Juana Peñate Montejo writes in Ch’ol, a Mayan language of southern Mexico spoken by a quarter of a million people. Because Peñate’s work is poetry and the soundscape and linguistic structure of Ch’ol is nothing like English, the translations involved a linguist who specializes in the Ch’ol language and culture and a poet who writes in English. The intensely collaborative method consisted of in-person interviews with Peñate, word-for-word translations, cultural research, numerous drafts, and recordings of the translations for Peñate’s approval. Occasionally, culturally significant words and phrases were left in the original Ch’ol, such as käñk’äñ ixim and chäkchab in the poem “My Language.” These Ch’ol words for different types of corn invite the reader to notice the visual difference in the two languages, as well acknowledge the impossibility of word-for-word replacement when it comes to cultural significance.
Peñate won the 2020 Premio de Literaturas Indígenas de Latinoamérica. Her poetry and translations have been published in a number of literary journals such as World Literature Today and Arkansas International.
-Carol Rose Little and Charlotte Friedman
/ / /
Sacred Sun
I am here, inhabiting the spirit
of my ancestors. Here, with the sun,
keeper of my thoughts. I ask
the meaning of my words —
words to undo the deceptions of people.
* * * * *
My Language
i
My language is constellations,
fireflies in the dark.
My language is yellow corn, k’äñk’äñ ixim,
new to the world, turning to blue, chäkchab.
My language is tilled, wet earth
where the games of butterflies are born.
If I could describe the joy of my language,
I would with blossoms, belled and white.
If I could unwrap its wounds,
I would in times of cold,
so that our bones embraced.
ii
They ask me about my language, how it is made.
I tell them they should carry a pitcher to the creek.
They want to know about this wailing.
I tell them to walk in a place of rocks.
Smoke streams from the spirit house
of our language, where pieces are preserved.
Sown into the soil, our language flourishes.
Multihued, washed by water.
But now, its sounds are distant, unclear.
My language buries itself, waits.
Spoken, my language emits joy,
love yet to be felt, difficult music,
first kiss from a cunning heart.
iii
My language brings rain
sometimes dew, sometimes
a downpour.
Other days, it is quiet,
losing itself in the shallows of a stream.
Suddenly, my language appears again,
the mockingbird in times of longing.
Crack of thunder in June,
gusts in the dark, my language asks —
How is the world?
And becomes power, lightning, the sun.
* * * * *
Poetry’s Silence
Like how rum is drunk,
sip by sip, or a dance understood,
when there is nothing left
in time’s glass.
* * * * *
X-Askuñ
Bells chime in the church
of the Archangel Saint Michael.
You fill the casket, and the faces of the women
answer in agony.
It has been three months since you drove away.
You took our ancestors’ satchel, sodden with smoke
from so many years hanging on the wooden post.
Sadness was in your face, even though you smiled.
Now, in your casket, uprooted and torn from life.
I think this is just a nightmare, I want to wake up.
I think that you are breathing.
I think that you will return to drink your pozol.
You are going to come back, a handful of greens
and fistful of chiles in your bag.
X-Askuñ, X-Askuñ, you travelled
in a dream, brief life.
Now, my tears overflow this bowl.
X-Askuñ, X-Askuñ, I will drink slowly,
so that I will not search for the path you walked.
*
[X-Askuñ – a term of respect for men — literally ‘older brother’
pozol – fermented corn drink]
/ / / / /
Ch’ujulbä k’iñ
Wä’añoñ kchumtyañ ich’ujlel kñotye’elob
ilayi ya’ baki lakch’ujutyaty
jiñäch iyum kña’tyibal,
jiñ mi jk’ajtyibeñ isujmlel kty’añ,
ty’añ muk’bä ilowbeñ machbä uts’atyik ity’añ lakpi’älob.
/ / /
Kty’añ
i
Jiñi kty’an che’ bajche’ ek’tyak mi imos jiñi pañchañ,
che’ bajche’ xk’äjk’äs yäpyäpña che’ ik’yoch’añ.
jiñi kty’añ che’ bajche’ k’äñk’äñ ixim che’ mi ilok’el tyi pañumil,
chäkchab ixim mi isujtyel che’ mi yochel tyi ap’ätyälel.
Ili kty’añ ach’päk’añbä lum ya’ baki mi ityejchel iyälas xpejpemtyak.
Muk’ikax imejlel kts’ijbubeñ ityijikñäyel ili kty’añ
Mi kmel yik’oty xpapañichim,
muk’ikax imejlel pits’chokoñ ilojwel ili kty’añ,
mi kmel che’ tyi yoralel tsäñal cha’an che’ jiñi mi imek’ob ibäj lakbäkel.
ii
Mi ik’ajtyibeñoñob cha’añ imejlib ili kty’añ,
mi ksubeñob cha’añ la’ ikuchob jiñi uk’um tyi pa’.
Mi ik’ajtyibeñoñob cha’añ isoñil jiñi äjakñabä,
mi ksubeñob cha’añ mi icha’leñob xämbal tyi xajlelol.
Iyejtyal ili kty’añ tyi otyoty ba’ jupukña jiñi buts’
ya’ baki lotyol tyi chajp tyi chajp kty’añlojoñ.
Mi ipäjk’el tyi lum kty’añlojoñ cha’añ mi ip’ojlel,
tyi pa’ mi ipojkel cha’añ mi iñijkañ ibäj bajche’ ty’oxja’.
Mach tsikilik wäle ityiwtyiwñäyel ili kty’añ
mukul chumul tyi xujk, mi ipijtyañ ibäj tyi malil lum.
Ili kty’añ che’ mi icha’leñ ty’añ mi ilok’sañ tyijikñajaxbä,
ya’ tyi iñäk’ mi ilok’sañ k’uxbiyaj maxtyobä tyälbilik,
jiñäch machbä tyälbilik k’ay yik’oty ñaxañbä ts’ujts’uyaj tyi ityojlel chañchañbä pusik’al.
iii
Ili kty’añ mi ich’äñ tyilel iyujts’il ja’al,
tyajol ye’eb,
tyajol kolem ja’al,
yambä k’iñ ñäch’äkña,
xityikotyol mi isäty ibäj tyi imalil pa’,
mi itsuk’ tyilel, mi icha’ tyilel che’ bajche’ ts’uñuñtyak
che’ tyi yoralel pijtyayaj.
Ili kty’añ che’ bajche’ xu’chajk che’ tyi juño,
che’ bajche’ ju’ukñabä ik’ che’ ik’tyo,
mi ik’ajtyiñ bajche’ añ iyejtyal tyi pañumil,
mi isujtyel tyi ch’ejl, mi isujtyel tyi chajk, mi isujtyel tyi k’iñ.
/ / /
Jap
Che’ mi ijajpel iñäch’tyälel ñichty’añ
che’ bajche’ mi ijajpel tyi jujump’is chicha,
che’ mi ijajpel iñäch’tyälel soñ,
che’ bajche’ mi ijajpel iputs’ib ñajtylel.
/ / /
X-Askuñ
Tsiñtsiña jiñi uxlujump’ej ijats’o tya’k’iñ
ya’ tyi yotyotylel ch’ujutyesayaj Sañ Mikel Arkankel,
awajñib ik’woxañ ya’ baki ñolol abäk’tyal,
jiñi iwutyob x-ixikob woli ijak’ob yoj.
Uxp’ej uw che’ tsa’ majliyety, tsa’ jk’eleyety tsa’ letsiyety ya’ tyi ñoxi’ xäñibal,
tsa’ ach’ämä majlel ichim lakñojtye’el,
jiñi ñoxi’ chim añixbä ibuts’il wajalixbä jok’ol ya’ tyi ñoxi’ oy,
ya’ tyi awuty añ ts’itya’ ch’ijiyemlel, tse’ekña atyi’.
Wäle abäk’tyal che’jax bajche’ tyomel tye’ añety tyi awajñib,
mi kña’tyañ cha’añ ñajaljach, kom mi ijajmel kwuty,
mi kña’tyañ cha’añ woli ajap ik’,
mi kña’tyañ cha’añ tyalety ajap asa’,
cha’añ mi ikajel ajulel yik’oty juñbuts apimel tyi ak’äb,
yik’oty juñjojp ich tyi achim.
X-Askuñ, x-Askuñ, tsa’ ñumiyety tyi ñajal machbä jocholik, machbä tyamik,
jiñjach wäle juñjojp uk’el machbä ochik tyi tsimaj,
X-Askuñ, x-Askuñ, abu’lich lum, awa’al lum, mi ikajel kjape’ tyi jujup’is,
ñäch’äl mi ikajel kjape’ cha’añ ma’añik mi ktsäklañ majlel aty’um bij.