NII AYIKWEI PARKES [20.075]

NII AYIKWEI PARKES

Nii Ayikwei Parkes nació en Reino Unido en 1974, pero se crió en Ghana, donde asistió el colegio Achimota. Posteriormente, se trasladó a Reino Unido a estudiar en la Universidad Metropolitana de Manchester. Durante sus estudios, debutó como poeta y formó parte del grupo Black Writer’s Group of Commonword. Ha interpretado sus poemas en Reino Unido, Europa, Ghana y en los Estados Unidos. En el año 2007, fue escritor residente, invitado por el British Council, en la Universidad de Los Ángeles, California. Formó parte como uno de los escritores más jóvenes y prometedores del programa de poetas Poems on the Underground en Londres, con su poema Tin Roof.

Parkes tiene en su haber tres libros recopilatorios de poemas, una historia auto-publicada, Shorter! y su primera novela, Tail of the Blue Bird, publicada por la editorial Jonathan Cape en 2009 y seleccionada para el Premio Literario Commonwealth. Actualmente, escribe su segunda novela, Afterbirth, imparte varios talleres en Reino Unido, es escritor residente para la organización de caridad First Story y dirige el taller African Writers’ Evening en el Poetry Café de Covent Garden.

A continuación el poema “Men like me”, en traducción de Gustavo Osorio, así como el video de la lectura del mismo en el Manchester Book Market del año 2011. http://circulodepoesia.com/2017/04/poesia-ghanesa-nii-parkes/

 

Hombres como yo

Mi madre me advirtió sobre hombres como yo

Relajados y locos hombres con cabello trenzado como yo

Madre dijo ten cuidado de hombres como yo

Hombres oscuros tatuados y con cabello trenzado como yo

Pero mi padre era un hombre como yo

Así que parece parece parece

Que a mi madre le gustaban los hombres como yo

 

Mi madre me advirtió sobre hombres relajados como yo

Hombres de perezosa pose y ojos conmocionados

Que nada disfrutan más que una tarde en una esquina de la calle

Probando el mundo rebanada tras ácida rebanada

Hombres de barba áspera y rastas

Cuyas manos se ponen cómodas adentrándose en sus bolsillos

Hombres con mil maneras de hacer pausa

Y de pintar los días llanos en gradaciones de temor y azul

Que sueñan en muchos dialectos huelen a especias

Hombres cuya lengua se desliza fácilmente sobre los labios

Mi madre me dijo que me mantuviera alejado de los hombres como yo

Endurecidos bajo el sol con profundas pérdidas y tatuajes

Usurpando a Dios llamándonos creadores

Reescribiendo sus propias pieles

 

Mi madre me advirtió sobre hombres como yo

Relajados y locos hombres con cabello trenzado como yo

Madre dijo ten cuidado de hombres como yo

Hombres oscuros tatuados y con cabello trenzado como yo

Pero mi padre era un hombre como yo

Así que parece parece parece

Que a mi madre le gustaban los hombres como yo

 

 

Men like me

My mother warned me ´bout men like me

Laid-back crazy locked men like me

Mother said be carful of men like me

Dark tattooed and locked men like me

But my father was a man like me

So it seems it seems it seems

My mother liked men like me

 

My mother warned me about laid-back men like me

Men with lazy leans and shocked eyes

Who love nothing better than an evening on a street corner

Tasting the world slice by sour slice

Men with rough beards and dreadlocks

Whose hands are comfortable settling into pockets

Men with a thousand ways to pause

And paint plain days in shades of awe and blue

Who dream in many dialects smell of spice

Mens whose tongue slide easily over lips

My mother told me to stay clear of wisecracking men like me

Sun hardened with deep loss and tattoos

Usurping God calling us creator

Rewriting their own skins

 

My mother warned ´bout men like me

Laid-back crazy locked men like me

Mother said be careful of men like me

Dark tattooed and locked men like me

But my father was a man like me

So it seems it seems it seems

My mother liked men like me

Poems about the V&A: 'Small things' by Nii Parkes

I

place one hand on the left pillar

another on the right

and summon Samson's strength

to conquer your blindness

as time flits and the mist lifts

behold a kingdom unfurled

before you majestic buildings

between them streets

streets for trading

streets for bargaining

streets for walking

streets for lovers

streets for kings

streets for beggars

streets for arguing

streets for meddling

streets for peddling

endless streets of life

unclassifiable from distance

baskets of people

like oranges

all the same

yet each with its own seeds

each with its own volume

sweetness

bitterness

each eaten differently

by kings and beggars

as they walk the streets

the story of these pillars

could swallow you whole

prejudices and all

like a small thing

II

that ring

amandite with gold

translucent brown

made for a royal hand

of rock dug from beneath

the feet of a labourer

survived royal and rube

that ring smelled the streets

as it emerged from its chrysalis of stone

coaxed lovingly into shape

by the callused hands

of a royal jeweller

that ring is the lie the royal lived

when he believed

he was the first to wear it

the stars know

that the moon saw the young jeweller

compare the brown finish of the ring

with the moist dark flesh of his lover

the wind heard him whisper

that he could never make anything as beautiful as her

even if he died

and learnt from the gods

the ring tasted her taut nipples

as the jeweller and his jewel

bled into each other

like cooking spices

III

small things

place one hand on the left pillar

another on the right

and watch the streets

between the majestic buildings

streets of dust

where the dead rust

and ask yourself

who can name oranges

in a basket?

and if all men go to dust

can we tell the grain of a king

from the grain of a beggar?

and do we care?

or do we brush these small things

off our pristine clothes?

About the author

Nii Ayikwei Parkes was born in the UK in 1974 and raised in Ghana, West Africa. He writes poetry, prose and articles and is the author of three poetry chapbooks; 'eyes of a boy, lips of a man' (1999) and 'M is for Madrigal' (2004) and the self-published 'shorter' (2005), which is a vehicle to raise money for a writers' fund in Ghana.

Nii has performed poetry all over the world on major stages like the NuYorican in New York, The Royal Festival Hall in London, Java in Paris and Paradiso in Amsterdam as well as at festivals such as the Lancaster Literature Festival and the Austin International Poetry Festival. In 2002 he completed a six-week tour of the United States, and in 2003 he was given an Arts Council Award for his just completed novel, The Cost of Red Eyes, which was the subject of a recent radio documentary on the publishing industry. Nii was a 2005 associate Writer-In-Residence on BBC Radio 3 and was the featured face for poetry in the 2004 Time Out London Guide.

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