Two Poems

by Martín Tonalmeyotl

March, 2023

Editor’s Note: On March 29, 2023 at 7pm CST, translator Whitney DeVos and Nahua author Martín Tonalmeyotl will take part in the third edition of LALTulsa, our new reading and conversation series that shines a spotlight on the artists bringing Latin American literature to life in English, presented in collaboration with Tulsa Artist Fellowship. The event will be conducted in Spanish via Zoom. Follow LALT on Facebook for more information.

Tlamiktijketl

Notajtsin melauak yotekikualan,
tlauelchoka,
ixtenchachapaka ika choka.
Kijtoua tej kinkixtis ixtololojuan
niman kintlalpachos ijtik tlajle.

Xok kineke kisas ipan ojtle kampa kijtoua
ne kiyauak yemiyak nemej tlamiktijkej,
tlakamej uan xteiknelianej,
uan kimimiktsiaj inminiktsitsiuan
niman yajua,
san kimimiktsia ipitsotsitsiuan.

Sanka on tlamantle,
iyoltsin yepeua kualo.
Tetekuika kechka ueye itlakayo,
kimakase kampa mostla noso uiptla,
ixuiuan maixpoliuikan
niman noijke makisakan
tlamiktijkej ken yajua.

Butcher

Tormented, my father
sheds bitter tears
of rage.

He wants to gouge out his eyes
and bury them in the earth.
He refuses to look out into the street
where rivals
bloodier than he is
tear others to pieces.
Something my father does
only to pigs.

And so,
his heart begins to fail.
Quakes ravage his body,
terrified that, one day or the next,
his nietos will lose their way
and end up
butchers themselves.

Ojtsitsintin

Matikinchijchiuakan ojtsitsintin
ika inxochipakilis atepanoltin
kampa kokonej xkintemomotsos apismiktle,
kampa mikilistle mayejko tla se yeueuentsin
niman amo ika ikuitlapil kolotsintle
niman amo ika miktepostsitsintin.

Matikinchijchiuakan ojtsitsintin
ika tlakatlaltipaktin,
asiuatsitsintin
niman ika tototlajtoltsitsitsin
uan ueliskej teijliskej tlinon otikchijke ipan in tlaltipaktle.

Our Roads

Let’s lay new streets
with bridges of joy:
wherever hunger does not nip at our children,
wherever death arrives not with a scorpion’s tail
or a pistol in a holster
but only with the passage of time.

Let’s lay our roads
using men-earth,
and women-water
and bird-tongues
to paraphrase our footprints.

Translated by Whitney DeVos
From Tlalkatsajtsilistle / Ritual de los olvidados (Jaguar Ediciones, Universidad Intercultural del Estado de Puebla, 2016)

Photo: Pig in pen, Guerrero, Mexico, by Amauri Acosta Montiel, Unsplash.

Martín Tonalmeyotl

Martín [Jacinto Meza] Tonalmeyotl is a Nahua narrator, poet, teacher, translator, and photographer. He holds a BA in Hispanic American Literature from the Universidad Autónoma de Guerrero (UAGRO) and a master's degree in Indoamerican Linguistics from the Center for Research and Higher Studies in Social Anthropology (CIESAS). His verse collections include Tlalkatsajtsilistle / Ritual de los olvidados (Jaguar Ediciones, Universidad Intercultural del Estado de Puebla, 2016) and Nosentlalilxochitlajtol / Antología personal (Asociación de Escritores de México, Colección Colores Primarios, 2017). He is currently a Professor of Nahuatl Language at the Intercultural University of the State of Puebla (UIEP), and coordinates the series Xochitlájtoli for Círculo de Poesía, which showcases contemporary poetry written in Mexico's indigenous languages.

Whitney DeVos

Whitney DeVos is a writer, scholar, editor, and translator focused on the hemispheric literatures and cultures of the Americas. She is the translator of Notes Toward a Pamphlet by Sergio Chejfec (Ugly Duckling Presse, 2020) and The Semblable by Chantal Maillard (Ugly Duckling, 2020), as well as co-translator of Carlos Soto Román’s 11 (Ugly Duckling, forthcoming), Hugo García Manríquez’s Commonplace / Lo común (Cardboard House Press, 2022), and the Spanish portions of A Year in the Sky (Triana Editorial, 2019). Her translations of Nahua poet Martín Tonalmeyotl have appeared in Asymptote, the World Literature Today blog, Latin American Literature Today, Modern Poetry in Translation, and Michigan Quarterly Review. She has also translated writing by César Cañedo, Norah Lange, Hubert Matiúwàa, Valeria Meiller, A. E. Quintero, and Karen Villeda, among others. She is currently a visiting assistant professor at Pitzer College and an NEA Translation Fellow. She divides her time between southern California and Mexico City.

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Two Poems

Translated by Whitney DeVos
From Tlalkatsajtsilistle / Ritual de los olvidados (Jaguar Ediciones, Universidad Intercultural del Estado de Puebla, 2016)

Photo: Pig in pen, Guerrero, Mexico, by Amauri Acosta Montiel, Unsplash.

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Two Poems

Translated by Whitney DeVos From Tlalkatsajtsilistle / Ritual de los olvidados (Jaguar Ediciones, Universidad Intercultural del Estado de Puebla, 2016)

Photo: Pig in pen, Guerrero, Mexico, by Amauri Acosta Montiel, Unsplash.

Two Poems

By David Preiss

"Literature is a Society without a State": An Interview of Ricardo Piglia

By Oriele Benavides

Rafael Gumucio: “With the Death of Nicanor Parra, the Happy Phase of Chilean Postmodernity is Over”

By Antonio Díaz Oliva

Subscriptions

Translated by Whitney DeVos
From Tlalkatsajtsilistle / Ritual de los olvidados (Jaguar Ediciones, Universidad Intercultural del Estado de Puebla, 2016)