Aquí era el paraíso / Here Was Paradise

Aquí era el paraíso / Here Was Paradise book cover — Aquí era el paraíso Selección de poemas de Humberto Ak’abal Here Was Paradise Selected Poems of Humberto Ak’abal Groundwood Books House of Anansi Press Toronto Berkeley CEU

Aquí era el paraíso / Here Was Paradise — page 1 — INTRODUCCIÓN Aquí era el paraíso Here Was Paradise es una selección de poemas escritos por el gran poeta Humberto Ak’abal Los poemas describen el mundo de su infancia en la aldea maya k'iche de Momostenango Guatemala y en sus alrededores también hablan de su rol como poeta del lugar Ak’abal escribió para adultos pero su magistral sencillez hace que sus poemas sean accesibles a lectores de todas las edades En este libro encontramos poemas sobre niños abuelos madres animales fantasmas amores frustrados sembradíos lluvias poesía pobreza y muerte Ak'abal nunca dijo que la vida en su mundo era fácil La historia de Guatemala es compleja Tiene el porcentaje de población indígena más alta de cualquier país de las Américas Y además el pueblo maya ha sufrido una terrible discriminación violencia y pobreza desde la llegada de los europeos Sin embargo los poemas de Ak’abal trans miten cómo también todos los elementos de su mundo se unen para crear una realidad rica y profunda Ak'abal es reconocido mundialmente como uno de los grandes po etas contemporáneos de la lengua hispana y uno de los más grandes poetas indígenas de América De hecho Ak'abal decía que creaba y escribía sus poemas primero en k'iche y luego los traducía al español En un articulo inédito revisado por última vez en 2011 Ak’abal es cribió sus ideas sobre lo que es ser maya y lo que él esperaba que eso pudiera significar poniendo en contexto su particular forma de usar el termino peyorativo de indio Dijo Estamos orgullosos de ser quienes somos sin hacer necesariamente un escándalo porque llevamos nuestros idiomas mayas dentro de 8

Aquí era el paraíso / Here Was Paradise — page 2 — INTRODUCTION Aquí era el paraíso Here Was Paradise is a selection of poems written by the great poet Humberto Ak’abal They describe the world of his childhood in and around the Maya Kiche village of Momostenango Guatemala and also talk about his own role as a poet of the place Ak’abal wrote for adults but his masterful simplicity makes the poems accessible to readers of all ages In this book we find poems about children and grandfathers and mothers and animals and ghosts and thwarted love and fields and rains and poetry and pov erty and death Ak’abal never pretended that life in his world was easy The history of Guatemala is complex It has the highest Indigenous population as a percentage of any country in the Americas And Maya people have suffered terrible discrimination violence and poverty since the arrival of the Europeans But Ak'abal's poems convey how all his world's elements also came together to create a deep rich reality Ak'abal is famous worldwide as one of the great contemporary poets in the Spanish language and one of the greatest Indigenous poets of the Americas In fact Ak’abal said that he created his poems first in K'iche then translated them into Spanish In an unpublished piece last revised in 2011 Ak'abal wrote about his ideas about being Maya and what he hoped it could mean giving context to his use of the pejorative name of Indio He said We are proud of being who we are without necessarily making a fuss because we carry our Maya languages inside us And uncon sciously we grab onto them with a feeling of belonging and with ancestral pride because we have been formed by and alongside them Our commitment according to my way of seeing things is 9

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