Shunpiking Online Vo.3 No.2 I’m a strange poet... BY MIREYA CASTAÑEDA*

STRANGELY, there are no words to describe Nancy Morejón, someone who is a proprietress of words. Poet, essayist, journalist, translator, cultural advocate, member of the Cuban Language Academy, National Literature Prize winner...

Neither is it possible not to write about her, even less so as we approach the Havana Book Fair, which honours her by being dedicated to her, along with another National Literature Prize winner, Angel Augier. Both, in addition, are important scholars of the work of Nicolas Guillén.

In these times of Internet, there are, of course, many websites on Nancy Morejón. There you can find a summary of her "biography," her bibliography, some poems, reviews, and even what some Cuban and foreign poets say about her.

How then to capture this "gazelle" (as Guillén called her), who – untiringly – travels the world from Africa to the Caribbean, the Americas, Europe, launching her books and poems, but also giving lectures on Cuban literature and, particularly, Caribbean literature (she is director of Casa de las Americas’ Center for Caribbean Studies).

Her most recent tour through Paris was during the L´Humanité Festival, which shortly preceded the events that shook the banlieu of the French capital.

Was Paris festive?

In Paris, I was invited to the Fête de L´Humanité, which was really a delight, because since I was a teenager, that festival has been extraordinarily important; all of the left, the great European intelligentsia, participated. Now, during this first decade of the 21st century, they are trying to restore its spirit and prestige.

At first, plans were to do a presentation with Gerardo Alfonso, the trova singer, at the Maison de L’Amerique Latine, and this was a great incentive for the prestige of this cultural institution. We shared a concert that we had not prepared, in the strict sense of the word, but there was personal empathy, including the fact that Gerardo’s second surname is Morejón – there’s a lost ancestor who unites us. I recited some poems, the translators read the text in French, and according to what Gerardo heard, he sang a song. It was a heterogeneous public that included, of course, French people, Parisians and many immigrants. I’m telling you this because of the events that happened afterward with respect to this trip, there was already an inspiration within that was saying "really?" – especially when I read poems that have to do with identity.

Part of the Cuban community based in Paris was also there; everything that seem to remain inside the family, I think goes beyond, to the larger family, those from – as they tend to say these days in Paris – overseas, a term that at some point in its history was quite derogatory, and still should be, given that it harbors a colonial reality so powerful that nobody could have predicted at that moment what would happen less than two months later.

Previously, I had participated in a forum organized by L’Humanité at its offices. An enormous rectangular table, where I had to speak about the Caribbean issue and Cuba in relation to Caribbean culture, where I was accompanied by great individuals, above all about everything to do with what is known as the awakening to the phenomenon of globalization. I concentrated on what I concentrate on – cultural questions in the sphere of the Caribbean. I spoke in Spanish, because it seemed arrogant to speak in French, but also because you need to be clear about where you are from, who you are, and being a writer, moreover, there are places where it seems to me essential to express myself in Spanish.

I don’t like to advertise for publishing houses, but I paid a visit to the Grenoble House of Poetry, where they have plans to do an anthology of my poetry, and I was also with Marie France Allemand, the editor of Les Temps de Cerises, who is interested in publishing my work.

One important visit was to Presencia Africana publishers, with Madame Christianne Diop, the widow of the magazine’s founder. She has plans to do a summary of Nación y mestizaje en Nicolás Guillén (Nation and Miscegenation in Nicolás Guillén).

At that time, one of the large buildings where some Africans were housed had been burned down, and we discussed that a lot. We were on the threshold of the explosion that was about to occur. It is a tradition in Paris; a lot of upheavals begin there.

We are at a very particular turning point regarding the concept of what an emigrant is, which is a colonized person, because to what extent are citizens born in Paris alien to French identity because their parents come from French-speaking Africa or Oceania or Indonesia? And how is it accepatable that French identity has to praise or pay tribute to the history of Napoleon Bonaparte who restored slavery in his American colonies?

I think, then, that identity is not necessarily linked to language. We Latin Americans, for example, are Spanish-speakers, but we are not Spanish; we are Cuban, Mexican, Argentine. Identity comes through language, but is not forced. Right now, all of these very tremendous ideas are red-hot.

I would also like to refer to the importance given by writers from the Antilles, such as Eduard Glissante and Aimé Césaire, to a series of statements by Nicolas Sarkosy, French minister of the interior, that were very offensive, taunting, toward the history of the Antillean peoples with respect to their identity, and with respect to the colonial phenomenon.

It grates and is a matter of concern to feel that a minister of the interior believes there are very positive aspects of colonialization, has absolutely racist streaks and in fact practices them. I’m sorry to have to say these things, that Paris’ solutions are to evict and remove immigrants, when it is the immigrants who have created Europe’s wealth, not just that of Paris.

These friends, great figures of the Antillean world, like Césaire, who is mayor of the city of Fort-de-France, stated their opinions in an open letter to Mr. Sarkosky, so much so, that Sarkosky, who had announced a visit to Martinique, did not make that trip.

All of these elements of the word "immigrant" remind me that we should go back to the writings of José Martí and Ho Chi Minh and Franz Fanon, because there is a wave of swings to the right that is leading to a fascist-like practice, to the extent that that France, that Paris, are not those of Paul Valéry; rather, it is a Europe that wants to align itself with the worst politics of the Bush administration, because the term United States should not be used. We know about the importance of the culture of the United States, we ourselves, in spite of the 47-year blockade; we have published and talked about its finest values. Not to forget Martí’s writings on Emerson and Whitman.

The Center for Caribbean Studies and the Casa Award itself are in the whirlwind of this identity issue...

To begin, I should tell you that when the Carvet Award was created in the Caribbean, for Martinique, Guadeloupe and French Guyana, it was done in acknowledgement of the Casa Prize. I can’t forget it, because it was in December 1990, the first edition, and we awarded Patrick Chamoiseau for his novel Antan d'enfance (we have a translation by Aitana Alberti in the Pasamanos Collection), and two years later he received the Prix Goncourt award.

I think that the work of Casa, and that of the Caribbean Studies Center, is something related to these ideas, which are always rebellious, of uprising, of understanding that our identity comes through resistance; of understanding that we Third World countries, as Fanon used to say, are here not only to show that Europe underdeveloped us, but also to demonstrate that we have our own civilization, the Caribbean one.

Our work must be based on exchange, translations; there is a lot to look for, to do, because we are a Tower of Babel. It is world that has the major metropolitan languages – English, French and Spanish – but also the Creole ones, which are or are not differentiated.

Let me tell you, Haitian Creole has its own characteristics, different from those of Saint Lucía, or Dominica, and that spoken in Martinique, Guadeloupe or Louisiana. It was only during my visits to these islands that I discovered their great ties to New Orleans. The Black people of Guadeloupe, of Martinique, can understand the Black people of Louisiana, and they are not doing so in English; this means that those cultures are alive, and Casa de las Americas has always been in the vanguard of that project, which is a reality.

National Literature Prize. Are you ready for the Book Fair avalanche? Publishing news?

I didn’t take it seriously that they were going to dedicate this Fair to me, I worked very hard. Three new titles are going to come out, and there will be new editions and reprints. A book of poetry, naturally, unpublished, Carbones silvestres with a very beautiful cover by Choco. There is the anthology Cuerda veloz , which came out in 2003 in the National Literature Prize Collection. Another anthology by the young poetess Teresa Melo; a collection of my journalistic work by Oriente publishers, Pluma al Viento (Pen to the Wind); I’m very excited about that book, because it includes my work from 1975-2005 on musicians, writers, visual artists. I will have a selection of essays, published and unpublished, and a beautiful edition by Vigía, in Matanzas, of the only dramatic poem I’ve ever written, Pierrot y la luna (Pierrot and the Moon), with some of my drawings. There should be a reprint Entre leopardos (Between Leopards), with a piece by Carilda Oliver Labra which is included as a prologue to this small book of love poetry. There will also be a reprint of Nación y mestizaje en Nicolás Guillén, which will be launched in a colloquium sponsored by the Guillén Foundation on the contributions of Auguier and one who is dedicated to the studies of Guillén.

Speaking of Guillén. Do you feel trapped by the Guillén text that is constantly quoted?

-- "I think that her poetry is as black as her skin, when we take it in its essence, intimate and sleepwalking. It is also Cuban (for that very reason) with roots very deep in the Earth, to the point that they emerge from the other side of the planet." –

Just imagine, it’s something that’s there, he marked it, he said it, it’s a lovely wording and I have to respect it, it is the text of a classic. That text invites discussion and reflection. Guillén died in ’89, and so the young people of today can express controversial opinions with respect to that, but I, first of all, have a lot to be grateful to him for; it is a prize, and he wrote it with great love.

Another constant: "the Black Cuban poetess." Isn’t that very diminishing now?

Well, that’s up to other people. One can’t impose what people think; one is looked at according to what each person projects. It’s the same as the reading of a text. I present my ideas, but people discover other things, they find their own. And nobody can avoid that. There are people who say "poetess" and ask me what I prefer, poetess or poet. I let them choose. There are societies where the phenomena of slavery are there, the racial confrontations are so strong that being white or Black or European or Jewish or Arab is very important these days, and they add that ethnic factor, which I don’t have to be ashamed of, without conceiving of it as paramount; in that, I’m a disciple of Nicolás and Juan Gualberto Gómez, the great friend of Martí, where finding national values above all is what is important, and race, in my understanding, comes after the concept of nation.

In addition, Cuba is not alone; it is part of an axis, in a situation, in an opportunity, and in many countries and societies, for example, in the indigenous world, it is important for you to tell someone that you have an indigenous ancestor. Thus, the African roots that I may have, and that so many of us Cubans have, visible or not, is fundamental, and if somebody wants to receive me with that appreciation, I cannot disappoint him or her. Among progressive U.S. groups, and in Africa, the ethnic factor is important. But we cannot break away from Cuban-ness; Cuba is Cuba, there is a hallmark, whatever color we may be.

Scholars and critics like to classify and specify issues. In your case, they write "colloquial, follower of..." They appreciate simplicity, originality, profundity... What would be your own definition?

People say I’m a very strange poet. Everybody has an ego, and I think that mine is atrophied, given that I was an only daughter, and only children are already born different... I can’t frame myself into any school. I think that there are areas of my poetry that cannot be written without considering the issues of identity, the national issues, where the Black issue is fundamental. We talk about Afro-Cuban culture because Don Fernando was the person who created that term, which is very complicated in itself, because he used many. During the years of spendor of that poetry – Regino Pedroso, Marcelino Arozarena, José Antonio Portuondo – Don Fernando used to say Afro-Cuban poetry, mulatto, Black, Negroid – many adjectives to define it. Like Miguel Barnet, Pablo Armando Fernández, Georgina Herrera, I wrote those poems coming out of that source, and at the same time rejecting it, but the issue, as content, is vital for us.

A colloquial, conversational poet, because I appreciate what communication is for the modern world. The other day, we did an evocation of poet José Agustín Goytisolo and many of his writings served as songs. He used to say that it was much easier to write a poem than for the musician to come afterwards and make a song and put it onto a cassette. People don’t have time, people are in a hurry, and poetry is perfect for that moment, when people don’t have to be turned into mindless creatures with certain concepts of entertainment that we’re given. I think that listening to a well-spoken, well-sung poem is an enjoyment.

Simple, communicative things also caught my attention, and I cultivated them, and nevertheless, there are poems of mine that are very verbal, where language has an extraordinary presence, and they are a bit dark, and I use the word dark because that is the one that is used. They are very complicated expressions that, for certain poetry readers accustomed to that language, do not signify anything complicated, but for the common reader, could do so.

I have never limited myself, nor have I ever felt limited in my country in that sense; I have always published what I have published in different forms. I have written political poetry – I feel very honored to have done so. Almost all of them have been created through spontaneous generation; that is one thing that is extremely important. Nobody ever came to ask me to write a poem for Maurice Bishop; I was in a circumstance and wrote it, and many other aspects on the issue of apartheid, or recently, my text for Antonio Guerrero that appears in Carbones silvestres. I wrote it because I wanted to, during a moment at a conference in Manzanillo, in Mora Cove, and that’s how it came out, and I included it in the poetry book. A lot of people think, oh, how strange, but given that I’m a strange poet... They will always find many issues and many surprises.

*Granma International staff writer

RECUADRO

Her active bibliography

Poetry

Mutismos: Publishers: El Puente, La Habana, 1962.

Amor, ciudad atribuida: Publishers: El Puente, La Habana, 1964.

Richard trajo su flauta y otros argumentos: col. Cuadernos, Publishers: Unión, La Habana, 1967.

Parajes de una época: col. Mínima, Publishers: Letras Cubanas, La Habana, 1979.

Poemas (Antología): Selec. y pról. de Efraín Huerta, Ilustración de cubierta Wifredo Lam, Publishers: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), México D.F., 1980.

Octubre imprescindible: col. Contemporáneos, Publishers: Unión, La Habana, 1982.

Elogio de la danza: col. Cuadernos de Poesía, Publsihers: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), México D.F., 1982.

Cuaderno de Granada: Publishers: Casa de las Américas, La Habana, 1984.

Grenada Notebook: Translation by Lisa Davis, Publishers: Círculo de Cultura Cubana, New York, 1984.

Where the Island Sleeps Like a Wing (Antología bilingüe): Translated, selection and introduction by Kathleen Weaver, Prologue by Miguel Barnet, Publishers: The Black Scholar Press, San Francisco, California, 1985.

Poems (Antología): Selección de Sandra Levinson, ed. Center for Cuban Studies, New York, 1985.

Piedra pulida: col. Giraldilla, Publishers: Letras Cubanas, La Habana, 1986. Premio de la Crítica 1986.

Ours The Earth (Anthology): Translation, Selection, and Prologue by Joe Pereira, Publishers: Caribbean Institute of the University of the West Indies (UWI), Kingston, Jamaica, 1990.

Baladas para un sueño: col. Ciclos, Publsihers: Unión, La Habana, 1991.

Poemas de amor y muerte: Publishers: Revista Caravelle (separata), Toulouse, 1993.

Paisaje célebre: Publishers: Fondo Editorial Fundarte, Caracas, 1993.

Le Chaînon Poétique: Traduction de Sandra Monet-Descombey, Ilustración de cubierta del pintor dominicano José Castillo. Préface de Delia Blanco et Pilar Paliès, Publishers: Médiathèque Champigny-sur-Marne, Paris, 1994.

El río de Martín Pérez (Antología): Ilustraciones del pintor Rolando Estévez, Publishers: Clásicos del San Juan, ed. Vigía, Matanzas, 1996

Elogio y paisaje: Ilustraciones de la autora, col. La Rueda Dentada, Publishers: Unión, La Habana, 1997. Premio de la Crítica 1997.

Botella al mar (Antología): Selec. y pról. de Adolfo Ayuso, col. Poesía, Publsihers: Oliphante, Zaragoza, 1996.

Richard trajo su flauta y otros poemas: Selec. y pról. de Mario Benedetti, Publishers: Visor, Madrid, 1999.

La quinta de los molinos: Ilustraciones de Reynaldo González, 135 pp, col. Cemí, 2000, Publishers: Letras Cubanas, La Habana. Premio de la Crítica 2000.

Ruhmreiche Landschaft (Paisaje Célebre): Gedichte, Umschlagmotive und Zeichnungen: Nancy Morejón, 82 pp, Übersetzung und Nachwort: Ineke Phaf-Rheinberger, Coleba Verlag, Triesen, 2001.

Black Woman and Other Poems (Bilingual edition): Translated, annotated and introduced by Jean Andrews, Cover Artwork by the author, 244 pp, Publsihers: Mango Publishing, London, 2001.

Essays

Recopilación de textos sobre Nicolás Guillén: Selección, prólogo y notas de N.M., 429 pp, Serie Valoración Múltiple, Publishers: Casa de las Américas, La Habana, 1972.

Nación y mestizaje en Nicolás Guillén: 332 pp, col. Premio, Publishers: Unión, La Habana, 1982.

Fundación de la imagen: 294 pp, col. Giraldilla, Publishers: Letras Cubanas, La Habana, 1988.

Translated Books

Paul Laraque: Las armas cotidianas, col. Premio, Publishers: Casa de las Américas, La Habana, 1979.

Nicole Cage Florentiny: Arcoiris, la esperanza, col. Premio, Publishers: Casa de las Américas, La Habana, 1996.

Ernest Pépin: Remolino de palabras libres, col. Premio, Publishers: Casa de las Américas, La Habana, 1991.

Édouard Glissant: Fastos, Publishers: Ediciones Vigía, Matanzas, 1998.

Édouard Glissant: Fastos y otros poemas, col. Pasamanos, Publishers: Casa de las Américas, La Habana, 2001.