Mapuche
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Make yourself earth. / We will put wind in your navel / and sea between your legs. // Make yourself light and stars. / I’ll pass the night in sky-blue dreams to be unseen. // Make yourselves fishes, a...
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Yes, who can doubt it? / They tell me: Water is Life / But what does Water do / without the Air? / But what can the Air / and Water do without the Earth?
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On September 1, 2020, Mapuche poet, author, and activist Elicura Chihuailaf became the first indigenous writer to receive Chile’s National Prize for Literature. This recognition marks an important tur...
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The rains touch the strings / of his air / and, above, he is the chorus that utters / the sound of fertility / There were many animals, he is saying / woods, lakes, birds good words / I walk on with m...
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At the end of the 1970s, the name Elicura Chihuailaf began to be heard in Chilean literary circles. His first publications were written not in Mapudungun, the language of the Mapuche nation, but in Sp...
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On September first of this 2020 (year of the pandemic), the nation of Chile, represented by seven jurors, awarded the National Prize for Literature to Mapuche poet Elicura Chihuailaf Nahuelpán (Kechur...
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Blow to mea song simple and lastinga song incorruptiblea song untoucheda songunsuccumbing before the unstoppable passing of all things
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The moons open over the boatof the celebrations.
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Pilmaikeñ weychafe Pilmaikeñ, pewmalaymi Pewmalaymi pilmaikeñ, feychi puliwen Pewmalaymi, Tami trafkünuafiel trukur,Matu müpülaymi, inalaymi.
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Under the lightour skinis lit up goldlike the eye of a jaguarwho reveals the secretof the rainbow in his pupiland succumbs to the brightnessof signs
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Since its third issue, Latin American Literature Today has included a special dossier to disseminate the voices of dozens of indigenous women poets who since the 80s have forceful...
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Liliana Ancalao answers the telephone in Comodoro Rivadavia, a coastal city in the province of Chubut, in the Patagonian region of Argentina. For Mapuche people, the name for the region that includes...
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Etymologically, the word Mapuche blends the Mapuzungun word “mapu,” meaning “land,” with “che,” meaning “people.” In other words, the Mapuche self-identify as “the people of the land.” Moreover, the p...
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father of the helpless / waiting for the bus / don’t let die this tiny flame / fueled by pure sun amidst frost
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i learned about the cold back when i still wore a school uniform / when it was dark out / and my old man’s rambler classic wouldn’t start / we’d have to walk all the way to class / traversing time / s...
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Although it was only one hundred years ago, it seems to my generation like some mythical age. The Mapuche could roam freely across their territory and communicated with the elements of the mapu...
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I am a woman who is proud of my blood, my roots, of what I can create and teach to children. I think it’s important to recognize where you come from, and we should be truthful and faithful to those we...
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In 2016, the #NoDAPL movement in opposition to the Dakota Access Pipeline, spearheaded by members of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, inspired a shift in perceptions of indigenous presence in the United...
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"At night we hear songs, stories, and prophecies around the fire breathing the aroma of bread baked by my grandma, my mother or Auntie María, while my father and my grandpa Lonko (chief of the communi...
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In my Williche grandfather’s eyes / fear set sail. / Death alone / erased that timid gleam. / But nature could never / erase from my memory / the colors of the archipelago / arrested in his face.
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Those eyes the color of color / from a gray height, watch / bellflowers, trickling water.
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In my dreams last night / a fox / was singing under my house / What are you doing there? / my voice asked him / he hid his face from me / behind his song.
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I am withered grass / waving at the rain / but soon I feel the first drops / falling on the fields / Let this water soak me!