irma-pineda-in-three-languages\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cThe Houses of Your Village Have Eyes.\u201d A Poem by Irma Pineda, in Three Languages"},"content":{"rendered":"

I first encountered Irma Pineda\u2019s poetry in the Mexico City literary journal Generaci\u00f3n<\/em> in 2005, as I was writing a nonfiction book set in her home region (No Word for Welcome<\/em><\/a>, Nebraska, 2011). Pineda\u2019s language, Didxaz\u00e1 (Isthmus Zapotec), has a written literary history that extends back 2,500 years, when Zapotecs began carving their history into stone stelae.<\/p>\n

In 2008, Pineda mailed me a copy of her fourth book: Xilase qui ri\u00e9 di\u2019 sicasi ri\u00e9 nisa guiigu\u2019 \/ La nostalgia no se marcha como el agua de los r\u00edos<\/em>. My favorite of the collection\u2019s thirty-six bilingual (Didxaz\u00e1\/Spanish) poems is the one that appears here, an untitled poem from the series \u201cOn the Path \/ Lu neza \/ Sobre el camino.\u201d This poem\u2019s imagery and manifestation of the book\u2019s title enchant me. The personification of the house is inherent in the original Didxaz\u00e1: ruaa<\/em> is both mouth and door, guicha<\/em>\u00edque<\/em> is both hair and roof.<\/p>\n

Long before I found a home for Nostalgia Doesn\u2019t Flow Away Like Riverwater<\/em><\/a> (thanks, Deep Vellum!), I tried twenty-one times to publish \u201c[The houses of your village have eyes]\u201d in literary journals. This favorite poem became my most rejected translation. I am grateful to Berlin\u2019s SAND Journal<\/a> for selecting it in 2015 and to Lit Hub<\/em> for selecting it now.<\/p>\n

\u2013Wendy Call<\/em><\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

“The houses of your village have eyes”<\/em><\/p>\n

The houses of your village have eyes
\nthat seek the beach\u2019s sandgrains
\nin the distance they see the sun
\nthat doesn\u2019t shine on their heads today
\ndoesn\u2019t brighten their shingle-tresses
\npainted black, red and soft colors
\nWho lives under the pink or yellow roofs?
\nWho is in the dark houses?<\/p>\n

Winding toward the mountains the only
\nvisible artery of your village\u2019s body disappears
\nperhaps because
\nit\u2019s the path that leads to the sea
\ngloomy village
\nshowing only one mouth-door
\npainted red<\/p>\n

Where did its lifeblood go?
\nDid its unbearable silence scare away
\nthe dogs?
\nThere are no children in the street,
\nnot even robbers prowling the roofs
\nEven the birds have gone away…<\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

Ca yoo xquidxilu’ napaca’ lu
\ncuyubica yuxi nisado’
\ncayuyadxica’ gubidxa
\ncadi cuzaani \u00edqueca\u2019
\ncadi cutiee guicha\u00edque dexa ca’
\ndi\u00e9 nayaase, naxi\u00f1\u00e1 ne na t\u00e9
\nTuunga nabeza xa’na’ \u00edque yoo na t\u00e9 ne naguchi ca ya?
\nTulaa ndaani’ ca yoo nacahui ca?<\/p>\n

Neza ca dani riniti
\ntobiluchasi neza rihuiini ndaani’ guidxi
\ntisi ndi nga ni ribee binni
\nruaa nisado’
\nGuidxi nacahuig\u00e1
\nni cului\u2019si ti ruaa
\ndi\u00e9 naxi\u00f1\u00e1<\/p>\n

Paraa z\u00e9 xrinibe?
\nXquendadxido’be nga bichibi
\nbi’cu\u2019 la?
\nQui guinni xcuidi lu guidxi
\nni gubaana qui richesabi \u00edque yoo
\nCa manihuiinica laaca zi\u00e9 ca’…<\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

Las casas de tu pueblo tienen ojos
\nque buscan arenas de la playa
\nven a lo lejos el sol
\nque hoy no brilla sobre sus cabezas
\nno ilumina sus cabellos-tejas
\npintadas de negro, rojo y suaves colores
\n\u00bfQui\u00e9n habita bajo los techos rosas o amarillos?
\n\u00bfQui\u00e9n en las casas obscuras?<\/p>\n

Rumbo a las monta\u00f1as se pierde
\nla \u00fanica arteria visible del cuerpo de tu pueblo
\nacaso porque \u00e9sta sea
\nel camino que lleva al mar
\nPueblo sombr\u00edo
\nque s\u00f3lo ense\u00f1a una boca-puerta
\npintada de rojo<\/p>\n

\u00bfAd\u00f3nde fue su sangre?
\n\u00bffue su insoportable silencio
\nel que asust\u00f3 a los perros?
\nNo hay ni\u00f1os en la calle,
\nni siquiera ladrones brincando por los techos
\nLas aves tambi\u00e9n se marcharon…<\/p>\n

______________________________<\/p>\n

\"Nostalgia<\/p>\n

Nostalgia Doesn’t Flow Away Like Riverwater<\/a>\u00a0by Irma Pineda and translated by Wendy Call is available from Deep Vellum<\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I first encountered Irma Pineda\u2019s poetry in the Mexico City literary journal Generaci\u00f3n in 2005, as I was writing a nonfiction book set in her home region (No Word for Welcome, Nebraska, 2011). Pineda\u2019s language, Didxaz\u00e1 (Isthmus Zapotec), has a written literary history that extends back 2,500 years, when Zapotecs began carving their history into […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1721,"featured_media":232196,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6,43074,43077],"tags":[1021,92867,92866,164,212,9031,1262,92854,93027],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/lithub.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/mexico.png","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5rKFr-Ylu","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lithub.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231972"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lithub.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lithub.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lithub.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1721"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lithub.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=231972"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lithub.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231972\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lithub.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/232196"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lithub.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=231972"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lithub.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=231972"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lithub.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=231972"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}